How Long Does Tax Resolution Take in Houston? Real Timelines by Case Type

If you are reading this, there is a decent chance you got a letter from the IRS, you opened it, and your stomach dropped. We see it every week in Sugar Land. The first question almost every Houston taxpayer asks us is the same. How long is this going to take.

Here is the honest answer, broken down by the case type you actually have. These are the timelines we run at Nguyen Accounting Group, where Thuy Nguyen, JD, CPA, CTC, CTRS handles tax resolution personally. Twenty-four years in. South Texas College of Law trained. Bilingual English and Vietnamese. The JD matters here in ways most Houston taxpayers do not realize, and we will get to that.

First, take a breath. Most IRS situations are not as urgent as the letter sounds, and almost all of them are fixable. Speed matters, but panic does not.

TL;DR: Tax resolution timelines in Houston (2026)

• Free 30-minute consult: within 24 to 48 hours of your call

• Power of Attorney filed (Form 2848): within 5 business days of engagement

• IRS transcript pull and case map: within 14 days of engagement

• Back filings (3 to 5 years catch-up): 4 to 12 weeks total

• IRS notice response (CP14, CP504, LT11, etc.): we respond within 7 to 14 days of receipt

• Installment Agreement: 60 to 90 days for IRS approval after submission

• Offer in Compromise: 4 to 6 weeks to prepare, then 4 to 12 months for IRS evaluation

• Correspondence audit defense: 60 to 180 days end to end

• Field (in-person) audit defense: 6 to 12 months end to end

• Trust Fund Recovery Penalty defense: 90 to 180 days

• Tax return preparation (simple personal): 1 to 2 weeks once documents are in

• Tax return preparation (business 1120S, 1065, 1120): 3 to 6 weeks

Day 1 to Day 14: what happens before any IRS clock matters

The first two weeks of any tax resolution engagement at Nguyen Accounting Group follow the same pattern, regardless of which IRS issue you are dealing with.

Day 1 is the free 30-minute consult. We listen, ask the right questions, look at any letters you have, and quote a flat fee for the engagement. We covered the full pricing breakdown in our 2026 pricing guide at myhoustoncpa.com/post/how-much-does-a-cpa-cost-in-houston-a-2026-pricing-guide. Tax resolution cases run $1,500 to $7,500 depending on complexity. You do not pay anything for the consult itself.

Days 2 to 5: engagement letter signed, secure document portal opened, and the most important early move. We file Form 2848 (Power of Attorney) so we can speak to the IRS on your behalf. From that point on, IRS letters and calls start flowing through us, not through you. That alone reduces the panic level significantly for most clients.

Days 6 to 14: we pull your full IRS account transcripts (wage and income, account, return, and record of account transcripts) for every year in question. This tells us exactly what the IRS has on you, what years are missing, what assessments exist, what penalties have stacked up, and what the actual collection clock looks like. Most Houston taxpayers do not realize the IRS has a 10-year collection statute. Sometimes the right move is to file a defensive return and let the clock run. Sometimes it is to settle. The transcript pull tells us which.

By day 14 you have an initial strategy memo with the recommended path, a realistic timeline, and a list of documents we still need from you. From there the timeline forks based on case type.

Back tax filings (you are behind 2 to 5+ years)

This is the most common engagement we run. The taxpayer fell behind during a divorce, a business closure, a health issue, or a death in the family. Three to five years go by. Eventually a CP59 or CP516 notice shows up asking why no return was filed.

The good news: you can get caught up faster than you think. The IRS has a Voluntary Disclosure Practice and a 6-year compliance rule for most non-criminal cases. We rarely have to file more than 6 years even when 10+ are missing.

Week-by-week back filings timeline

• Weeks 1 to 2: engagement, POA, transcript pull, document request to you

• Weeks 3 to 4: you gather W-2s, 1099s, business records, bank statements (we can pull most W-2s and 1099s from IRS transcripts if you cannot find them)

• Weeks 4 to 8: returns prepared in chronological order, oldest year first

• Weeks 8 to 10: returns reviewed with you, signed, e-filed where possible (older years often must paper-file)

• Weeks 10 to 12: confirmation of acceptance, balance-due plan negotiated if needed

Total: 4 to 12 weeks. Cases with clean records and W-2 income sit at 4 weeks. Cases with self-employment, missing records, and multiple years run 10 to 12. Adding in a balance-due resolution (Installment Agreement or OIC) extends the back-end.

IRS notice response (CP14, CP504, LT11, CP2000, and others)

Every IRS notice has a deadline printed on it. Miss the deadline and your options shrink. We respond to every notice that comes in within 7 to 14 days of receipt. That gives us breathing room while still beating every IRS clock.

CP14 (you owe a balance)

First balance-due notice. 21-day pay-by date printed on it, then it escalates. We typically respond within 7 days. If the balance is correct and small (under $50,000 for personal, under $25,000 for business), we set up a streamlined Installment Agreement. The IRS approves these in 60 to 90 days, and you get a written agreement. If the balance is wrong (math error on their side, payment they did not credit, identity theft), we dispute it. Disputes take 60 to 120 days for the IRS to process.

CP504 (final notice before levy intent)

Serious. The IRS is telling you they are about to levy. 30-day deadline. We respond within 7 days, almost always with a Collection Due Process request (Form 12153) if the underlying balance is contested, or with a Collection Information Statement (Form 433-A or 433-F) if we are negotiating an Installment Agreement or Currently Not Collectible status. CDP requests halt collection. Filing the CDP within 30 days is critical. After 30 days you lose Tax Court rights.

LT11 / LT1058 (final notice of intent to levy with right to a hearing)

This is the strongest collection notice the IRS sends. 30 days to respond, same CDP rules as CP504. Treat the date on this letter as immovable.

CP2000 (proposed changes from automated underreporter)

The IRS thinks you forgot to report income. Often it is a 1099 you did not get, a stock sale they assumed had zero basis, or a 1099-K from a payment processor that double-counted. We respond within 14 days with corrected calculations. CP2000 disputes resolve in 90 to 180 days.

Installment Agreement timeline

Once we submit the Installment Agreement request, the IRS clock starts. Streamlined agreements (under $50,000 personal, under $25,000 business) usually approve in 60 to 90 days. Non-streamlined agreements that require full financial disclosure (Form 433-A or 433-F) take 90 to 180 days. The IRS has been slower since 2024 due to backlog and system changes; even with clean cases we plan for the longer end.

Once approved, you get a written letter. Penalty and interest keep accruing on the unpaid balance, but levy threat goes away as long as you pay on time.

Offer in Compromise (OIC) timeline

OIC is the program everyone has heard advertised on Houston radio as 'pennies on the dollar'. It is real, it is legitimate when you qualify, and most taxpayers do not qualify. The IRS accepted about 30 to 35% of OIC submissions in recent years. The ones that get accepted have done the math correctly.

The math is reasonable collection potential (RCP). The IRS calculates what you could pay over the remaining collection statute given your assets and future income. If your offer is at least as much as the RCP, they accept. If not, they reject. We run the RCP calculation before we submit anything. If you do not qualify, we say so on day 1 and recommend a different path. We do not file losing offers to charge a fee.

OIC week-by-week

• Weeks 1 to 2: engagement, POA, transcript pull, RCP calculation

• Weeks 3 to 6: full Form 433-A (OIC) prepared, asset valuations documented, income documented, offer amount calculated

• Weeks 6 to 8: Form 656 (Offer in Compromise) and supporting docs filed with IRS, $205 application fee paid (waived for low-income taxpayers)

• Months 2 to 4: IRS preliminary review, possible additional document requests

• Months 4 to 12: assigned to an OIC examiner, full evaluation, possible negotiation, decision letter

Total prep time on our side: 4 to 6 weeks. Total IRS evaluation: 4 to 12 months. Average end-to-end: 6 to 14 months. Filing the OIC suspends most collection action while it is pending, which is one of the underrated benefits.

Audit defense timeline

Two flavors. Correspondence audit (you get a letter, IRS asks for documentation, you mail it in) and field audit (an IRS examiner sits down with your records, often at your business). Correspondence audits make up about 75% of all IRS individual audits.

Correspondence audit

• Weeks 1 to 2: engagement, POA, audit letter analysis, document request

• Weeks 3 to 6: documentation gathered, organized, and reconciled

• Weeks 6 to 8: response package mailed to IRS examiner with cover memo

• Months 2 to 6: IRS reviews, may send follow-up requests, eventually issues 30-day letter or no-change letter

Total: 60 to 180 days. Cases with clean records and one issue (charitable contributions, business expenses, dependents) close in 60 to 90 days. Cases with multiple issues run 120 to 180.

Field audit

Slower, more involved, higher stakes. Field audits typically focus on businesses, high-income individuals, or returns with complex issues.

• Weeks 1 to 2: engagement, POA, scope review

• Weeks 3 to 8: pre-audit document organization, return walk-throughs, identifying weak spots

• Months 2 to 4: opening conference with examiner, document production, on-site or office meetings

• Months 4 to 8: ongoing examiner questions, supplemental documentation, issue-by-issue resolution

• Months 8 to 12: exam closing, 30-day letter or no-change, appeals if needed

Total: 6 to 12 months. The JD matters here. As an attorney as well as a CPA, Thuy can step into a field audit with full representation rights and, if it escalates, can move the case into appeals or U.S. Tax Court. Most Houston tax preparers cannot. Most Houston CPAs without a JD can represent in audits but not litigate. That layered credential is rare in Sugar Land.

Trust Fund Recovery Penalty defense

If you ran a business, the business owed payroll taxes (Form 941), and the business did not pay them, the IRS can come after you personally under IRC Section 6672. This is the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP). It is the most personal and aggressive collection tool the IRS has, because it pierces corporate liability protection.

The IRS opens a TFRP investigation with a Letter 1153, which gives you 60 days to respond. Miss the 60 days and the assessment becomes final. We respond in 14 days with a written protest if you have a defense (you were not a 'responsible person', you did not 'willfully' fail to pay, the calculation is wrong).

• Weeks 1 to 2: engagement, POA, Letter 1153 analysis

• Weeks 2 to 4: written protest prepared and submitted

• Months 2 to 6: IRS Appeals review, conference, negotiation

Total: 90 to 180 days. TFRP defense is one area where having a JD genuinely changes outcomes. The 'responsible person' and 'willfulness' analyses are legal questions, not just accounting questions.

Tax preparation timelines (regular season)

Outside resolution work, here are the standard tax-return timelines.

• Personal 1040, W-2 only: 1 week from full document delivery to draft return

• Personal 1040 with Schedule C, E, or D: 1 to 2 weeks

• S-corporation 1120S: 3 to 4 weeks if books are clean, 5 to 6 weeks if cleanup is needed

• Partnership 1065: 3 to 5 weeks

• C-corporation 1120: 4 to 6 weeks

These assume you respond to our document requests within a few days. If documents trickle in, the timeline extends proportionally. We block your slot on our calendar when you sign the engagement letter so we are not racing other clients.

What slows things down (and how to avoid it)

• Missing records: bank statements, receipts, prior returns. Solution: we can pull most of this from IRS transcripts if you cannot find it. Allow 7 to 14 days for the transcript pull.

• Slow document delivery from your side: every day you delay sending us a document is a day added to the timeline. The fastest cases we run are the ones where the client uploads to the secure portal within 48 hours of the request.

• IRS backlog: the IRS is faster than it was in 2022 to 2023, but specific units (Appeals, OIC) still run 4 to 9 months. We cannot speed up the IRS. We can only stop their clocks (CDP requests, OIC pendency) and keep your case ahead of every internal deadline.

• Complexity creep: cases sometimes reveal additional issues during transcript review (unfiled years, additional notices, parallel audits). We surface those on day 14 with the strategy memo so there are no surprises later.

• Communication gaps: cases stall when the taxpayer goes quiet. We send weekly status emails so you always know where things stand.

What speeds things up

Three things determine whether your resolution closes at the fast end of the range or the slow end.

First, sign the engagement letter and Form 2848 in the same sitting. That cuts a week off most cases. Second, upload everything we ask for to the secure portal within 72 hours. Third, respond to clarification questions same-day or next-day. Cases run by responsive clients close in 4 to 6 weeks for back filings; cases run by slow-responding clients close in 10 to 12. Same scope, same fee, very different timeline.

Where Nguyen Accounting Group fits

Tax resolution is one of our four service pillars (along with Strategic Tax Planning, Bookkeeping and QuickBooks, and Tax Return Preparation). Thuy handles every resolution case personally. You are not getting handed off to a junior associate or an offshore preparer. You are working with the JD, CPA, CTC, CTRS who signs the return.

We compare what most Houston taxpayers actually face when shopping resolution help in our Houston CPA comparison post at myhoustoncpa.com/post/houston-cpa-comparison-2026, including why we strongly advise against the heavily-advertised 'tax relief' mills.

If you are not sure whether you need full resolution help or just a clean tax-return preparer, our DIY-vs-hire decision guide at myhoustoncpa.com/post/when-to-hire-cpa-houston-vs-turbotax walks through the threshold. And if you want to know exactly what the first two weeks of an engagement look like, we wrote it up at myhoustoncpa.com/post/what-to-expect-nguyen-accounting-first-14-days.

FAQ

How long does the average tax resolution case take in Houston?

Back filings without IRS contact close in 4 to 12 weeks. Notice response and Installment Agreement cases close in 60 to 90 days end-to-end. Offers in Compromise run 6 to 14 months. Field audits run 6 to 12 months. The single biggest variable is responsiveness on the client side; the second is IRS internal backlog.

How quickly can you respond to an IRS letter?

We respond within 7 to 14 days of you sending us the letter, regardless of which notice it is. That beats every IRS deadline. Same-week response is standard for CP504 and LT11 because those have 30-day Tax Court rights at stake.

Can you stop an IRS levy or wage garnishment?

Yes, in most cases. A timely Collection Due Process request (Form 12153) within 30 days of CP504 or LT11 stops the levy. After the 30-day window we use Form 911 (Taxpayer Advocate) or a financial hardship claim under Form 433-A. Most levies we encounter stop within 5 to 10 business days of engagement.

How long does an Offer in Compromise actually take?

4 to 6 weeks of preparation on our side, then 4 to 12 months for the IRS to evaluate. Average end-to-end is 6 to 14 months. Collection action is suspended while the OIC is pending, which is one of the underrated benefits.

Do I qualify for an Offer in Compromise?

Most taxpayers who think they qualify, do not. The IRS calculates Reasonable Collection Potential (RCP) based on your assets and remaining future income over the collection statute. If your offer is at least equal to the RCP, you qualify. We run the RCP calculation in week 1 and tell you up front whether it is realistic. We do not file losing offers.

What is Form 2848 and why do you file it first?

Form 2848 is the IRS Power of Attorney. Once we file it, the IRS sends correspondence to us instead of you and we can call them on your behalf. This alone reduces the stress level significantly. We file it within 5 business days of engagement on every case.

How long do back tax filings take if I am missing records?

We can pull W-2s, 1099s, mortgage interest, and many other records directly from IRS transcripts. Allow 7 to 14 days for the transcript pull. From there, simple back-filing cases close in 4 to 6 weeks; complex cases with self-employment income and missing bank records close in 8 to 12 weeks.

Can you handle a Houston field audit start to finish?

Yes. Thuy is a CPA and a JD, which means she can represent at the examination level, at IRS Appeals, and if the case escalates, in U.S. Tax Court. That layered credential is rare among Sugar Land and Houston tax preparers. Most CPAs cannot litigate; most tax attorneys cannot prepare returns. We do both.

What does a tax resolution case cost in Houston?

Back filings: $1,500 to $3,500. Notice response and Installment Agreement: $1,500 to $4,000. Offer in Compromise: $2,500 to $5,000. Audit defense (correspondence): $1,500 to $4,000. Audit defense (field): $3,500 to $7,500+. Trust Fund Recovery Penalty: $3,500 to $7,500. Flat fees per case, never percentage of savings, never hourly. Full pricing detail at myhoustoncpa.com/post/how-much-does-a-cpa-cost-in-houston-a-2026-pricing-guide.

Do you work with Vietnamese-speaking clients?

Yes. Thuy is bilingual English and Vietnamese. Resolution cases involve a lot of nuance and a lot of paperwork; doing it in your first language matters. We serve Vietnamese-speaking clients across Sugar Land, Bellaire, southwest Houston, and the broader metro.

Ready to talk

Free 30-minute consult. Bring the letter, bring the questions, leave with a real timeline and a flat-fee quote. Call (832) 500-4299 or book online. We are at 12440 Emily Ct Suite 303, Sugar Land, TX 77478, Monday through Friday 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 5 PM.