Los Angeles, CA – September 16, 2026 – Golden State Tax Relief is making its dedicated payroll tax resolution services available to California business owners who are currently contending with delinquent federal employment taxes, outstanding IRS Form 941 balances, proposed Trust Fund Recovery Penalty assessments, or open California Employment Development Department collection activity. The firm, led by Dennis Cozen with more than 40 years of experience representing taxpayers before the IRS and California state tax authorities, is offering free initial consultations to help owners understand their exposure before enforcement advances further.
Who This Announcement Is For
This matters most if you’re already under an IRS notice, facing a proposed TFRP assessment, or carrying an open EDD balance that hasn’t yet moved to lien or levy. The earlier in the enforcement sequence you get qualified representation, the more options are on the table. Businesses that have already received a final assessment or are facing federal criminal tax proceedings are in a different situation entirely, and this announcement addresses that directly below.
Why Payroll Tax Debt Is Different
The Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP) is a personal liability imposed on individuals deemed responsible for a business’s failure to remit withheld payroll taxes. That distinction matters. When a business withholds federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare from employee paychecks but doesn’t send those funds to the IRS, the government treats the unremitted amounts as a separate, priority obligation. The IRS can then pursue the individuals it determines were both responsible for remitting those funds and willful in failing to do so.
The IRS doesn’t make that determination based on job title. It looks at actual financial authority: who signed checks, who directed payments to vendors over the IRS, who controlled the business accounts. A sole owner and a bookkeeper with full account access can face the same scrutiny. If the business closes, the liability doesn’t close with it. It follows the individual.
What the Enforcement Sequence Looks Like
According to IRS guidance, when the IRS proposes a Trust Fund Recovery Penalty, it issues Letter 1153 to the proposed responsible person. From there, the sequence is:
Letter 1153 is issued to the proposed responsible person, naming the tax periods and amounts at issue. A 30 to 60 day administrative review window opens during which the proposed assessment can be challenged through the IRS Independent Office of Appeals. After the assessment finalizes, the options to contest it narrow considerably and require a different process.
Most business owners don’t learn that the administrative review window has a hard close until it’s already shorter than it was. The thing only experienced practitioners understand in practice is how quickly the first few weeks disappear while a business owner is still deciding whether the notice is real or routine. It isn’t.
California Runs Its Own Track
Federal representation alone won’t resolve a California payroll tax problem. The EDD administers its own collections process on its own timeline, completely independently of IRS proceedings. A business owner actively responding to a federal Form 941 notice can simultaneously have a state EDD balance moving toward a California tax lien, with no coordination between the two agencies.
Treating these as sequential problems rather than concurrent ones tends to produce worse outcomes. Golden State Tax Relief handles both federal IRS matters and California EDD and Franchise Tax Board issues, so a resolution strategy can account for both tracks at the same time rather than patching one while the other advances.
What Honest Resolution Can and Can’t Do
Not every case qualifies for the same resolution path. A structured installment agreement stops immediate enforcement and establishes a payment schedule. Where documented reasonable cause exists, a penalty abatement request may reduce what’s owed. Where a business has closed and the owner’s ability to pay is genuinely limited, an Offer in Compromise allows the IRS to accept a settled amount rather than the full liability, though qualifying requires meeting specific IRS criteria and isn’t available in every case.
Consider a typical situation: a business owner receives Letter 1153 proposing a six-figure TFRP. If willfulness can be credibly challenged, and the facts support that challenge, the administrative review process is where that argument is made. That window is finite. Once the assessment finalizes, the same argument requires a different and narrower avenue, and not all cases are positioned to survive it.
This service is most effective when willfulness can be credibly challenged and the proposed assessment hasn’t yet finalized. Cases that have progressed to federal criminal tax proceedings fall outside civil tax resolution entirely and require criminal defense counsel. Golden State Tax Relief will say so directly rather than accept an engagement it isn’t designed to serve.
Timelines depend on how far enforcement has advanced and whether both federal and state liabilities require resolution. There are no guaranteed outcomes in tax resolution work, and Golden State Tax Relief doesn’t offer them.
Contact Golden State Tax Relief
California business owners with open payroll tax periods, unresolved Form 941 balances, a proposed TFRP assessment, or active EDD collection activity are encouraged to request a free initial consultation. The consultation is designed to assess actual exposure, identify what resolution options currently apply, and determine whether immediate action is warranted.
Contact Golden State Tax Relief at (310) 396-3154 or visit https://goldenstatetaxrelief.com.
About Golden State Tax Relief
Golden State Tax Relief provides IRS and state tax resolution services to individuals and business owners throughout California facing complex tax problems, including payroll tax liabilities, levies, wage garnishments, audits, and unfiled returns. The firm is led by Dennis Cozen, who brings more than 40 years of experience representing taxpayers before the IRS and California tax authorities. Golden State Tax Relief offers free initial consultations and delivers personalized resolution strategies grounded in direct professional advocacy.
Media Contact
Company Name: Golden State Tax Relief
Contact Person: Dennis Cozen
Email: Send Email
Phone: +1 (301) 396-3154
City: Los Angeles
State: California
Country: United States
Website: https://goldenstatetaxrelief.com/
