Tax Debt Consultant Podcast

About Tax Debt Consultant Podcast

You owe the IRS more than you can pay. You stopped opening the mail a while ago. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a number keeps getting bigger while you try not to think about it. That is who this show is for. Tax Debt Live is hosted by Carlos Samaniego and his son Andrew Samaniego. Both Enrolled Agents. Both veterans. Every episode, they do one thing: tell scared people the truth about what the IRS and the California Franchise Tax Board can actually do to them, and what can actually be done about it. Carlos spent eight years buried in his own IRS mess, telling himself he would handle it when things calmed down, waiting for a better moment that never came. He got out. Then he spent the next decade getting other people out. Andrew is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and Navy veteran who came home, earned his EA credential, and now runs the cases from triage to resolution. One generation that lived the problem. One trained to end it. Both wearing the same last name. No theory. No feel-good tax talk. No firm pretending your problem is worse than it is so they can charge you more to fix it. Just straight answers about back taxes, wage garnishment, bank levies, tax liens, unfiled returns, and the letters that show up certified when the collections machine finally locks onto your file. You will hear the real playbook. How an Offer in Compromise actually works and who actually qualifies. When an installment agreement is the right move and when it quietly buries you. What a Revenue Officer can seize, how fast, and what stops them. Why doing nothing is the single most expensive decision you can make, and how the penalty clock keeps running whether you engage or not. The IRS is The Collector. It does not get angry. It gets automated. The California FTB is CaliClaw, and it moves faster and hits harder than most people expect. The Revenue Officer at your door is The Hitman. On this show, Carlos and Andrew name what you are up against, because you cannot fight what you refuse to look at. Here is the part most tax shows skip. Carlos is not the hero of the story. Neither is Andrew. You are. They are the rope. Some episodes break down a single case from triage to resolution. Some answer the questions people are too embarrassed to ask out loud. Some sit down with tax attorneys, former IRS agents, and the people who actually know how the system works from the inside. Every one of them is built for the person staring at a balance they cannot see a way out of. If you owe back taxes and you have been carrying it alone, this show is the first honest conversation you have had about it. The moment you decide to move is the last moment the clock is working against you. After that, it works for you. Ready to stop listening and start fixing it? Call 909-570-1103 or go to CallTaxEA.com and tell Carlos and Andrew what you are dealing with. They will take it from there. The Collector(IRS) does not take holidays. Neither do they.

Publisher

Carlos Samaniego EA

Category

business · education · government

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 Mar 2018

Latest episode

18 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

76 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   18 Jul 2026

   The IRS Decides How Much Your Family Can Eat: Tax Debt Live

   The IRS has a chart that decides how much your family is allowed to eat. A family of four gets $1,278 a month. That's $10.65 a day, per person. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Ten dollars and sixty-five cents per person per day. That is what The Collector(IRS) has decided is enough to feed a human being while you dig out of tax debt. Nobody handed you this chart. It is public. It is real. And most people filling out an IRS Form 433 never know it exists. Here is what it actually controls. When you owe back taxes and cannot pay, when you are trying to get into an installment agreement, prove you are currently not collectible, or file an offer in compromise, the IRS runs your life through its national standards. Food. Clothing. Housekeeping supplies. Personal care. A category they literally call miscellaneous. A family of four is allowed $2,176 a month for all of it. A single person, $867. California uses the same numbers. Now the turn. That same chart, used right, is a weapon. Andrew walks through how the allowable expenses can show the IRS you have little or nothing left to give, and how that changes the deal you get. Then the cases. A man about to pay $23,000 he did not owe, because someone was using his Social Security number in a state he had never set foot in. A woman fighting a levy over a second W-2 her employer sent by mistake. A daughter handed a $97,000 California bill for a mother who had already passed. Two things to take with you. Just because the IRS says you owe does not mean you owe it. And not filing is worse than not paying. Every time. Bleeding right now? Owe the IRS or California and the notices are stacking up? Call 909-570-1103 or go to CallTaxEA.com and tell me what you are dealing with. I will take it from there. Want the map before you make a move? Grab my book at StopHidingFromTheIRS.com, or start at TaxDebtBook.com. On the West Coast, or want to work with Andrew directly? He runs cases out of Monterey and takes them start to finish. Reach him and book a call at andrewsamaniego.com, and grab his book, IRS Battle Plan: Guide to Winning Your Tax War, while you are there. Subscribe to Tax Debt Live so the next notice does not catch you flat. The Collector decides what you are allowed to eat. Andrew and I decide whether you fight back. #IRS #TaxDebt #IRSHelp #OfferInCompromise #BackTaxes

2. 

   30 Jun 2026

   $40,000 to the Voice That Couldn't Legally Save Him

   Picture the room. Cheap suits, headsets, scripts taped to the desk, phones ringing on top of phones, and nobody listening. That room is most of the tax relief industry, and the voice that sells you in it can almost never legally represent you. In this episode, Carlos and Andrew Samaniego break down how the boiler-room sales machine works, why the person who closes you on the phone is rarely the person licensed to stand in front of the IRS or the California Franchise Tax Board, and how to tell the difference before it costs you tens of thousands of dollars. In this episode: The three licenses required to legally represent you, and why a salesperson holds none of them. The Promise Thief. The firms selling pennies on the dollar who take your money and disappear. The man who paid $40,000 to three different firms and never qualified for an Offer in Compromise in the first place. Why the person you talk to first should be the one who signs your power of attorney and finishes your case. Carlos Mencia, California's new business tax fraud unit, and what his arrest means for every business owner sitting on unfiled returns. The client with six years of unfiled S-corp returns who walked in afraid of jail, and how that case got resolved. Before you call anyone, arm yourself. I wrote the book on how the IRS and the California Franchise Tax Board actually work, how the relief industry sells you, and how to get out without getting robbed on the way. Get my book: TaxDebtBook.com (http://taxdebtbook.com) If there is a levy or a notice on your kitchen table right now and you cannot wait, call 909-570-1103 or go to CallTaxEA.com. (https://calltaxea.com) I sat in that chair for eight years. I got out. Now we throw the rope. To your survival. Carlos Samaniego, EA, NTPI Fellow The Tax Debt Detective Andrew Samaniego, EA

3. 

   24 Feb 2025

   The Ugly Truth About IRS Collections in 2025: What They’re Not Telling You

   The IRS is in chaos—mass layoffs, political talk about eliminating income tax, and an uncertain future. But don’t be fooled… collections have NOT slowed down. In this episode, Carlos Samaniego, EA, breaks down what’s really happening behind the scenes and why taxpayers are seeing more automated notices, more bank levies, and more wage garnishments than ever before. You’ll learn: ✅ Why 7,000 IRS layoffs don’t mean relief for taxpayers ✅ How state tax agencies like “Cali Claw” are coming after unpaid taxes harder than ever ✅ The insane penalties and interest that can turn a $50,000 tax bill into $73,000 in just 18 months ✅ The best strategies to reduce or settle your tax debt before things spiral out of control If you owe the IRS or your state, this is your wake-up call. Ignoring it won’t make it go away. 💰 Download my free book,"How to Make the IRS an Offer They Can’t Refuse," and learn how to take control of your tax debt today: TaxDebtBook.com (https://www.TaxDebtBook.com) 📞 Need help now? Call my office at 909-570-1103 or book a consultation at CallTaxEA.com (https://www.calltaxea.com). 🎧 Listen now and take control of your tax situation before it’s too late! Episode Description:

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

75,282

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.7 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 53 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

44

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

81

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