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Austin, TX Tax Help: IRS & State Back Taxes, Levies, Audits (2026)
Updated: 2 days ago
Tax help in Austin: who this guide is for
If you live or run a business in Austin and the IRS or Texas Comptroller has started writing to you, this page explains what actually happens next, where the local offices are and what they can and cannot do, and how cases from Travis County get resolved without anyone taking a day off to sit in a federal building.
I am an Enrolled Agent, federally licensed to represent taxpayers before the IRS, and my firm handles back taxes, levies, audits and unfiled returns for clients across Austin and its suburbs, including Round Rock, Cedar Park, Pflugerville, Georgetown, Leander and Kyle. Everything here is general information, not individual advice; the last section explains how to get a free review of your own notices.
Your IRS office in Austin, and what it can actually do
The IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center serving Austin is the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center, Austin, at 825 E. Rundberg Lane, Austin, TX 78753. By appointment only; call 844-545-5640. The IRS lists weekday service Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and this office was listed as open on all of the IRS's 2026 Saturday dates; confirm in the IRS office locator. Other offices in the area include San Antonio Taxpayer Assistance Center, 8122 Datapoint Drive, Suite 210, San Antonio, TX 78229 and Waco Taxpayer Assistance Center (named by the IRS; address not confirmed).
It helps to know what a Taxpayer Assistance Center is for. It can verify your identity, take a payment, give you transcripts and answer account questions. It does not negotiate: nobody at the counter can settle a balance, release a levy on their own authority or decide an audit. Those decisions sit with collection, examination and appeals units that work by mail, phone and fax, which is why most representation happens without a visit to the office at all.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service is different. It is an independent office inside the IRS that steps in when normal channels have stalled or a levy is causing hardship. The local office for Austin: Taxpayer Advocate Service, Austin office, 3651 S. IH 35, MS 1005 AUSC, Austin, TX 78741, 512-460-8300. It is a genuine safety valve, but it is not a shortcut around filing the missing returns or answering the notice in front of you.
The Texas side: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Texas has no personal income tax, so there is no Texas individual return or income-tax debt. An Austin taxpayer's state problem is almost always a Comptroller account: sales and use tax, the franchise tax annual report an LLC forgot, or hotel occupancy tax on a short-term rental, or else income tax owed to a former state of residence.
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts local office: Headquarters, Lyndon B. Johnson State Office Building, 111 E. 17th St., Austin, TX 78774, and the Austin North walk-in office, Park Central, 12345 N. Lamar Blvd., Suite 175, Austin, TX 78753, 512-463-4865; walk-ins Monday and Wednesday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday 8 a.m. to noon. The audit office at 2015 S. Interstate 35, Suite 202, 512-305-9800, does not take taxpayer-service walk-ins..
Federal and state collection are separate tracks: an IRS installment agreement does nothing to stop a Texas garnishment, and a state payment plan does not pause the IRS. Every Austin case we take is mapped across both agencies before anything is negotiated. Our Texas state page covers the state side in detail.
Austin taxes people forget about
Beyond the IRS and Texas Comptroller, Austin has local obligations that show up as surprise bills, usually when a business or a rental has been running for a few years without them:
Travis County property tax: the Tax Office headquarters is the Nelda Wells Spears Building, 2433 Ridgepoint Dr., Austin, TX 78754, with satellite offices around the county; the longtime Airport Boulevard address is closed.
Business personal property renditions: owners report business assets to the Travis Central Appraisal District by April 15 each year, and the appraisal district sets values separately from the tax office that bills them.
City of Austin hotel occupancy tax: hotels and short-term rentals file quarterly through Austin Finance Online, a short-term rental needs an annual city operating license, and booking platforms must collect the tax for short-term-rental operators.
City of Austin motor-vehicle rental tax: a separate city tax on the gross receipts of renting motor vehicles.
Franchise tax: a privilege tax on each taxable entity formed or doing business in Texas; even entities under the no-tax-due threshold must file an annual information report, and the Comptroller actively mails forfeiture notices to entities that stop filing.
The Austin tax problems we see most
Every metro has its own pattern of tax trouble, because it has its own mix of work. In Austin the cases that reach us most often look like this:
Tech employees with equity compensation: Stock option exercises can trigger the alternative minimum tax and restricted stock units are often underwithheld, so a strong year on paper turns into a large April balance with no cash set aside.
Startup founders and 1099 contractors: Contract income arrives with no withholding, estimated payments get skipped while the runway is watched, and the missed franchise report on the LLC brings a Comptroller forfeiture notice on top of the IRS balance.
Gig drivers and freelancers: The IRS requires gig income to be reported even when no 1099 arrives, and with no state income tax the entire problem is federal self-employment tax plus penalties.
State government and university employees with side income: Consulting and contract work on top of a W-2 paycheck means no withholding on the side income, and the balance surfaces at filing when it is hardest to pay.
Short-term rental hosts and hospitality operators: Festival-season rentals need a city operating license and quarterly hotel occupancy tax filings, and owners who assumed the platform handled everything often have unfiled city returns plus unreported federal income.
Three things to know about Austin cases
Travis County moved its main tax office from Airport Boulevard to the Nelda Wells Spears Building at 2433 Ridgepoint Dr., but the old address still appears in older county documents.
Austin's in-person tax stops are scattered: the IRS center on Rundberg Lane in the north, the Taxpayer Advocate office on South IH 35, and the Comptroller's walk-in office on North Lamar, none of them downtown.
Travis County was included in the July 2025 federal disaster declaration after the Hill Country flooding, and some relief windows for affected taxpayers ran into 2026, which changes how penalties should be computed for those covered.
How we work with Austin clients
The process is the same whether you are in Round Rock, Cedar Park and Pflugerville or overseas. You sign IRS Form 2848, which lets us speak to the IRS for you and pulls the notices to our office instead of your mailbox; for state matters we file the state's own power-of-attorney form. We then pull your IRS account and wage transcripts and the state account history, so the first conversation is about real numbers rather than guesses.
From there the order is almost always the same: stop any active levy or garnishment, file whatever returns are missing (a return the IRS prepared for you is usually far higher than the real liability), and only then negotiate the balance through a payment plan, an offer in compromise, penalty relief or currently-not-collectible status, depending on what the financials support. Meetings are by phone or video, documents move through a secure upload link, and signatures are electronic. You never need to visit an office, and neither the IRS nor Texas Comptroller requires an in-person meeting for the vast majority of cases.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to go to the IRS office on Rundberg Lane?
No. The Austin Taxpayer Assistance Center works by appointment through 844-545-5640, and notices, levies and payment arrangements are handled by phone, mail and online. We work by phone, video and secure upload, and we file IRS Form 2848 so we can speak to the IRS for you.
I got a letter saying my LLC forfeited its right to transact business in Texas. What is that?
The Comptroller forfeits entities that stop filing their annual franchise tax reports, even when no tax was due, and forfeiture can block contracts and banking. Reinstatement means filing the missing reports and paying whatever is due; we file the state's power-of-attorney form and work it alongside any IRS case.
I exercised stock options and now owe far more than I expected. Can anything be done?
First the return has to be right: option exercises, alternative minimum tax and basis are reconstructed before anything is negotiated. Once the real number is filed, the payment options depend on your finances at that time, and we go through them without promising an outcome.
I rent a place short-term during the festival season. What filings apply?
Austin requires an annual operating license for short-term rentals and quarterly hotel occupancy tax filings through Austin Finance Online, and booking platforms must collect the tax for operators. The income also belongs on your federal return, and we sort out which pieces the platform handled and which it did not.
Did the 2025 Hill Country floods change my deadlines?
Travis County was included in the July 2025 federal disaster declaration, which postponed filing and payment deadlines into early 2026 and left a casualty-loss election window running into late 2026. We check the declarations against your address and ask the IRS to correct penalties assessed in error for covered periods.
Related Reading
Talk to an Enrolled Agent
This article is general information, not individual tax advice. If you want to talk through your own IRS or Texas notices, book a free 15-minute review or call or text us directly.
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