Stephen A. Weisberg

Kevin Daisey (00:32)
All right. What's up everybody. We're live here. I got me a fresh coffee and I got a cool guest with a topic. don't know if we've really covered before, but, obviously on the podcast, we're always here talking about entrepreneurship, running a law firm, what that's like instant outs of it. the good, the bad, the ugly. And, I got Steven on here today to share about his firm, his story and his background in

tax debt. No one likes to hear that. if you do, you want to hear you want to have Stephen here to probably be on your side. Stephen.

Stephen A Weisberg (01:02)
Yep. Nope.

Yeah, no one

wants to hear from me. No one wants to know that they need to deal with me. But at the same time, I have a lot of relationships with different professionals, tax professionals, bankruptcy attorneys, family law attorneys. And, you know, they don't necessarily need to see me, but their clients do. And so instead of, you know, listening to their clients complain and not know what to do, they at least they have someone that they can say, I know the guy for you and they can send them to me and I can be the one that has to deal with the IRS and all the

and all that stuff.

Kevin Daisey (01:42)
That sounds like you're a great resource right there. so interesting. mean, yeah, that's, I don't think we've had an attorney on the show, in tech, in your field as deep as you are and specific to it niche, if you will. so I think that's going to be a cool conversation as it relates to, you know, ownership, entrepreneurship and owners out there listening. but first even, mean, you know, you're in outside of Detroit, for everybody listening.

Stephen A Weisberg (01:45)
Yep.

Kevin Daisey (02:10)
And, just, you know, first tell us your story and you know, how you got into this niche focus and then, running your own, your own show. What, what's the story there?

Stephen A Weisberg (02:21)
Yeah, so yes, I am outside of Detroit. I graduated from law school in 2008, which was an interesting time for the country and especially in Detroit, things were not pretty financially for anyone in terms of getting the job. So that said, my first five years or so in the legal profession, I was a corporate bankruptcy attorney, which was fit for what was going on.

and what happened was I was representing, auto suppliers again, being from Detroit, was representing auto suppliers who were filing for bankruptcy and they were large auto suppliers. And I wasn't, it wasn't so small. mean, they they were big. and you know, they would have a lot of creditors that they needed to pay. And you know, the big ones of course would be,

GM, Chrysler, and Ford, they had, you know, multi-millions of dollars that needed to be paid back. But they also had like mom and pop vendors of sorts, you know, there's whole bunch of things that they needed to have paid for. But, you know, mom and pop, your everyday kind of community people who were just out there trying to earn a buck. And, you know, for me, know, a bankruptcy may take a year, especially if you represent the trust afterwards, but...

I was representing this large supplier and at the end of the day, what inevitably started happening each time I represent these suppliers would be Ford, Chrysler, GM would get paid in full. And to some extent they had a reason to because it was a secured loan, which makes it so that they get paid first, but still they get paid in full. And then you had all these mom and pop vendors who had unsecured claims who would get paid like one to two cents on the...

And so at some point I was like, you know, this is all well and good and I'm glad the car companies are getting paid back in full because they actually, they do a lot for our city and our town. That said, did I really want to be working long hours and a year on each bankruptcy just so they could get paid back in full while the mom and pop vendors got paid basically nothing? And the answer was no, I didn't really want to be doing that.

Kevin Daisey (04:14)
Wow.

Stephen A Weisberg (04:40)
So I wanted to be in a profession or at least a niche where I was seeing the work that I was doing on a daily basis, helping out the small businesses, the medium sized businesses. And so I didn't know necessarily what I wanted to do. But ultimately, just kind of fell in to honestly detect that niche. I had a friend that was already doing it. I...

hung out with him and started working with him and he was an expert in the field already. So I found I was able to help mom and pop, you know, businesses and medium sized businesses and individuals. And I could see on a daily basis, the changes and the effect that was having on people. And so I enjoyed that it was still kind of in the debt industry, you know, meaning like, you know, bankruptcy, I went to this and I was able to see the difference I was going to make. So

Maybe that story was a little bit long, but I this is how I got here This is what I wanted to do I wanted to help people so I could see him on a daily basis and see it on their face the changes that I was making and now I've been here for for over a decade and it's great

Kevin Daisey (05:49)
That's awesome. No, not, not too long. think, that's a great story. And, know, I love hearing how, you know, people fall into something and it leads them to something else. And then they kind of find, they find their spot. People that just like come out like, I always knew. I became what I always wanted to be. Like that's, that's no story. What the heck? You know, my story was like yours all over the place. and fell into what I wanted to do.

Stephen A Weisberg (06:11)
Right, right, exactly.

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Daisey (06:19)
So

that's cool. appreciate you sharing that. So do you help, are you working with folks just in Michigan, just around Detroit, across the country? What does your clientele look like there?

Stephen A Weisberg (06:32)
Yeah, across the country. So I do have, you know, clients certainly in Michigan, but I'm able to represent clients nationwide as an attorney who helps clients before the IRS. You have to be an attorney that is admitted to the state bar in one of the states. You don't have to be admitted in all the states, but you know, just one of these states. And so the fact that I am allows me to represent

taxpayers across the country.

Kevin Daisey (07:04)
Nice. Okay. I was, I thought I thought, but I wasn't sure I figured it So any lawyers listening, you need a tax debt relief. Well, my buddy, Steven here. So I wanted to, you know, so obviously Steven's got his own business entrepreneur, just like me, just like everyone else probably listening. Um, and so, you know, I wanted to, to ask him, you know, just some questions around, um, you know, what he's seen and, uh, running his own business and talking to other business owners that are in these situations and it's going to happen.

Stephen A Weisberg (07:07)
Yep.

That's right.

Kevin Daisey (07:33)
I talk to prospects all the time, PI, all kinds of different firms that are in a spot based on economic changes, marketing changes, whatever reasons they've lost the leads or the market share or the referral sources. And they're in a tight spot with capital. And they could be in a situation where they might be talking to someone like a Steven. you know, just what, I don't know what tips that would be, but you know, what

Stephen A Weisberg (07:39)
Mm-hmm.

Kevin Daisey (08:02)
kind of things have you seen out there or things you can share that you've seen people get themselves into a situation where they might need your help, but what would they do in that situation, I guess?

Stephen A Weisberg (08:15)
Yeah, so I mean, there's a couple of different things. I help, like I said, individuals with income tax debt. So yeah, if you get yourself in a situation where you're not able to pay your taxes and certainly, you know, entrepreneurs, because they're not getting a W-2, they're not getting a paycheck. I mean, that's where most of my clients come from, because they're supposed to be making payments on a quarterly basis to the IRS, but when it's not automatically taken out of your check,

it's hard to do and especially if cash flow is low or you're not able to pay your bills, you say, hey, I'll figure it out later. And then it comes to April 15th and you're like, I have a bunch of tax that and I didn't figure it out. But, you know, now I'm stuck. So, you you would talk to someone like me. I would get an understanding of where you are financially, you know, income, expenses, assets. I would understand, you know, how much was owed for what years.

You know, I talk to the IRS, I find out where you are in collections and how far along on the collection side of it you are, whether you're, you know, going to be stuck with a bank levy or a garnishment, you know, right away. And then I come up with a kind of way to move forward for you. I decide, you know, what are the best options for you in terms of resolving this tax debt and how are we going to do it? And there's multiple different ways to do that. You know,

Listen, mean, when I'm here, people on the radio, I listen to sports radio a lot. And even on sports radio, actually, I should say a lot on sports radio, you hear like the Optima taxes, and guess I shouldn't say names theoretically, but the big, huge tax companies that are out there, and they're always talking about the offering compromise. And so maybe some of the listeners here have heard of the offering compromise, where basically,

Kevin Daisey (09:59)
Thank

Stephen A Weisberg (10:12)
You know, they say, you you can resolve your tax debt for just a portion of what you owe. You you can resolve it for 10 % of what you owe. And they'll send out these letters and they'll talk about it on their advertising. And, you know, is there an offering compromise where you can pay a portion of what you owe? Sure, it's there, but they have no idea whether you actually qualify. You know, have to qualify.

for an offering compromise and they make it out like everybody qualifies for. So they might say, hey, someone owed $100,000 and we resolved it for $5,000 and that sounds great. And they may be telling the truth because I've done a lot of offering compromises where I've settled large amounts for very little. But most people don't qualify for the offering compromise. Most people still qualify for something. Everyone's going to qualify for something. But you know, it's a...

Kevin Daisey (11:02)
Hmm.

Stephen A Weisberg (11:10)
It takes a certain type of situation and circumstance where you actually qualify for that offer and compromise. So there's other types of resolutions that are out there, whether it's a monthly payment plan or something else. But the offer and compromise isn't the only thing. So when you come to someone like me, can review your tax case.

Find out what's going on, look at your financials and decide what's the best way moving forward.

Kevin Daisey (11:44)
No, so I'm, yeah. So I've actually heard some commercials like that before. I'm not sure where, but I've seen it on TV or somewhere where, you know, just going to commercial talking about it. So, um, but yeah, that's, I've heard that before. I don't have that problem. Thank God right now. Um, but, um, I don't remember hearing something like that, you know, paper 10 % of what you owe. And, I've heard in the past where I'm like, holy crap, I got a few months to get this together and pay it. Um, not a place you want to be.

Stephen A Weisberg (11:51)
Yeah.

Right.

Kevin Daisey (12:13)
For sure. okay. So what are, what are some other things that, you know, obviously a lot of things come down prior to, you know, which we talk about in the show a lot, or recently actually, it's tax planning and preparing and quarterly payments and, and tax strategies and, you know, just ways to avoid even, you know, having to call Steve. so any tips you see there, is anything you help with on that front or.

Stephen A Weisberg (12:35)
Yeah.

Kevin Daisey (12:40)
I mean, you're specifically in the tax debt arena, but what tips or things can you give out there to the audience that's listening that hopefully can avoid some of these situations completely.

Stephen A Weisberg (12:51)
Yeah, so you're right. My expertise is kind of after the fact. Once you've got the tax and you need to deal with it then. That side in terms of making sure you don't owe, kind of what we talked about is you want to make sure that your payments to the IRS happen automatically and you set up some sort of automation for making those payments on a quarterly basis. Because as I said, when you

Kevin Daisey (12:55)
you

Stephen A Weisberg (13:17)
have a paycheck, you know, it just comes out of your paycheck immediately and without you having to think about it. So no one's really thinking about it. They just know half my check is going to be gone because I owe a bunch of taxes, but it just comes out and like I can't do anything about it. But when you have a balance or when you have to make payments on your own, you know, it gives you more leeway to be like, I'm just not going to make this one. So what you want to do is you want to set aside a

a bank account or something else where just a certain, maybe the third of what you are going to owe and the income that you brought in goes into that bank account and then automatically each quarter it's sent out to the IRS and so you don't have to think about it. You don't really put yourself in a position to be able to say, hey, I know I these taxes, but I don't really want to pay them or I just feel like I can't pay them right now and I'll figure it out later.

keep it up so it's automated and just automatic. It's just going to come out. You're not going to think about it. It's going come out and it's going to get paid to the IRS.

Kevin Daisey (14:20)
Yeah, that's what I do for courtesies. take out for taxes and then figure out your tax rate, course. Put that aside. It's in a different bank account, completely separate, and it's held aside. Because yeah, if it's just in your main bank account, and that's the other thing, I have a lot of bank accounts just to separate things visually, which is helpful. So I know, hey, this money is set for this, and this is what it's for.

people that run off like one bank account, which a lot of people do like all that you don't know what you can pull from, what you can use, what you can, you can go spend or market with or invest back in your business versus what's my tax liabilities. What's my, you know, other bills that I keep forgetting about each year, like business license and renewals and all that stuff. So I think it's helpful to section those counts off and, um, just be prepared for it.

Stephen A Weisberg (15:16)
Exactly.

Exactly.

Kevin Daisey (15:17)
Yeah. You don't want to be calling Stephen people. You don't want to do it.

Stephen A Weisberg (15:21)
No, no

one wants to talk to me. if you're to avoid it, you shouldn't have to talk to me. But it's something that people need to deal with. And sometimes they run into an issue where they can't do what they were supposed to do. And then they come to me.

Kevin Daisey (15:40)
Yeah, that's awesome. that you're helping people that you're seeing an impact, which I could, I mean, people are stuck in a situation. I'm sure it's scary. for whatever situation they're in for the business or for them personally, or both their family, their team. so, definitely a different area of the law that, you know, is obviously out there helping a lot of people day to day, dealing with these issues. what I want to kind of flip over to, you know,

you run your own business and what's really been, you know, what's really been effective for you and helpful for you as far as, you know, getting yourself out there, making a name for yourself, you know, getting clients, you know, for your practice area, like what's been successful for you to grow your firm?

Stephen A Weisberg (16:28)
Yeah, what's been best for me is really kind of being the expert, you know, putting yourself out there as an authority and then really making relationships with people. You know, I do a lot where I try to, you know, put myself out there in the media and be quoted and go on podcasts like yours. But, you know, a lot of it is creating relationships. And so I have a lot of really great relationships with other attorneys. Like I said, you know, family law attorneys or

lot of especially bankruptcy attorneys who have a lot of clients that do need my help and also other tax professionals whether it's CPAs or even just tax preparers those are the relationships that you know I enjoy and the relationships that help me bring in more clients because again those are people that have clients that need my services and especially like with with tax professionals you know they deal with

preparing tax returns, we're like, they don't really have any interest in dealing with the IRS itself. So it's kind of like the opposite of what we talked about with me, whereas I'm not preparing taxes. I'm on the other side with dealing with the IRS and dealing with, you know, once you have the tax debt and negotiating with the IRS and coming up with a solution, whereas, you know, tax professionals, like they're actually not dealing with the IRS at all, except for, you know, interpreting the code and, you know,

preparing your taxes or advising you on your taxes and making sure you get the best rate in terms of what your taxes are, what percentage, and making sure that you get the most deductions and all that good stuff. But they're not actually dealing with the IRS on a one-to-one basis or any sort of negotiating type capacity, whereas that's what I'm doing. I'm dealing with the IRS and negotiating with them.

trying to get the best deal for my clients once the taxes are already owed. So those relationships are important to me and that's really how I get a lot of my clients are referrals and having good relationships with other professionals and other attorneys.

Kevin Daisey (18:33)
Yeah, it's also makes a lot of sense. you know, having those reports for referral sources, it's kind like the, you know, the mortgage person and the real estate agent, you know, just hand in hand. It sounds like with you and, tax reparation folks and obviously, know, people, people did go in taxes CPAs. I would assume they have a little insight, hopefully with the client, pro you know, leading into them having a problem. and they'll have, you know, probably a lot of good information to share on.

Stephen A Weisberg (18:42)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Kevin Daisey (19:03)
the situation as well. So that's awesome. And so in these relationships, mean, you work with people around the country and so it's not like you've built some relationships and thought leadership and a name for yourself, not just in your local area, but it extends out across the countries. That's awesome.

Stephen A Weisberg (19:24)
Yeah, exactly. You know, it's certainly a little bit easier to create relationships, you know, when you're it's local, because I can meet you one on one for coffee or for lunch or something. But, you know, with the Internet these days, you know, I can have, you know, quote unquote, virtual coffees with people every single day and over, you know, Zoom or whatever it may be. And we can have a pretty substantial relationship just talking to one another, seeing each other face to face over the Internet and having great conversations.

Kevin Daisey (19:52)
Yeah, it's really, mean, there's so many good people that I know that are good referral partners of mine and friends. I call them friends for sure. Never met them in person. So, yeah, I like to, and I try to, if I get to conferences or go around to different shows or just nearby for some reason, which is just makes it that much cooler. But, but there's some people I've known for years that I've never met in person and, have great relationships with. So, yeah, a hundred percent. That is the way with the future.

Stephen A Weisberg (19:59)
Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Yep.

Kevin Daisey (20:23)
COVID helped us out on that one. well, it made it, mean, especially for law firms and lawyers, of course, this is a old topic, but you know, it's, it kind of changed how law firms do business, forced them into some technology and things that they didn't want to, they didn't want to do, for some, for some anyway. And then I know a lot of virtual firms, they don't even have an office, you know, total virtual staff, all work from home.

Stephen A Weisberg (20:25)
Yep. It did. It made a difference. Changed things.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Kevin Daisey (20:52)
You know, they have a leg up to some degree and cause expenses that others, other firms might have. yeah.

Stephen A Weisberg (20:58)
Absolutely.

Kevin Daisey (20:59)
pretty cool. Stephen, what's the best way for anyone listening, obviously if they have friends, family or themselves that need your help or maybe they a good referral source so attorneys out there listening that if you're you know family law, divorce, bankruptcy, sounds like Stephen would be a great referral source for you and vice versa. What's the best way for them to to contact you and connect?

Stephen A Weisberg (21:26)
Absolutely.

Well, my firm is called The W Tax Group. And so, you can go to wtaxattorney.com. That's where my firm is. But to really get in touch with me personally, that's kind of the best way to do it, as opposed to kind of going through the company, go to weisberg.tax. My last name is, know, Steven Weisberg is my last name. So, W-E-I-S-B-E-R-G dot tax.

And you can get in touch with me that way. You can actually get in touch with me directly and not go through the gatekeepers here. Give me a call at 248-971-0885. That's 248-971-0885. And then I'm very active on LinkedIn. So you can always shoot me a message there and see what I'm up to in terms of what I'm posting and who I'm talking to and what I'm talking about.

Kevin Daisey (22:04)
Yeah.

Yeah, that's awesome. I appreciate that. sharing. Yeah. So if you need to see myself or got questions or, you know, have a referral, something like that, please reach out to Steven. And, yeah, if you, also as always, I can do an email introduction to connect you, as well. just ping me message me and, we'll get you connected and, yeah. So, well, see anything else you want to share before we wrap it up?

Stephen A Weisberg (22:41)
Yeah, it'd be great.

No, that's really all I have to say. would just say again on the referral side, people don't want to deal with the IRS professionals, attorneys either. So, and to be honest, I don't really want to either, but that's my job. So, you know, when you don't want to do it and you have clients that are telling you, have all these tax issues and I don't know what to do, send them my way. I'll take care of it. I take the burden off of them and then I take the burden off of you as the referral source, as the attorney or the tax professional.

deal with the IRS when you and your client don't want to.

Kevin Daisey (23:21)
I don't want to talk to them. You know, every time I get something in the mail, it's like, man, what is this? And it's usually like, I'll get these like a change of address ones that like, just keep, it's like the same, but there's nothing in there. It's no bills, but either way, anyone sees the IRS, anything letter, even though you know, you're, I know I'm good. You see, you still have that like moment of, I got to open this.

Stephen A Weisberg (23:30)
Yeah.

Yeah, exactly,

exactly.

Kevin Daisey (23:46)
I'll have like 20 bucks for like over investing in my HSA or something stupid like that. But, um, it's always something. So. Got to stay on your toes out there people.

Stephen A Weisberg (23:49)
Right. Yep.

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Stephen A Weisberg (25:07)
Yeah, it's very difficult to get in touch with these with the IRS, especially now if you've seen in the news, you know, they're they're they're firing staff. There's a there's a plan in place to to fire half of the IRS, which may be theoretically some people sounds good. The problem is, know, you're still going to the money. You're still going to get notices in the mail because that's all automated. And they're going to tell you that they're going to be, you know, levying your bank account or.

garnishing wages or whatever it may be. And then you're not going to be to get in touch with anyone because half the staff has gone. you know, that's going to be a problem. So you're going to need my help more so than ever before, unfortunately, for everyone, especially for taxpayers who would like to just get it done themselves. But it's going to be difficult to get in touch with someone. And it's a hard situation.

Kevin Daisey (25:56)
That's a good point. Actually, you know, sort of brought that up early in the conversation, but, that's, I appreciate you sharing that, but yeah. So yeah, stay posted and, and see how this is going to shake out with, uh, you know, Elon and Doge and all the stuff they're going to be cutting. um, maybe Stephen can see if he can update us on that. Follow him on LinkedIn. I'm sure he'll be sharing plenty about it.

Stephen A Weisberg (26:10)
Yep, that's right.

Yeah.

Check me on LinkedIn. I've been reporting on that for the last month or so, every kind of week or every few days sometimes. And I've got some new news from Doge and Elon Musk and everybody and just how that's gonna, what's happening and how it's gonna affect people with tax issues.

Kevin Daisey (26:35)
Dude, love it. Love to hear more about that. So I'll be following you as well. all right, Steven, thank you so much, man, for joining us. Thanks for sharing about your firm and your journey as an entrepreneur and, your passion and, tax debt and talking to the IRS. we love it. So I appreciate you sharing on the show today and everyone, if you need his help, please connect. And we'll see you on the next episode.

Stephen A Weisberg (26:39)
Sounds good.