Paul Witzke, CPA, PFS, CTRS, & Zeb Elkinton Member Spotlight
When ex-IRS agent and CPA Paul Wizke, who has 42 years of experience in tax preparation, joined forces with business management expert Zeb Elkinton, who has 15 years of experience, to create Tax Debt Strategies in 2017, they became a dynamic duo. Creating their tax resolution firm was an easy fit for the two, since they already worked together in a separate firm. Paul is one of four partners of Tax & Wealth Management, LLP, in Corvallis, Oregon, where Zeb Elkinton is the COO. When Paul sold his interest in the tax preparation part of the business, he joined forces with Zeb to form Tax Debt Strategies, where Paul serves as CEO and Zeb serves as COO. The duo began their foray into tax resolution to help their Tax & Wealth Management clients who had problems with the IRS rather than refer them to an outside firm. “Some of our current clients had some needs that we were sending out the door,” Zeb explains. “The comfort level with us was already built, so why not try to do it in-house? We’ve been able to help them get back on track.” Paul and Zeb shared one of their success stories regarding long-term tax prep client Bill, who was a logger in the Pacific Northwest. Due to increasing constraints on logging, he had gotten behind on payroll taxes. “By the time Bill came up for air, he owed about $140,000,” Paul says. “He had the trust fund recovery penalty on the personal side plus the corporate tax liability. We told Bill that our fee for taking care of him was going to be $20,000. He accepted that, and so we did two offers in compromise.” Zeb picks up the story, saying, “Our biggest hurdle with that case was dissipation of assets when Bill sold his home and paid off everybody but the IRS. We helped the IRS see that, in order to keep his business alive, he needed to pay off those other debtors. Painting a picture for the revenue officer was really important for us. We were able to settle under $20,000 for both OICs, which $16,000 was for his nonliable spouse’s camping trailer that he paid off.”
When Paul and Zeb began doing tax resolution work in 2017, they researched ways to educate themselves and learn the marketing so they could develop a successful business plan and implement effective strategies. Paul joined Roz Strategies and the American Society of Tax Problem Solvers (ASTPS) and earned the Certified Tax Resolution Specialist credential (CTRS). Paul and Zeb have both attended the Roz Strategies Tax Resolution Success Summits in 2017 (Nashville) and 2018 (Austin), where the takeaways were a great marketing action plan and great barbecue! “The first year at the
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