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New York City Tax Help: IRS & NYS Back Taxes, Levies, Audits (2026)
Tax help in New York City: who this guide is for
If you live or run a business in New York City and the IRS or the Tax Department 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 New York County (Manhattan); Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island are Kings, Queens, Bronx and Richmond Counties 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 New York City and its suburbs, including Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island, Yonkers and White Plains. 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 New York City, and what it can actually do
The IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center serving New York City is the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center, New York (Lower Manhattan), at 290 Broadway, New York, NY 10007. By appointment only; call the national IRS appointment line at 844-545-5640. irs.gov's general weekday TAC hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and this office was also open on two of the IRS's special Saturday dates in 2026. Confirm hours and services in the IRS office locator. Other offices in the area include Bronx Taxpayer Assistance Center, 1200 Waters Place, Bronx, NY 10461, Brooklyn Taxpayer Assistance Center, 420 Albee Square W, Brooklyn, NY 11201, Elmhurst (Queens) Taxpayer Assistance Center, 57-07 Junction Blvd., Elmhurst, NY 11373, Harlem Taxpayer Assistance Center, 2116 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., New York, NY 10027, White Plains Taxpayer Assistance Center, 210 E. Post Road, White Plains, NY 10601, serving Westchester and Bethpage Taxpayer Assistance Center, 999 Stewart Ave., Bethpage, NY 11714, serving Long Island.
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 New York City: Taxpayer Advocate Service, Manhattan Office, 290 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10007, (212) 436-1011. 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 New York side: New York State Department of Taxation and Finance
New York has a personal income tax, and New York City residents also pay a city personal income tax on top of it, filed and collected together by the Tax Department on the same state resident return. A nonresident who merely works in the city owes no separate city income tax, but New York's convenience of the employer rule can still tax a nonresident's remote workdays for a New York employer as New York income unless the employee can show the arrangement was for the employer's necessity rather than the employee's own convenience. The Tax Department has no walk-in public office; service is by phone and online.
Federal and state collection are separate tracks: an IRS installment agreement does nothing to stop a New York garnishment, and a state payment plan does not pause the IRS. Every New York City case we take is mapped across both agencies before anything is negotiated. Our New York state page covers the state side in detail.
New York City taxes people forget about
Beyond the IRS and the Tax Department, New York City 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:
New York City personal income tax: residents owe city tax on all their income no matter where it is earned, and the city tax is calculated and filed on the same New York State resident return rather than a separate city filing. Nonresidents who merely work in the city owe no city income tax, though people who work in Yonkers can face a separate Yonkers nonresident earnings tax.
Unincorporated Business Tax: the NYC Department of Finance taxes sole proprietors, partnerships, LLCs and other unincorporated businesses on income allocated to the city, with a credit against city personal income tax for resident owners and separate relief for smaller businesses; many self-employed New Yorkers who file a federal Schedule C have never filed the city's own UBT return.
Commercial Rent Tax: tenants, sub-lessees and co-op shareholders occupying commercial space in Manhattan south of 96th Street owe this tax once their business rent reaches the statutory threshold, with a credit that phases out as rent and income rise; questions go through the city's 311 line.
Sales tax: the combined New York State, New York City and Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District sales tax rate applies uniformly across all five boroughs and is collected on one state return, with the city layering extra charges on top of ordinary retail sales tax for categories such as parking.
Property tax: the NYC Department of Finance assesses and bills property citywide across four separate tax classes, with most owners billed quarterly or semiannually and in-person Business Centers available in each borough for payments and questions.
The New York City tax problems we see most
Every metro has its own pattern of tax trouble, because it has its own mix of work. In New York City the cases that reach us most often look like this:
Finance and Wall Street professionals who claim to have moved out of state: New York's statutory residency test looks at whether someone keeps a permanent place of abode in the state and spends a significant part of the year there, so a Florida, Connecticut or New Jersey move that keeps a New York apartment in use can still leave the person taxed as a New York resident.
Remote and hybrid employees working for a New York employer: The convenience of the employer rule can tax a nonresident's work-from-home days as New York income unless the employee can document that the remote arrangement was for the employer's necessity, a standard that catches people who assumed working from home meant no New York tax.
Restaurant, hospitality and nightlife workers across the five boroughs: Tips, multiple jobs and cash-heavy operations generate IRS matching notices, and payroll tax deposits are often the first thing a struggling restaurant skips, which the IRS pursues hardest of any business debt.
Freelancers, gig workers and creative professionals: 1099 income with no withholding means self-employment tax and estimated payments get skipped in busy years, and once a sole proprietorship is doing business in the city it may also owe the Unincorporated Business Tax that many self-employed New Yorkers never knew existed.
Landlords and real estate investors with multi-unit buildings: Property tax classification, rent-stabilization recordkeeping and rental income reporting pile up as a portfolio grows without dedicated bookkeeping, and depreciation and basis questions often go unanswered for years.
Immigrant small-business owners and ITIN filers: Foreign bank accounts, family businesses and property held abroad create FBAR and FATCA reporting duties once someone becomes a US tax resident, separate from and in addition to ordinary federal, state and city filings.
Three things to know about New York City cases
The IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center and the Manhattan Taxpayer Advocate Service office share the same building at 290 Broadway, but they are different functions with different phone numbers and neither can negotiate a balance.
City and state personal income tax are calculated, audited and collected together by the Tax Department on one return, so a New York State balance almost always carries a New York City balance along with it.
New York's convenience of the employer rule has repeatedly been upheld and can tax a nonresident's remote workdays for a New York employer as New York income, which surprises out-of-state remote workers who assume home means no New York tax.
How we work with New York City clients
The process is the same whether you are in Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx 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 the Tax Department requires an in-person meeting for the vast majority of cases.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to go to the IRS office on Broadway to fix my problem?
No. The Lower Manhattan Taxpayer Assistance Center works by appointment through 844-545-5640 for identity verification, payments and similar tasks. Notices, levies, audits and payment arrangements are handled by phone, mail and online, and a representative can do that work for you.
I moved to Florida, but New York State and the city are still sending me notices. Why?
New York uses a statutory residency test that looks at whether you still keep a permanent place of abode in the state, such as an apartment you have not given up, and how much of the year you actually spend there. If those facts still point to New York, the state and city can keep taxing you as a resident until the ties are genuinely cut.
I work from home in New Jersey for a company based in Manhattan. Does New York still tax me?
Often yes. New York's convenience of the employer rule treats a nonresident's work-from-home days for a New York employer as New York workdays unless you can show the remote arrangement exists for the employer's necessity, not your own convenience. This is one of the most common sources of surprise New York balances for remote workers.
Is my New York City tax bill separate from my New York State tax bill?
No. If you are a city resident, your city personal income tax is calculated and filed together with your state return, and the Tax Department bills and collects both as one balance. A New York State notice about back taxes is therefore usually a city tax problem too.
Can you handle both the IRS and the New York State Tax Department?
Yes. As an Enrolled Agent I am federally licensed to represent taxpayers before the IRS and before state tax agencies, including New York's. We file IRS Form 2848 for the federal side and New York's own power-of-attorney form for the state and city side, then work both cases together so a plan with one agency does not leave the other unaddressed.
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 New York notices, book a free 15-minute review or call or text us directly.
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