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Houston, TX Tax Help: IRS & State Back Taxes, Levies, Audits (2026)
Tax help in Houston: who this guide is for
If you live or run a business in Houston 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 Harris 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 Houston and its suburbs, including Katy, Sugar Land, The Woodlands, Pasadena, Pearland and Baytown. 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 Houston, and what it can actually do
The IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center serving Houston is the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center, Houston Downtown (Leland), at 1919 Smith St., Houston, TX 77002. By appointment only; call 844-545-5640. The IRS lists weekday service Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., plus select Saturdays in 2026; confirm in the IRS office locator. Other offices in the area include Houston Southwest (Alliance) Taxpayer Assistance Center, 8701 S. Gessner, Houston, TX 77074, Houston Northwest Taxpayer Assistance Center, 12941 I-45 N, Houston, TX 77060 and Houston Southeast 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 Houston: Taxpayer Advocate Service, Houston office, 1919 Smith St., MC 1005 HOU, Houston, TX 77002, 713-209-3660. 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. A Houston taxpayer's state problem is almost always a Comptroller account: sales and use tax, franchise tax on an LLC or corporation, or mixed beverage taxes, or else income tax owed to a former state of residence.
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts local office: Houston Northwest, 1919 North Loop West, Suite 640, Houston, TX 77008, 713-426-8200; Houston Southwest, 1011 Highway 6 South, Suite 120, Houston, TX 77077, 281-497-8442. Walk-in hours Monday and Wednesday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday 8 a.m. to noon; call first..
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 Houston case we take is mapped across both agencies before anything is negotiated. Our Texas state page covers the state side in detail.
Houston taxes people forget about
Beyond the IRS and Texas Comptroller, Houston 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:
Business personal property renditions: the Harris Central Appraisal District requires owners of tangible personal property used to produce income to file a rendition by April 15 or the following Monday, and warns of substantial civil penalties for not reporting.
Property tax: the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector collects property taxes, and payments after the due date pick up collection penalties and interest.
No personal income tax: the Comptroller states that Texas does not have a personal income tax and that sole proprietors owe no state business tax, personal income tax or fee.
Franchise tax: a privilege tax on each taxable entity formed or organized in Texas or doing business in Texas, with the annual report due May 15.
Sales and mixed beverage taxes: sales and use tax applies to retail sales, leases and rentals of most goods and to taxable services, and businesses selling alcoholic drinks owe two separate mixed beverage taxes, a gross receipts tax and a sales tax.
The Houston tax problems we see most
Every metro has its own pattern of tax trouble, because it has its own mix of work. In Houston the cases that reach us most often look like this:
Oil and gas contractors and 1099 field workers: Day-rate income arrives with no withholding, so self-employment tax and estimated payments get skipped in busy years, and a downturn leaves several unfiled years to rebuild from 1099s and bank records.
Medical Center staff and travel nurses: Travel contracts produce W-2s from several states and agency stipends whose tax-free status depends on the tax-home rules, and mismatches trigger IRS notices.
Owner-operators and trucking companies: Port and pipeline freight means heavy vehicle use tax filings, per diem records and quarterly estimates that slip when a truck is down, on top of Texas franchise and sales tax accounts.
Restaurants and bars: Tip reporting, payroll deposits and mixed beverage taxes run on separate calendars, and when cash is tight payroll deposits are skipped first, the debt the IRS pursues hardest.
Storm repair and construction contractors: Roofing and cleanup work after hurricanes and floods is often paid in cash or on 1099-NEC forms with crews that may be misclassified.
Three things to know about Houston cases
With no Texas personal income tax, a Houston balance-due problem is almost always purely federal; the state side, if any, is a Comptroller sales, franchise or mixed beverage account.
The IRS Texas newsroom page lists repeated disaster relief for Texas storms and flooding, including Hurricane Beryl, that postponed deadlines for covered counties and changes how penalties should be computed for qualifying taxpayers.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service office for Houston is in the same building as the downtown Taxpayer Assistance Center at 1919 Smith St.
How we work with Houston clients
The process is the same whether you are in Katy, Sugar Land and The Woodlands 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 in downtown Houston?
No. Taxpayer Assistance Centers work by appointment through 844-545-5640, and most collection and notice issues are handled by phone, mail and IRS online systems. We work by phone, video and secure upload, and we file IRS Form 2848 so we can speak to the IRS for you.
Can you handle a Texas Comptroller sales tax or franchise tax problem too?
Yes. Enrolled Agents represent taxpayers before the IRS and state agencies, and in Texas the state issue is usually a sales, franchise or mixed beverage account with the Comptroller. We coordinate it with the federal case.
I work in the oil field on a 1099 and have not filed in years. Where do I start?
We pull your IRS wage and income transcripts to see what the IRS already has, then prepare the missing returns in order. Only after filing can payment options be evaluated, and the right one depends on your finances at that time.
The IRS gave Texas storm victims extra time. Does that change my penalties?
It can. Disaster relief postpones deadlines for taxpayers in the counties named in each declaration, and penalties should not accrue during a postponement that applies to you. We check the declarations against your address and ask the IRS to correct penalties assessed in error.
What does the Taxpayer Advocate Service in Houston do, and is it the same as hiring you?
The Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent organization inside the IRS that steps in when normal channels fail or a taxpayer faces hardship. It does not represent you or prepare returns; when a case qualifies we prepare the Form 911 request and work with the assigned advocate.
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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