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Since 1988, Tax Matters, Inc. has helped individuals and businesses get current with the IRS, and the firm’s approach starts with one principle: clarity creates control.
The Problem Usually Starts Before the Letter Arrives
It rarely happens all at once. A self-employed contractor misses a filing deadline during a rough year and tells himself he’ll catch up. He doesn’t. A small business owner falls behind on payroll taxes while keeping the lights on. A divorce derails someone’s finances for two years, and the returns just don’t get filed. By the time the IRS notice lands in the mailbox, or the bank account gets levied, the problem has compounded quietly for months, sometimes years.
That’s the situation Tax Matters, Inc. sees repeatedly. Based in El Paso at 71 Camille Drive, the firm has worked since 1988 with individuals, families, and business owners who are facing IRS collection actions, unfiled returns, and tax debt they don’t fully understand. According to the firm’s website, its work covers the full range of serious tax problems: unpaid taxes, wage garnishments, audits, bank levies, and payroll tax issues.
The place most people get stuck isn’t resolution. It’s the beginning, figuring out what they actually owe, what years are open, and what options exist.
Getting the Facts Straight First
Tax Matters, Inc. describes its starting point as understanding the facts before recommending anything. That means pulling together records, identifying which years have unfiled returns, and requesting transcripts from the IRS to establish what the agency already has on file.
This step matters more than most people realize. When returns go unfiled, the IRS doesn’t simply wait. It may file a substitute return on a taxpayer’s behalf, using only the income information it has on file. That calculation may omit deductions and credits the taxpayer could legitimately claim, potentially overstating the liability. The result triggers a collection clock, and it may not reflect what a properly filed return would show.
Getting accurate with the numbers isn’t a technicality. It changes what resolution options are actually available.
“For any stresses I have ever felt about interactions with the Internal Revenue Service, giving it over to Doug Rutter is equal to lifting a heavy crucifix from my shoulders. After divorce and falling behind on my tax filings, I went hat in hand to Doug Rutter and Tax Matters. In a matter of a few days, my records were made current. In some cases I had earned a return.”, Jerome Tilghman, El Paso, TX
Addressing Unfiled Returns, and Why Filing Compliance Comes First
Before the IRS will consider a payment arrangement or evaluate an Offer in Compromise, it requires taxpayers to be in filing compliance. For an Offer in Compromise specifically, all required returns must be filed before the IRS will process the application. That’s not a negotiating tactic; it’s policy.
Tax Matters handles delinquent returns as a defined part of its process. The firm works to reconstruct records where documentation is incomplete, identify the correct filing years, and get returns filed and submitted. According to client testimonials on the firm’s site, the timeline for getting current can move faster than people expect.
Richard Anaya, an El Paso client, put it plainly: “I was behind several years on my tax filings, both federal and state. In a matter of weeks, Doug had me current and in compliance with both the fed and the state.”
Filing late returns can also sometimes reveal something taxpayers don’t anticipate. Years that looked like liabilities on paper occasionally turn out differently once deductions and credits are properly applied. That said, refunds don’t remain available indefinitely. Generally, taxpayers have three years from the return’s original due date to claim a refund of withheld income or estimated tax payments.
Evaluating the Options Without Overselling Any of Them
Once the full picture is established, the conversation shifts to resolution. The Bottom Line, Tax Matters’ educational content series, frames this plainly: “Every situation depends on its facts.” That’s not a disclaimer, it’s the actual reason resolution options vary as much as they do.
The firm evaluates several paths depending on the taxpayer’s situation:
- Installment agreements, which allow taxpayers to pay a balance over time in a structured monthly arrangement
- Offers in Compromise, which in qualifying cases allow taxpayers to settle a tax debt for less than the full amount owed
- Currently not collectible status, for taxpayers whose financial situation means collection would create genuine hardship
- Penalty abatement, where applicable, to reduce the total balance
One client, Humberto Fournier, described an Offer in Compromise outcome on the firm’s testimonials page: “I owed the IRS five figures. Doug settled my tax debt for less than $2,000.”
Not every case qualifies for an Offer. The firm is clear that outcomes depend on individual circumstances. But identifying which path fits, and why, is exactly what the evaluation process is designed to determine.
The Firm Behind the Process
Douglas L. Rutter, founder of Tax Matters, Inc.
Douglas L. Rutter founded Tax Matters in 1988. The firm has been covered by CEO Times, the International Business Journal, Texas Today, and other outlets, with coverage focused on its approach to client communication and tax resolution work in the El Paso market.
The Tax Matters Facebook page carries the firm’s guiding line as its description: “Clarity creates control.” It’s a phrase that runs through the firm’s materials and defines how it frames the work, not as crisis management, but as information first, then strategy.
The firm offers a free initial consultation. For anyone sitting on unfiled returns, an IRS notice, or a tax balance that has been growing in the background, that first conversation is where the process starts.
Tax Matters can be reached at (915) 581-1040, or at taxmattersonline.com.
