“Three years of unfiled returns had turned into a pile of envelopes I couldn't open. Vivian opened them with me, one at a time, and by spring I was on a payment plan I could actually keep.”
Daniel R.Unfiled returns and a payment plan
Tax law in Sacramento
The letter from the IRS is on the table. Let's read it together.
I'm Vivian Hsu, a tax lawyer. I help people and small businesses answer audits, settle tax debts they can't pay at once, and keep a business open while it catches up.
What happens to my…
What happens to my house, my paycheck, my kids?
These are the questions people ask before they ask anything else. The short answers are below; the long ones depend on your letters, and we go through those together.
Will the IRS take my house?
Very rarely, and never first. A tax lien can attach to a home, which matters when you sell or refinance, but taking a home someone lives in needs a judge's approval and comes after a long run of notices. We use that time.
Liens and tax debtWhat happens to my paycheck?
A wage levy takes part of every check until the debt is paid or an arrangement is in place. Getting one released is often the first thing we work on, because the rest is easier once your pay is whole.
Stopping a levyCan they empty my bank account?
A bank levy freezes what's in the account the day it arrives, then the bank waits 21 days before sending the money. If one has landed, call that week: those days are when it can still be undone.
Bank leviesDoes this follow my kids?
Children don't inherit a parent's tax debt; it's paid from the estate, if there's anything left in it. A spouse who signed a joint return can sometimes be relieved of a debt that was really the other's.
Spouses and joint returnsWill I lose my car?
Seizing cars is rare. The car you need to get to work is an ordinary expense in the budget we put in front of the IRS when we work out what you can afford to pay each month.
What you can affordCan I keep my business open?
Usually. Unpaid payroll taxes are the ones to act on quickly, because the IRS can make them personal to the owners. The aim is a plan the business pays from what it earns while it keeps trading.
Business tax debt
Before you call
What people ask on the first call
I got a letter from the IRS. Do I have to answer it?
Yes, and by the date printed on it. Many letters can be answered in writing, without a meeting. Some deadlines protect rights you lose if you miss them, so bring the letter in before that date, even if you can't pay what it says.
Do I have to talk to the auditor myself?
No. Once you sign a power of attorney, I speak to the IRS for you. Many clients never sit in a room with an examiner at all.
I haven't filed for a few years. Where do I start?
With the missing returns. The IRS will usually only agree to a payment arrangement once your filing is current, so we get those done first, using the IRS's own record of your income if yours is lost.
What will this cost?
You'll know before any work starts. After a first meeting you get a written quote for the work we discussed, and most matters are billed at a set fee for each stage rather than by the hour.
Can you help if I don't live in Sacramento?
Most tax work happens on paper and by phone, so in many cases, yes. We can meet on video and sign everything electronically.
Meet Vivian
I read every letter as if it were addressed to me
Tax law is mostly letters: what the IRS asks for, what it will accept and when it will settle. I learned to read them closely, and now I read them for people who open the mail with their stomach in a knot.
I work on my own. The person who reads your notices is the person who calls the examiner, drafts the offer and answers your email.
An office on L Street, near the Capitol
Video meetings if you can't come in
A written quote before work starts
English and Mandarin
Vivian Hsu
Tax lawyer
The work
Answer. Settle. Protect.
Nearly everything this practice does is one of three things.
An audit letter, a notice that your numbers don't match theirs, a return the IRS filed for you. I read it, tell you what it's really asking, and answer it with the records that support you.
Back taxes, penalties and interest you can't pay in one go. We find the arrangement that fits what you earn: a payment plan, an offer, a pause in collection, or penalties taken off.
Payroll taxes that fell behind, a penalty aimed at the owners themselves, a business audit. We keep the doors open while the filings and the payments catch up.
From clients
What it was like on the other side of the letter
“The audit letter asked for receipts from a year I'd moved house twice. She told me which ones mattered, and she wrote the reply herself.”
Priya S.Individual audit
“Our catering company fell behind on payroll taxes over one bad winter. We stayed open, and the plan was built around our slow months, not the IRS's calendar.”
Tom and Ana V.Payroll tax debt
Every client's tax situation is different. These comments don't promise a similar result in yours.
Bring the letter. We'll start there.
Call or send a short note. In a first meeting I'll read what you've received, tell you what it means, what I'd do next and what that would cost.
Please don't send tax documents, Social Security numbers or account numbers through this site.