The quality of a first consultation tracks the quality of its inputs. Show up with nothing and you get sympathy and generalities; show up with the right short stack and you leave with an actual assessment - what is real, what is urgent, and what the resolution likely looks like. Here is the stack.
The IRS's Side of the Story
Every notice and letter you have, especially the most recent and anything mentioning deadlines - Final Notices, deficiency notices, and lien filings carry rights that expire on schedule, and the dates on them set the whole strategy. Do not curate; the letter you think is unimportant is sometimes the one that matters. If you have online IRS account access, transcripts are gold. If you do not, no problem - a power of attorney lets me pull every year directly, which is often the first work of the engagement.
Your Side of the Story
Recent returns if you have them, and an honest list of unfiled years if you do not - the unfiled years are the thing people most want to hide and the thing most necessary to say out loud. A rough monthly picture: household income, rent or mortgage, the major bills. It does not need to be polished; it needs to be honest, because capacity drives every resolution option and I can spot the likely exit from rough numbers in minutes.
If anyone else has touched the case - a tax relief company, a prior accountant - bring their contract and anything they filed. Verifying what was actually done is fast and frequently illuminating.
And the Question You Are Afraid to Ask
Bring that too. The cash income, the letter ignored for a year, the thing you have told no one - the consultation is privileged, I have heard worse, and the scary fact disclosed early is a strategy input while the same fact discovered late is a crisis. Thirty minutes of preparation buys you a real plan. The calendar is open; let's talk.