PLATINUM MASTERMIND MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Len Nelms is a family man, and Fair Tax Solutions is a family business, now in its third generation. But that wasn’t Len’s original plan. He went to the University of Alabama with a plan to go to law school after receiving his bachelor’s degree but says, “It turns out I didn’t have any money, and I was a bad student. That’s not a good combination to go to law school,” Len says with a laugh. “So, I tell people I majored in graduation!” Armed with a degree in criminology, and as Len describes it, “no discernable skills,” he turned to sales where he built a career that lasted 25 years. Len’s dad, Leonard G. Nelms, who was an accountant with a traditional tax practice, had other plans and asked Len to come in after hours to input W-2s into the tax software. “That was my first exposure to tax, and I thought, ‘Well, this is kind of interesting,’” Len recalls. Len says he had no interest in leaving his sales career, despite repeated suggestions from his dad to go back to school, learn accounting, and take over the family business. “I told my dad, ‘Why don’t we just leave that up to God? If he wants me to do that, he will work it out.’” Len figured it was case closed, but a downturn in the construction industry in 2009 led to his layoff from his construction-related sales job. It seems God was indeed working things out. Len went to work for his dad, went back to school, and earned his CPA license in 2014. He soon learned that other than tax prep, he wasn’t interested in traditional CPA work. He started researching online for ways he could use his expertise and began seeing videos from Michael Rozbruch. Then he heard Michael speak at an ASTPS Conference in 2018. “The rest is history,” Len says. “I bought the Tax Resolution Domination System and signed up for the membership. I went to the Success Summit, got fired up, and signed up for the Platinum Mastermind.”When Len joined Platinum, he was doing about $100K in resolution, and in 2022, he did over $400K in resolution. “I’m grateful for the growth and know it will continue under Michael’s guidance.” Len shares that his biggest challenge in the beginning was not knowing what he was doing, but he says, “I had Michael as a resource, I took cases, and I figured it out as I went along.” One of Len’s first cases was for a friend who had a tax problem and says, “He hired me to do an offer in compromise. We didn’t Len Nelms, CPA
get the OIC, but we did get him on a partial pay installment agreement, and he was thrilled.”
Len says his favorite case so far is an offer in compromise that hasn’t yet been resolved yet. The taxpayers have three children, one of whom was severely injured in a bicycle accident. The child requires 24-hour care, and the parents are not able to pay their tax debt. “Getting the IRS to understand that they’re never going to be able to pay what they owe has been difficult,” Len says. “I think we’re going to get a favorable resolution, but it has been dragging out for two years. In my mind, they’re the reason the IRS put this program in place.” Asked about what’s working best in his business, Len quickly says, “My daughter, Chloe. Because she’s here, our business is starting to take off. She has shown great aptitude for handling cases with me, but she is also very good at organizing the business and setting up systems, which I’m not good at. She loves working with me. I love working with her. And it’s been a real blessing.” Len and his wife Tammi of 37 years have two children, Chloe, who works with Len, and Christian, who is a detective with the Cherokee Co. (GA) Sheriff’s Office. Both Chloe and Christian served in the U.S. Army, and Chloe will finish her commitment with the Army National Guard just ahead of her upcoming marriage in May. In his spare time, Len and Tammi are active in their church. He says, “I belong to a Christian organization called The Gideons International. It’s a great ministry, and we get an opportunity to put a lot of scriptures in people’s hands.” Returning to thoughts about the family business, Len says Chloe represents the future. “It really is a family business. I joined my dad in the practice way back when. Now, Chloe has joined me, and most recently, this year, my niece Kelly has joined us. My dad passed away in June. He was 86. But he got to see that the business is passing down from generation to generation.”
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