Tax Attorney in Clint, TX
Farm income arrives in a season and the IRS worksheet expects it monthly. El Paso Tax Law handles unfiled returns, liens on family land and levy notices across the Lower Valley. Call (915) 465-9303.
Farm Income Does Not Fit the Standard IRS Worksheet
With a population counted at 923 in the 2020 census, this is one of the smallest incorporated communities in the county, and its economy runs on agriculture and the trades that support it.
That matters because the IRS collection financial analysis was built around a wage earner. It asks for monthly income and compares it against monthly allowable expenses. Farming does not produce monthly income. It produces a crop, a sale, and a year's earnings arriving across a few weeks, while irrigation assessments, equipment notes, fuel, seed, and labor run continuously and often peak months before any revenue appears.
Fed into the standard worksheet without adjustment, that pattern produces an ability-to-pay figure that is simply wrong. A payment set against September income becomes impossible by March, the installment agreement defaults, and the account returns to enforced collection with levy authority restored. The correction is not a persuasive argument. It is documentation: a full production-year record, substantiated operating costs, and where appropriate a partial payment installment agreement structured against the remaining collection statute rather than a conventional plan that assumes steady earnings.
Land, Heirs, and Liens
Agricultural land in the valley has frequently stayed within families across several generations, and the ownership records reflect that history. Property is often held among multiple heirs, sometimes through informal arrangements that were never documented, and income from leasing acreage or from a share of a crop may be divided by long practice rather than by written agreement.
A federal tax lien against any one of those owners attaches to that person's interest in the land. It does not reach the other owners' shares, but as a practical matter it obstructs everyone, because a title search reveals it and no buyer or lender will proceed until it is cleared. Families discover this at the point of a sale, a refinance, or a probate, typically with a transaction already in motion.
Two remedies exist short of paying the balance. A certificate of discharge removes the lien from a specific parcel so a transaction can close, and subordination allows a lender to take priority so financing can fund. Both take weeks to process, which is why identifying a lien early rather than at closing is worth a great deal. Property records for the area are maintained by the El Paso Central Appraisal District, and municipal matters run through the Town of Clint offices on San Elizario Road.
Unfiled Years and the Substitute for Return
Among small operators here, the most common starting point is not a disputed balance. It is several years with no return filed at all, usually because a difficult season made the filing feel pointless and then the backlog became intimidating.
Leaving them unfiled carries a specific and underappreciated cost. The IRS can prepare a Substitute for Return on a taxpayer's behalf, and it does so using reported income with no deductions whatsoever. For a farming operation that means no seed, no fuel, no equipment depreciation, no labor, no irrigation costs, and the least favorable filing status available. Gross receipts are taxed as though they were profit. Assessments produced this way routinely run several times the actual liability.
The remedy is available and frequently dramatic: an accurate original return can still be filed for a year the IRS has already assessed this way, and doing so replaces the inflated figure with the real one. Many balances shrink substantially before any settlement conversation begins. County services supporting this process are administered through El Paso County.
Replacing Six Substitutes for Return for a Pecan and Alfalfa Operation
The Situation
A family farming roughly 90 acres of pecan and alfalfa along the Lower Valley had not filed a federal return since 2017, following two poor seasons and the death of the operator who had handled the paperwork. The IRS had prepared Substitutes for Return for six years, treating gross sales receipts as taxable income with no allowance for any farming expense. The resulting assessment came to approximately $268,000, and a Final Notice of Intent to Levy had been issued against the operating account.
Our Approach
A Collection Due Process hearing was requested within the 30-day window, which suspended levy action while the matter was worked. Six accurate original returns were then prepared from gin and buyer settlement statements, irrigation district assessments, equipment invoices, and fuel records, claiming the operating costs the IRS had disregarded entirely. Farm income averaging was applied where it produced a better result, and reasonable cause penalty relief was argued on the basis of the operator's death and the records disruption that followed.
The Outcome
The assessed balance fell from roughly $268,000 to approximately $39,000 once actual farming expenses were recognized. Penalty abatement removed an additional $11,200. The remainder was resolved through a partial payment installment agreement with payments scheduled around the harvest cycle, and the levy was never executed.
Client name changed. Results vary based on individual circumstances. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Working With the Firm From the Lower Valley
The office sits on Rojas Drive, a straightforward drive northwest, though travel is rarely necessary. Representation is established by a filed power of attorney and the matter is worked directly with the IRS, so consultations happen by phone in English or Spanish and documents are exchanged electronically.
Where a levy notice has arrived, enforcement response is the immediate priority, because the deadlines run in days rather than months. Where the issue is unfiled years or a settled balance, the work moves into the resolution programs. Where income was earned and not reported, attorney representation should come before any conversation with a preparer, for reasons of privilege. Neighboring communities face closely related circumstances, covered on the Mission Valley page and the far east county page.
Questions From Lower Valley Clients
Where do I find a tax attorney near Clint, Texas?
The firm serves the Lower Valley from an office on Rojas Drive, and the drive is rarely necessary. Federal tax matters are handled under a signed power of attorney and worked directly with the IRS rather than in a local court, so representation does not depend on proximity. Consultations are conducted by phone in English and Spanish, documents are exchanged electronically, and an in-person meeting is available for anyone who prefers one. The initial consultation is free, and its purpose is to identify whether anything in your file is currently on a deadline.
Is it too late to fix years of unfiled returns?
No, and the sooner it is addressed the better the outcome. There is no deadline that bars you from filing a late return, and filing is a prerequisite to every resolution program the IRS offers. There is a specific reason not to wait. If the IRS prepares a Substitute for Return in your absence, it allows no deductions at all, which for a farming operation means gross receipts are taxed as though they were profit. Those assessments routinely run several times the real liability. Filing an accurate original return replaces the inflated figure, and that single step often reduces a balance dramatically before any settlement discussion starts.
How does irregular farm income affect an IRS installment agreement?
It should shape the entire structure of the agreement, and when it does not, the agreement fails. The IRS collection worksheet assumes monthly income, which agriculture does not produce. A payment calculated from harvest-period earnings becomes unpayable during the months when expenses run and revenue does not. When it defaults, the account returns to enforced collection and levy authority is restored. The correction is documenting a full production year rather than a favorable window, substantiating the operating costs that run year-round, and where the collection statute allows, structuring a partial payment installment agreement instead of a conventional plan built on steady earnings.
There is a federal lien on land my family has owned for generations. What can we do?
A federal tax lien attaches only to the interest held by the person who owes the tax, not to shares belonging to other family members. In practice it still blocks everyone, because a title search discloses it and buyers and lenders will not proceed until it is resolved. This usually surfaces during a sale, a refinance, or a probate, often with a transaction already underway. Two remedies are commonly available without paying the balance in full. A certificate of discharge removes the lien from a specific parcel so the transaction can close. Subordination lets a lender take priority so financing can fund. Both require several weeks to process, so identifying the lien before a closing date is set matters considerably.
I received a Final Notice of Intent to Levy. What happens now?
That letter, usually Letter 1058 or LT11, opens a 30-day window to request a Collection Due Process hearing, and that window is the most valuable thing in your file. Filing the request suspends levy action while the case is heard and preserves your right to judicial review of the outcome. If the 30 days pass, you can still request an Equivalent Hearing, but it does not stop collection and it carries no appeal right to the Tax Court. The difference between those two positions comes down to a postmark, which is why this particular notice should be acted on the week it arrives rather than set aside.
Six unfiled years is a starting point, not a verdict.
Bring whatever records you have. One call establishes what the real liability likely is and what deadlines are running.