I became a first time business owner in early 2016 and didn’t know where to start with my accounting.  McRea Woodson & Associates, INC. got me set up on QuickBooks where they seamlessly and effortlessly connected my shared files to create monthly reports and reviewed my books for accuracy.

Lynn and her crew have been taking care of our taxes both personal and professional for the past 15 years. They do an exemplary job making sure that we only pay what is the correct amount to the IRS and make sure that all of our books stay in good financial order. We would recommend them to anyone.

Lynn and her team has been taking care of our accounting for over a decade. Great work and she really reps you well with the IRS. I would recommend her to take care of any persons or companies taxes anytime.

My husband and I are both independent contractors and need Lynn and McRea Woodson & Associates, INC. for all their strategic help with taxes and accounting.  They are always responsive, helpful, and patient with us.  I am so grateful to have found them!

Nobody likes to be audited, so when I got the letter from the IRS I felt that sick feeling in my stomach. But it was a routine audit, and I am a fastidious record-keeper, so I figured it would just be an inconvenience, not a nightmare. I got copies of canceled checks from the bank and spent hours organizing and annotating my documentation. Alex at MWA drafted the cover letter, indexed my documentation, and sent it all in to the IRS. I thought it was over. But, in fact, it had only begun.

To make a long story short, the IRS repeatedly denied my deductions and made requests that didn’t make sense. For example, many expenses were charged to my credit card, and the IRS wanted proof that I paid for the credit card myself. (Do they think someone else pays my bills!?) My credit card numbers had changed because a data breach at my bank resulted in issuing new cards, and the IRS said the multiple card numbers were a reason to deny the validity of my credit card statements.
Invoices from a contractor were sent to two different email addresses (both mine), and the IRS said that the use of two email addresses was a reason to not accept the invoices as real (even though I had canceled checks and filed a 1099 for the payments.)

This went on for almost two years: I would submit documentation and explanations, and the IRS would reply six months later and deny every claimed expense for weird reasons unrelated to the question of whether the expenses were reasonable, necessary, and real. One of the letters from the IRS referred to the lack of explanation about blank checks that I had submitted, but I can tell you with certainty that I never submitted any blank checks. MWA was with me every step of the way, and their encouragement kept me from giving up, but they were equally frustrated with the lack of rationality from the IRS, and we felt we were inside Alice’s rabbit hole.

After two years, the IRS issued a final decision denying all my deductions and resulting in $10K of additional tax. The IRS letter indicated that I could appeal to tax court, but that was outside my comfort zone. However, they also allowed that I could appeal to a mediation service that is separate from the IRS, which is what I requested. It took three months to get a mediation appointment, but when I finally talked on the phone with the mediator it took less than 10 minutes: she said my records were all exactly as they should be, no tax was owed, and she really couldn’t understand why the IRS questioned any of this. Done. It was really kind of stunning. After over two years of frustrating back-and-forth with the IRS, it took less than 10 minutes for a mediator to say “hey, no problem.”

So, if I can give you advice it is this: keep good records, but don’t expect the IRS to behave rationally. If you get an irrational response from the IRS, be prepared for a long process that makes no sense. In the end, use the mediation service (or tax court if you feel up to it) and you will probably get a rational result. And be thankful that MWA is by your side 🙂

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