David Rappaport, Enrolled Agent Member Spotlight
In the movie “The Godfather Part III,” Al Pacino’s character, Michael Corleone, says, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”The same can be said of David Rappaport, who was doing tax resolution from the mid-1990s until 2007. Then in 2010, his clients brought him back into the industry. Except in David’s case, he was glad they did. David shares how it all started: “It was the mid-1990s, and I was working with my dad. We had a tax practice, and one of my father’s CPA friends got into trouble with the IRS. We found something called Compliance 2000, an IRS program that came out in the mid-1990s.”The father and son team helped their colleague resolve his tax problem and realized that tax resolution should be a part of their practice. From that moment on until 2007, when David’s father passed away, tax resolution was a focus of their business, which was based in New York and Florida. After 2007, David didn’t want to do tax resolution, but he says, “In 2010, people literally started begging me. ‘Hey, can you help me again? Are you still doing this work?’” He decided to help some clients and realized how much he missed representing people before the IRS. With his long history in tax resolution, David knew about Michael Rozbruch long before he met him and became a charter member of Roz Strategies in 2014 when Michael launched his company. When asked about why he joined and the success he has enjoyed since, David says, “The attraction was having a clear pathway for marketing, pricing, and a blueprint of how to run a tax resolution practice. Michael always has an answer to your problem. The Q&A call is probably the most important feature besides the upgraded pricing lists. I’ve doubled my income in the last few years just from his pricing models.” David says he relies mainly on referral marketing to get new clients. “I don’t need hundreds or thousands of clients. I need good clients who stick with me and want personal service,” he explains. “I actually have clients in 16 different states. They all are New Yorkers, ex-New Yorkers, families of New Yorkers, friends of New Yorkers, partners of New Yorkers, or Florida people. It’s always been by referral, word of mouth, and doing a good job for my clients.”
happy if his liability could be reduced to $200,000. David analyzed the case and determined that his client was a good fit for an offer in compromise. He put in an offer for $28,000 to settle the case. David’s client said the offer was ridiculous and wondered aloud why they should even bother. David’s answer was simple: The IRS goes by the numbers. The revenue officer didn’t agree with David, so David requested a manager review the offer. The manager didn’t agree with David’s number, either, but countered with $33,000. “I wasn’t going to jump for joy,” he says. “I’m like, ‘Well, okay, let me get back to you. I’m only authorized for $28,000 on a five-month payment arrangement.’ I talked to my client and said, ‘Joe, they’re offering $33,000.’ He said, ‘Why didn’t you take it?’ I said, ‘Because I just wanted to play the game they’re playing.’”David went back to the revenue officer with a counter-offer to accept the $33,000 but to spread the payments over 24 months. David says, “My client was ready to pay to $200,000.” While his practice is still based in New York City, David and his wife, Caryn, decided to move their family to Connecticut in 2017. Blessed with 5-year-old twin boys, Maxwell and Joshua, the couple moved to a community where their boys play outside in their yard, David can get into the city via a short train ride, and Caryn, a nurse practitioner specializing in oncology, practices at a local hospital. David acknowledges that life in Connecticut is good, but says, “I’m still a New Yorker.”
David shares one story of how he helped a client who owed well over $650,000 to the IRS and who said he would be
4 • www.rozstrategies.com
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