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The Roz Report
MARCH/APRIL 2024 888.670.0303 WWW.ROZSTRATEGIES.COM
AUTHORIZED MEMBER 2023
Charting Success Crafting a Visionary Blueprint for the Future Last September, Roslyn wrote in her Food for Thought column about us attending a 3-day Vivid Vision Retreat hosted by Jennifer Hudye. A Vivid Vision is where you create your vision of what you want to happen, in either your business or personal life, three years from now as if it already happened. As entrepreneurs and business owners, we often have a vision of the future but sometimes have difficulty communicating our dreams and goals to our employees. After attending the Retreat, Roslyn and I had clear ideas of what we wanted our business and lives to look and feel like on Dec. 31, 2026. We knew the next step would be to write out our Vivid Vision and share it with our Roz Team. We ended up hiring Jennifer and her team to help us create our document. In creating our vision, Roslyn and I got detailed about everything, from how many clients we will have, what our revenue will look like, and what new programs we will develop or will have developed by that date. Roslyn then added in pictures and had the 14-page professionally designed document printed up for everyone, and we rolled it out to our team in our conference room. Each person read a paragraph about our aspirations for our core business activities, our values and culture of the company, and even the physical headquarters of the business. At the end, we included a note from Roslyn and me. In the next three years, all the effort we and everyone on our team will focus on is making that vision a reality. Any time there’s a decision to do something new in our company or change the way we already do something, the question we ask ourselves now is, “Does this align with our vision?” It helps in the decision-making process. Another insight I learned is that having a vision inspires a change in your thinking. Every decision you make should be driven by that vision as if it has already come to fruition. You set your direction not as if you were working toward the vision, but as if you were already there.
Vivid Vision 2026
Communicating your mission to your team is critical. Your team members must be able to see themselves in the picture you are envisioning. Our team’s exercise in Vivid Visioning clarified the path forward. Our vision will serve as our north star, keeping everyone in the business rowing the boat in the same direction. Jennifer Hudye, Founder and CEO of Vision Driven Global, who helped us create and refine our vision, gave us a framed picture with one of her sayings: “Hold the vision, not the circumstance.” When the going gets rough, and you feel caught up in day- to-day distractions, hold onto your vision and don’t let your circumstance of the moment stop you. Even if you only have a small team of 2–3 people, or even if you’re a solopreneur, I recommend you give some thoughts to what you want your life and business to look like in the next three years, and document it. As the leader of your company, you have big ideas for the future, and it’s important to be clear on those for yourself and help your team see your vision. If your team understands your vision, and sees themselves in that vision, they will be willing to put in the effort to achieve it.
–Michael Rozbruch
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WHO IS YOUR FUTURE SELF? FOOD FOR THOUGHT
One of my favorite quotes is by Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic Coach: “Always make your future bigger than your past.” As some of my friends are retiring and winding things down, I think about Dan’s words, my future self, and all the possibilities before me. In other words, I’m not retiring anytime soon. Reinvention is more like it. I’m actually in the process of an Identity Upgrade. You might wonder — what’s an Identity Upgrade? The best way for me to describe it is to say that it’s what you want your future self to be. How many times have you looked in the past to see the person you were, and how often do you look to the future to see the person you want to be? It’s so much easier to look at the past than the future, and see who you were versus who you will be. With an Identity Upgrade, you’re looking to the future to the person you want to be. I don’t mean casually looking to the future and wishing you could be better. I mean actively pursuing — that this is the person I see myself as, in the next year, three years, or whatever years. Even though I’m in the middle of an Identity Upgrade, I didn’t know there was a name for it. Then one day while meeting with my business coach and friend Jennifer Hudye, she told me the name. In the business Michael and I have, I’m lucky to have seen so many people make that Identity Upgrade (also without realizing there was a name for it). People will come into our world wanting to become a tax resolution specialist or expand their existing tax resolution business, and from my side, I watch the transformation happen as some take classes to become an Enrolled Agent, while others find a way to exit their tax prep business to focus solely on high-value tax resolution clients. “How many times have you looked in the past to see the person you were, and how often do you look to the future to see the person you want to be?”
It’s a wonderful feeling to see how many people have achieved their goals and become the person they want to be, and knowing Michael, our team and I have been a part of making that happen. It’s also easier to make that personal upgrade when you’re doing it with a coach or in a community of like-minded people. For all of the achievements in my life, yes, I’ve done the work, but I couldn’t have achieved the success I have without the guidance of others who were experts showing me the way. Working with Jennifer, one of the things she helped Michael and me create was a Vivid Vision for our company three years from now. We created it and shared it with our team, and with every decision we make going forward, we ask ourselves: Does this align with our vision? If it doesn’t, we don’t pursue that opportunity. The same is true with an Identity Upgrade. I have an idea of what I want my future self to be, and then I take action to make it happen. For example, one of my Identity Upgrades is to be more focused on my best health for the future. I’m a person who eats healthy and works out, but in the past few months, I’ve been even more focused on my future health. A few of the things I’ve been doing include consciously setting goals to drink more water and take more steps, and I even joined a program called OsteoStrong, specifically designed to make sure I keep my balance and muscle strength. With every decision I make for my future health, I ask myself the same question I did when Michael and I created the Vivid Vision for our business: Does this align with my future self? Other Identity Upgrades are on my list; it’s not just my health I’m looking to improve, but the point is that I’m still learning, growing, and reinventing myself. In the words of Dan Sullivan, I’m still making my future bigger than my past. This all leads me back to you and my questions for you: Have you thought of your Future Self lately? How do you see yourself in the next three years? Who is that person you want to be, and what will you do to make that happen? It’s something to think about. –Roslyn Rozbruch
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From the Practice Corner THE BIG, UGLY IRS DISCONNECT OPINION
Every month, I share a tip, strategy, or information that is helpful for those in the tax resolution industry. But this month, I had to share my opinion of how I see it with regard to what’s going on at the IRS and dealing with them. It amazes me how large the disconnect is between what the top IRS brass thinks is happening on the ground versus what’s really going on in the trenches. The National Taxpayer Advocate, Erin Collins, delivered her annual report to Congress in January, and although the IRS did make some positive moves, most of the challenges she cited in her 2021 report were still at the top of her list in 2024. The biggest issue is taxpayer service or lack thereof. Taxpayers, and their representatives, continue to experience long delays that require employees to process tax returns and respond to taxpayer correspondence. Yep, the one thing the IRS should be exemplary at is the same thing they just can’t get their arms around, even with an $80 billion war chest. Case in point: There were 500,000 tax identity theft cases pending at the end of (FY) 2023. These cases are taking, on average, 19 months to resolve. Collins called these delays “unconscionable” and urged the IRS to place a higher priority on resolving these quickly. What are the 10,000 newly hired employees doing? When you read the press releases put out by Danny Werfel, the new IRS commissioner, you’d think you’re living in a different universe. Per the new commissioner, everything is sunshine and rainbows. As recently as a few weeks ago, Mr. Werfel delivered a presentation before the House Oversight and
Accountability Committee and said, “The billions of dollars the IRS got as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act are working exactly as intended and that the IRS is dramatically improving its customer service.” I speak to dozens of our Roz Strategies members every month via one-on-one coaching calls, webinars, teleseminars, and other trainings I do, and all I hear is how inexperienced and untrained the frontline IRS folks are, especially in the Priority Service Line (PPL), the Automated Collection System (ACS), and the Offer in Compromise Unit (OIC). Practitioners, who are retained to help their clients, are frustrated and disillusioned. They’re all wondering: When is it going to get better? Practitioners are forced to speak to 3-4 agents (sometimes even more) when it should take one try before they get an agent who knows what they’re doing and can help. The smallest issue is taking longer and longer to resolve. It truly is unconscionable. If the IRS were a for-profit, private corporation, I suspect all 50 states’ attorney generals, the CFPB, and the FTC would be suing the IRS for misleading and deceptive advertising and unfair business practices. I do hope, for the taxpayer’s and practitioner’s sakes, that this is not the new normal at the IRS. But, that’s just how I see it for now. –Michael Rozbruch
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Sometimes, it’s one defining moment in time that sparks us to make a change in our lives. For Thorpe Petersen of Thorpe Petersen Taxes & Accounting PLLC, it was two moments, or actually resolving two IRS cases, that were the catalyst for him to decide to add tax resolution services to his practice. The first moment was when a client came to him with a late filing penalty of $2,400 for his S Corp. Thorpe said, “I didn’t have to do any special letters. It was just a phone call to the IRS, and that’s all it took to get the penalty waived or abated.” The second moment happened soon after when Thorpe had a client with a tax liability of $500,000, and he was able to get him on an Installment Agreement. The intrinsic feeling he had in helping his clients made adding tax resolution to his practice a natural fit. “There’s a satisfaction in being able to help someone, not avoid the IRS, but get in a situation where they can comply with the IRS to the best of their ability.”Thorpe adds, “I found that I don’t like doing taxes for individuals or businesses.” Another aspect of tax resolution that Thorpe enjoys is the opportunity to increase his fees and be paid what his knowledge is worth. “I don’t have the issue with the fees I charge for tax resolution. I tell them that this is what it’s going to cost, and it happens. Tax prep seems like there’s always some kind of pushback,” he says. Thorpe began his career in 1970 and worked for a variety of companies but always had tax clients on the side. It wasn’t until 2003 that he struck out on his own. “My wife and I talked and just decided we’d kicked this around long enough, and that’s when I went on my own,”Thorpe says. When he first started his business, Thorpe was concerned about his ability to bring in business. He says, “I was worried from one week to the next, ‘Am I going to have a paycheck?’ So, it wasn’t easy.” But he stuck with it for over 20 years, and around five years ago, he started to wade into the tax resolution waters. Thorpe says the difference between tax prep and resolution is, “You don’t have to be a genius to fill out a tax return. It takes confidence and understanding and a willingness to learn to do tax resolution … and not being afraid to talk to the IRS.” FOUNDER’S MASTERMIND MEMBER SPOTLIGHT Thorpe Petersen, CPA
Thorpe, Francisca, and their children
While the details of his initial venture into the Roz Strategies Founder’s Mastermind are hard for him to recall, he does remember he was impressed by the initial training, and now the support he receives from Michael, the Roz Team, and the other Founder’s Mastermind members. He credits that support with changing his mindset to realize he can represent a client before the IRS without having to know everything there is about tax resolution. “Without that community, I would not have the confidence I have now to be able to negotiate with the IRS.” With his newfound confidence, Thorpe is doing more marketing. He’s currently marketing to the PTIN list but says he’s seeing the most success from Google advertising and his website. He believes the positive reviews he’s received have been a part of what has helped him rank high on Google organically. He used a simple strategy to obtain reviews. He explains, “I added a link in my email (that’s linked to Google), so when I email a client, that link is there, and I ask that they click on the link.” As his business continues to grow, the thing Thorpe looks forward to the most is spending more time with his family. “The reason I’m involved with tax resolution is to free up my time so we can do more of the things we’d like to do,”Thorpe says. Thorpe and his wife Francisca have three grown children, Thorpe Jr., Laura, and Lorena; eight grandkids; and at least three great-grandkids, saying it’s sometimes hard to keep track of his big family. He looks forward to the day when he can teach his 5-year-old grandson about some of his favorite hobbies when he was a kid, such as building model cars and airplanes.
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THE SUPER EARLY BIRD IS HERE!
Save the Date for the 9th Annual Virtual Event Aug. 22–24, 2024
Take flight at the 9th Annual Tax Resolution Success Summit Virtual where you’ll learn to be Top Gun as a tax resolution specialist! Register now for early-bird pricing! For more details, visit RozStrategies.com/summit
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit RozStrategies.com/summit , contact our concierge Ruthie at Ruthie@RozStrategies.com, or call our offices at 888-670-0303.
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SHOUT OUT
Congratulations to Frances Tomes for securing five small-business clients with Revenue Officers in just two weeks. Thanks for sharing. You’re on fire with your marketing! High five to Joe Aguilar for the release of his new book, “The Official Guide to Tax Resolution” and for having an article published in Referee Magazine. These are both ways of making you ACE
(Authority, Credibility, and Expert) as a tax resolution specialist. Kudos to Sharon Lewis for hosting her first webinar to get clients and for scheduling to do more of them. Congrats to Yvette Best for her well- deserved feature on the winter cover of Southern Crescent Women in Business Magazine. You are also an ACE tax resolution specialist! High five to Phil Foster for using the information he learned from a recent Roz Strategies training to negotiate a settlement of $3,000 for his client down from $25,000 owed to the IRS. Way to go Brian Manthe for retaining his first tax resolution client and collecting his first fee. Congrats to Humberto Gaitan , a newcomer to tax resolution, for successfully securing his first client. High five to Yolanda Washington who has a 100% enrollment rate in the Client Care Package and for calling the Client Care Package the best investment ever. Kudos to everyone in our Founder’s Mastermind who participated in the
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TS !
Happy Birthday to Our Members!
exclusive Founder’s Mastermind Immersion Training on “How to Represent Your Client in an Audit and Win” with Parham Khorsandi. Way to go, Thorpe Petersen , Laura Bourbonnais , Sharla Clark , and Aidela Zirkind , for mailing out your referral letters. High five to Paulette Marshall for sending out the letter to your existing and previous
clients introducing IRS Representation Services.
Do you have a story or picture to share with us about something you’ve implemented, a client you’ve helped with a tax problem, or anything else you’d like to share? If you do, email it to Info@RozStrategies.com, and we will give a Shout Out to you!
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Inside This Issue
pg 1 ∙
Align Your Team Behind a Vivid Vision
pg 2 ∙
Food for Thought: Who Is Your Future Self?
pg 3 ∙
The Big Ugly IRS Disconnect
pg 4 ∙
Member Spotlight: Thorpe Petersen, CPA
pg 5 ∙
Don’t Miss Out on Early Bird Pricing for the Tax Resolution Success Summit
pg 6 ∙
Shout Outs!
pg 8 ∙
Hunter Biden Hit With Criminal Tax Evasion Charges
Prosecutors allege Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills.” The cash, the indictment says, went for “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes.” Biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Court filings show a loan from a friend enabled him to pay $2 million in delinquent taxes in 2021. The tax case was close to resolution last July (2023) until a plea deal, in which Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges, fell apart. The current nine-count criminal indictment, issued in December, stems from Biden’s lucrative corporate consulting relationships, private equity deals, and legal fees tied to his business dealings with a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, and a Chinese private equity fund. Prosecutors allege that
Biden “subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company” and filed fraudulent returns claiming “false business deductions in order to evade assessment of taxes to reduce the substantial tax liabilities he faced.” The 56-page indictment mentions Hunter Biden’s 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” which describes his personal struggles with substance abuse and addiction. The younger Biden has since said publicly that he hasn’t used drugs or alcohol since June 2019. Biden’s attorney claims prosecutors bowed to Republican pressure in pursuing the indictment, asserting that Biden has paid his taxes in full. We won’t know for months whether Biden will do prison time or be exonerated. The trial is tentatively set to begin in June. Whatever the outcome, the indictment underscores an important fact: Ties to power offer no shield against the long reach of the IRS.
Hunter Biden Faces Possible Prison Time in $1.4 Million Tax Case IRS TERROR TALE OF THE MONTH
Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, is in big trouble with the IRS, and he’s been charged with nine counts brought by special counsel David Weiss of the Justice Department that include failure to file and pay taxes, evasion of assessment, and fraudulent tax returns. According to Weiss, Hunter Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million” in taxes that he owed from 2016-2019. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison.
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