Long Beach is one of California's most economically diverse cities: a major port and logistics hub, a growing tech and healthcare sector, a dense residential base stretching from beachfront Naples and Belmont Shore to the working-class neighborhoods of North Long Beach, and a small business community spread across every district. That diversity also means a wide range of tax situations, from port and logistics workers with complex income to self-employed contractors juggling quarterly payments, to small business owners navigating payroll tax obligations. When any of these taxpayers fall behind on IRS or California FTB obligations, Anthem Tax Services is equipped to help.

Anthem works with Long Beach residents and business owners to stop collection actions, negotiate directly with the IRS and California FTB, and reach the most favorable resolution the law allows. Everything is handled 100% remotely. You never need to visit our office or any government building. Learn more about the team on our About Us page, or review our full tax debt relief services to understand every resolution program available.

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IRS & California Tax Help for Long Beach

Federal IRS & California FTB Issues

Long Beach residents face a two-agency problem that taxpayers in states without income tax do not. The California Franchise Tax Board operates independently from the IRS, maintains its own collection apparatus, and can issue wage garnishments and bank levies simultaneously with federal actions. Anthem handles both agencies in parallel, which is essential for Long Beach clients who owe to both at the same time.

The FTB is notably aggressive compared to most state tax agencies. If you have unfiled California returns, outstanding FTB notices, or a state tax lien attached to Long Beach property, those issues must be addressed as part of the same resolution strategy as your federal case, not as a follow-on problem dealt with after the IRS matter is resolved.

Signs You Need Tax Relief Now

IRS debt compounds through penalties and interest at a rate of 8 to 10 percent annually, and collection actions escalate in defined stages that can move quickly. If any of the following apply, professional representation should be your next step:

• A CP14, CP503, CP504, or LT11 notice has arrived from the IRS
• You have received a Final Notice of Intent to Levy from the IRS or FTB
• Your employer has been contacted about a wage garnishment
• A bank account has been frozen or levied
• A federal or California tax lien has been filed against your Long Beach property
• You have one or more years of unfiled federal or California returns
• You owe the IRS more than $10,000 and have not established a resolution plan

Each of these situations has a resolution path. The sooner you engage a professional, the more options remain available to you and the less the overall debt grows through continued penalty and interest accrual.

Stop IRS Wage Garnishment in Long Beach

Protecting Your Paycheck

An IRS wage garnishment is one of the most immediately disruptive collection actions a Long Beach taxpayer can face. Unlike most private creditors, the IRS does not need a court order to garnish wages. Once a Final Notice of Intent to Levy has been issued and the 30-day response window has passed, the IRS can instruct your employer to withhold a significant portion of your paycheck every pay period and send it directly to the IRS. For Long Beach workers in the port, logistics, healthcare, and service industries, this can mean losing a third or more of take-home pay with little warning. Our wage garnishment service is designed to address this immediately.

The path to stopping a garnishment does not require paying the full debt upfront. It requires establishing a formal agreement with the IRS, which Anthem negotiates on your behalf. Once a qualifying installment agreement, Offer in Compromise, or hardship designation is in place, the IRS releases the garnishment and notifies your employer directly.

Getting a Levy Released

If your bank account has been levied, the IRS holds frozen funds for 21 days before transferring them. This window is your best opportunity to intervene. Call us immediately at (888) 548-0478. Anthem contacts IRS representatives directly during the levy window, establishes a qualifying resolution, and requests a release before funds are transferred. Our tax levy service handles exactly this situation. In many straightforward cases, the release can be faxed directly to your bank while the agreement is being finalized.

Our Long Beach Tax Resolution Services

Anthem selects the right resolution program based on your specific income, assets, filing history, and the collection actions in play. Full details on each program are available on our tax debt relief services page. Programs we most commonly pursue for Long Beach clients include:

Tax Lien Help

A federal or California tax lien is a public claim against all of your assets including Long Beach real estate, vehicles, and financial accounts. In a market where property ownership and home equity are significant, a lien creates immediate complications: it appears on title searches, damages credit, and blocks refinancing or sale transactions until resolved. Anthem pursues lien withdrawal, subordination, and discharge for qualifying Long Beach clients. Under the IRS Fresh Start Program, taxpayers who establish a qualifying direct debit installment agreement can formally request lien withdrawal in writing, removing the debt from credit reporting entirely.

Currently Not Collectible

For Long Beach clients whose income, after standard living expenses, genuinely cannot support IRS repayment, Currently Not Collectible status pauses all IRS collection activity. No garnishments, no levies, no enforcement letters. Interest and penalties continue to accrue, but active collection stops. The IRS reviews the taxpayer's financial situation annually. This is often the right opening position while we evaluate longer-term options such as an Offer in Compromise or installment agreement.

Unfiled Returns

Non-filing is one of the most common tax problems Anthem sees among Long Beach clients, particularly in industries with fluctuating income such as port contracting, gig work, and construction. If you have unfiled returns, the IRS can file a Substitute for Return on your behalf using only gross income data with no deductions and no credits, resulting in a significantly inflated tax bill. Anthem's unfiled tax returns service gets Long Beach non-filers compliant by filing accurately for up to six prior years, then negotiating the resulting liability into the best available resolution.

Installment Agreements

A structured installment agreement allows you to repay IRS debt in monthly amounts based on what you can actually afford. Anthem negotiates the lowest possible payment using streamlined tracks for balances under $50,000, which require minimal financial disclosure and can be established quickly, or non-streamlined tracks for larger or more complex situations. Once an agreement is in place, all active collection actions are released.

Penalty Abatement

IRS penalties including failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, and failure-to-deposit can represent a substantial portion of a Long Beach client's total balance. Anthem pursues penalty abatement through three pathways: First-Time Abatement (for otherwise compliant taxpayers), Reasonable Cause abatement (for circumstances such as illness, job loss, or natural disaster), and Statutory Exceptions. In 2017, the IRS abated nearly $9 billion in penalties nationally. Most taxpayers do not know to ask, and Anthem pursues it as a standard part of every qualifying case.

Long Beach Neighborhoods & ZIP Codes We Serve

Areas: Downtown, Belmont Shore, Bixby Knolls, Naples

Long Beach is a large, economically varied city with distinct communities that each generate their own tax profiles. Anthem serves clients across all of them:

• Downtown Long Beach: the commercial and entertainment core, with a high concentration of small business owners, hospitality workers, and mixed-use property owners who may face both business and personal tax liabilities
• Belmont Shore: the dense beachfront retail and residential strip along 2nd Street, home to self-employed professionals, landlords, and small business owners who frequently face self-employment and rental income tax issues
• Bixby Knolls: a residential area with a strong small business community along Atlantic Avenue, and homeowners who may face lien complications when IRS debt is involved
• Naples Island: an affluent waterfront enclave where homeowners often face high-income tax situations, capital gains issues, and lien-related refinancing complications
• North Long Beach: a working-class residential area with a high concentration of hourly workers, gig economy participants, and small contractors who may face wage garnishment situations
• Port area and Signal Hill: industrial and logistics workers, including many independent contractors in the port supply chain, facing self-employment and unreported income issues

Browse Your ZIP Page Below

Anthem has a dedicated page for every Long Beach ZIP code with neighborhood-specific tax information. Find your ZIP below or call us directly. We serve every part of Long Beach and surrounding Los Angeles County communities including Lakewood, Signal Hill, Carson, and Compton.

Remote Service City-Wide

All Anthem services are delivered 100% remotely. You do not need to visit our Woodland Hills office or any IRS or FTB location. All case work happens by phone and secure electronic document exchange, which works for Long Beach clients whether you are a port worker on shift rotation, a Belmont Shore business owner who cannot leave the shop, or a North Long Beach resident without transportation to a downtown office.

Tax Help Pricing for Long Beach Residents

Weighing Cost vs. Savings

For most Long Beach clients, the professional fee Anthem charges is substantially smaller than the debt reduction or penalty savings achieved through resolution. Client Vilma L., for example, qualified for forgiveness of over $30,000 after two years of Anthem negotiations. Jeffrey Grolig saved over $90,000. Logan reduced a $25,000 debt to just $100. Read more documented outcomes on our testimonials page. The free consultation gives you enough information to evaluate the return on investment before committing to anything.

Payment Options

Anthem understands that clients coming to us are often already under financial pressure. We offer payment arrangements for professional fees so that the cost of getting help does not become another barrier to resolving the underlying problem. Everything is explained clearly upfront before any commitment is made.

Flat-Fee Pricing

Anthem uses flat-fee pricing, not hourly billing. The full cost of your case is established before we begin, with no invoice surprises as work progresses. The fee varies by case complexity and the resolution path required. Anthem's money-back guarantee applies if we do not save you money or rework your payments. The guarantee does not cover bookkeeping or tax preparation services, or the minimum deposit paid by clients.

IRS Payment Plans for Long Beach Residents

Stopping Enforcement

One of the most immediate benefits of establishing an IRS installment agreement is that it stops active enforcement. Once a qualifying agreement is in place, wage garnishments are released, bank levies are lifted, and the IRS shifts from aggressive collection mode to receiving monthly payments. For Long Beach residents currently losing wages or dealing with a frozen account, this change happens quickly once the agreement is formalized.

The Lowest Possible Payment

Anthem negotiates installment agreements with the explicit goal of achieving the lowest monthly payment your financial situation supports. For streamlined agreements, the IRS calculates a minimum based on total debt divided by 72 months. For non-streamlined cases involving full financial disclosure, the IRS uses its Collection Financial Standards to determine allowable living expenses by region, and the payment is set at remaining disposable income. Anthem ensures every allowable expense is accounted for in that calculation so the resulting payment reflects your true financial position, not an inflated IRS estimate.

Choosing the Right Plan

Not all installment agreements are the same. A guaranteed installment agreement (for balances under $10,000) carries the most favorable terms. A streamlined agreement (for balances under $50,000) moves quickly with minimal paperwork. A partial payment installment agreement allows payments below the standard minimum for qualifying hardship cases. And in some situations, an Offer in Compromise is a better fit than any installment plan. Anthem evaluates every Long Beach case across all available tracks and recommends the path that produces the best long-term outcome.

How Our Remote Process Works

IRS Transcript Analysis

Before recommending any resolution strategy, Anthem pulls your full IRS transcript, which shows every tax year on file, every assessment, every penalty, every prior payment, and every active collection action. For Long Beach clients who have lost track of exactly what they owe and to which agencies, this transcript analysis often clarifies the situation substantially and identifies years or amounts the client was not aware of.

Free Case Review

Your first step with Anthem costs nothing. The free case review covers your full situation: what you owe, to which agencies, what collection actions are active or pending, and which resolution programs you are likely to qualify for. There is no obligation to proceed. Visit our contact page or call (888) 548-0478 to schedule your review. All information you share is confidential.

Why Long Beach Taxpayers Choose Anthem

Anthem Tax Services brings over 100 years of combined experience in tax relief, tax law, and IRS representation. Visit our team page to meet the full team. Our professionals include:

• Billy Fauller III, EA, CTRS, NTPI Fellow: a former IRS Revenue Officer who spent eight years inside the collection system your case is now up against
• Anna Phan, Tax Attorney: over a decade of experience in tax resolution and debt negotiation, including representing clients before the IRS and in Tax Court
• Ken Bruns, Tax Attorney: former IRS Office of Chief Counsel attorney, now dedicated entirely to taxpayer representation
• Melissa Northrup, Licensed Enrolled Agent: 20-plus years of tax preparation and resolution experience, board member of the Orange County Chapter of the California Society of Tax Consultants

Anthem holds a 5.0 Google rating, BBB accreditation, and listings on ConsumerAffairs and ConsumersAdvocate.org. The firm has helped more than 50,000 Americans resolve IRS debt and has saved clients millions in back taxes.

Frequently Asked Questions: Long Beach Tax Relief

Do you provide tax relief services to Long Beach residents?

Yes. Anthem Tax Services works with Long Beach residents and business owners across all ZIP codes and neighborhoods. All services are delivered entirely remotely. You never need to visit our office or any IRS or FTB location. We handle federal IRS cases and California FTB cases for individuals, self-employed taxpayers, port workers, small business owners, and corporations throughout Long Beach and the surrounding Los Angeles County area.

Can you help with both IRS and California (FTB) tax debt in Long Beach?

Yes. Many Long Beach clients owe to both the IRS and the California Franchise Tax Board simultaneously, and both agencies can run collection actions at the same time. Anthem handles both in parallel. Your California FTB liability is addressed as part of the same resolution strategy as your federal case, not treated as a separate problem to deal with after the IRS matter is resolved.

Do you help Long Beach small business owners with payroll tax debt?

Yes. Payroll tax debt including 941 employment tax liabilities and Trust Fund Recovery Penalty situations is one of the most serious tax problems a small business owner can face. The IRS treats payroll tax as a priority collection matter and can hold business owners personally liable even after a business closes. Anthem works with Long Beach small business owners to address both business liability and personal exposure, negotiate the most favorable payment structure, and protect business operations where possible during the resolution process.

What should I do if I haven't filed taxes in several years?

The first thing to understand is that non-filing is fixable. The IRS generally accepts delinquent returns going back six years, and getting compliant opens the door to resolution programs not available to active non-filers. The risk of continued inaction is that the IRS can file a Substitute for Return on your behalf at any time using only gross income data, with no deductions and no credits, resulting in a much larger tax bill than you would owe if you filed correctly. Anthem helps Long Beach non-filers get compliant, filing accurately and then negotiating the resulting liability into the best available resolution.

Is everything handled remotely, or do I need to visit an office?

Everything is handled remotely. All Anthem services are delivered by phone and secure electronic document exchange. You will never need to visit our Woodland Hills office, attend an IRS office, or appear anywhere in person. This matters for Long Beach clients working port shifts, running businesses that cannot be left unattended, or simply managing a schedule that does not allow for in-person appointments during business hours.

How much does tax relief cost for Long Beach taxpayers?

Anthem uses flat-fee pricing, so the full cost of your case is established upfront with no hourly billing surprises. The fee varies by case complexity and the resolution pathway required. Your initial consultation is completely free. Anthem's money-back guarantee means that if we do not save you money or rework your payments, you get your money back. The guarantee excludes bookkeeping and tax preparation services and the minimum deposit paid by clients.

Free Tax Debt Consultation for Long Beach

If you owe the IRS or California FTB and you live or work in Long Beach, the best move you can make today is finding out exactly where you stand. Anthem's free consultation costs nothing, carries no obligation, and gives you a clear picture of every resolution option available to you. Visit our contact page or call us directly.

Passionate. Dedicated. Professional. That is how we approach every Long Beach case, whether you owe $8,000 or $800,000.