Your business owes the IRS. Your personal assets may be next.

The Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP) is a personal liability provision under IRC §6672. When a business fails to remit payroll taxes it has withheld from employee wages — the federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare portions — the IRS can pursue the responsible persons for those amounts individually. "Trust fund" refers to the fact that the employer holds these withholdings in trust for the government. If the business cannot pay, the IRS goes after the individual.

The 4180 interview (officially the "Interview to Determine Responsible Person(s) for the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty") is the IRS process to identify who inside a business had authority and control over payroll tax decisions. The interviewer asks about your title, duties, check-signing authority, knowledge of unpaid payroll taxes, and willfulness. Your answers directly determine whether the TFRP is assessed against you personally. Beacon Tax Relief helps you organize a written narrative and the supporting documentation for this interview — but it does not represent you at the interview.

Beacon Tax Relief is software. It helps you organize your trust fund accounting records, generate Form 433-B (the IRS Collection Information Statement for Businesses), prepare Installment Agreement requests, decode payroll tax notices, and draft a written narrative for a 4180 interview. You review, sign, and submit everything directly. We do not file your 941 returns (engage a CPA or payroll service for that), and we do not represent you before the IRS.

Dissolving the business does not eliminate the TFRP. If the trust fund taxes were not remitted before dissolution, the IRS can still assess the responsible persons individually — often years after the business closes. The TFRP statute of limitations is generally three years from the later of the return due date or the date the 941 was filed, or six years if 25% or more of the tax was omitted. Beacon Tax Relief helps you document the timeline, gather evidence, and prepare any response to IRS collection.

Multi-entity scenarios — S-corps with shared payroll, holding company structures, or partnerships — add complexity to TFRP because the IRS must identify all responsible persons across entities. Beacon Tax Relief helps you map the organizational structure, identify which entities have outstanding 941 balances, and prepare the documentation for each entity. Note that multi-entity TFRP cases with active enforcement are one of the situations where we explicitly recommend engaging a licensed Enrolled Agent — see the "When you need an EA" section below.

Tax-relief firms typically charge $5,000–$25,000 flat fees for business cases, with payroll tax resolutions toward the top of that range because of 4180 interview preparation and the complexity of Form 433-B. At $499/month, a business that resolves in three months pays under $1,500 total — roughly 80%–90% less than most flat-fee arrangements. The catch: you are the one signing and filing forms. The upside: you control the process and the cost.

Beacon Tax Relief V1 focuses on federal IRS cases. State payroll tax liabilities — state income tax withholding, state unemployment insurance (FUTA equivalents), and state trust fund penalties — require state-specific expertise and state-specific forms. We route state cases to vetted Enrolled Agents. If you have both federal and state payroll tax problems, start here for the federal piece and visit beacontaxrelief.com/state-tax-lien for state referral.

Yes — CPAs, bookkeepers, and EAs can use Beacon Tax Relief as a document preparation and organization tool for client cases. Note that the software operates under the client's §7216 consent (which names the AI subprocessors Anthropic and OpenAI) and the client must review and sign all generated forms. If you are engaging in representation before the IRS under a Form 2848 Power of Attorney, your Circular 230 obligations still apply independently of this software.

Form 2848 works for both individuals and business entities, but the entity lines differ. For a corporation, you enter the EIN and the officer's name. For a partnership, all partners may need to sign. Beacon Tax Relief generates Form 2848 for business entities for your review — but remember, our software assists with preparation only. We are not the representative; the person you designate on Line 2 is. If you do not yet have a licensed representative, our EA marketplace referral can help.

One click in your account, any time. 14-day money-back on your first month. No win-back calls, no exit interviews. You keep every PDF, worksheet, and Form 433-B you have generated.