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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