How to stop missing IRS and state notice deadlines for your clients
A notice that sits in someone’s inbox is a deadline nobody is watching.
The short answerGive every notice one record linked to the client, an owner and the response date printed on the letter, and work from a queue sorted by that date. Log every call, document request and response. A shared calendar of response dates, with overdue and due-soon notices flagged, keeps the whole team aware. BytesHood’s Tax Notice Manager is built around exactly this.
Why notices get missed
Notices arrive by mail, by client email, as a photo in a text message or as a PDF in a portal. Whoever receives it often holds onto it. If that person is busy, out or leaves the firm, the response date passes quietly.
A simple system that works
- One record per notice, linked to the client. Agency, notice number, tax year and amount, taken from the letter.
- An owner. One named person is responsible, and the queue can be filtered to “assigned to me”.
- The response date drives everything. Sort the queue by it, and show it on a team calendar.
- Clear statuses. For example: New, Researching, Waiting on client, Drafting response, Ready to send, Waiting on agency, Resolved and Closed.
- A log of every step. Calls to the agency or the client, documents reviewed, responses sent and payments, each with an optional follow-up date.
- Flags for overdue and due-soon notices. Red should mean something.
Connect notices to the rest of the client
A notice about payroll deposits or sales tax is easier to answer when the person handling it can see the client’s payroll and sales tax records, documents and portal messages. Keeping notices on the same client record as the rest of your work saves the hunt.
Does BytesHood respond to the IRS for us?
No. Tax Notice Manager organizes and tracks the work; your firm prepares and sends the responses.
Does it handle state and local notices too?
Yes. Any agency’s notice can be logged against the client with its own response date.