Screening Tax Resolution Leads Before Intake

A screening step sits between every lead source and your calendar, and only people who pass it get an appointment. In a tax resolution marketing strategy, that step decides whether your case managers spend the week on cases your firm can take or on people it cannot help or who cannot pay. RevLab's version has three checks, and a prospect who misses any one of them does not go on the calendar. This guide shows those three as the homepage words them, then adds two more checks a firm can build in.

Why screening is a separate step

A form tells you what someone typed. RevLab's homepage says as much about its own forms: "Every prospect says they owe $100K+". A number typed into a form has not been confirmed, and the screen is the second pass that closes that gap before anyone on your team spends an hour.

Count three different things, because they cost different amounts:

• A lead is someone who gave contact details and said something about an IRS problem. Nothing has been checked.
• A qualified prospect is someone who passed your screen. RevLab's FAQ defines it this way: "A taxpayer who told us they owe the IRS $100,000 or more, wants help with it now, and confirmed the consultation time."
• A booked appointment is a qualified prospect with a slot on your calendar.

Capacity is the limit for some owners. An EA on r/taxpros wrote: "A scam? I have more resolution work than I can keep up with." (OddButterscotch2849, EA, 2025-05-08). Another, who runs a resolution firm, wrote: "Lastly and most important, if you're running paid ads, your phone must be answered live 24/7." (Eagletaxres, EA, resolution firm owner, 2026-06-17). If you follow that advice, every unscreened lead costs a live answer.

The three checks on RevLab's homepage

The screening graphic on the RevLab homepage lists three items, worded exactly: "Owes the IRS $100K+", "Wants help with it now" and "Confirmed the time". The page says: "We confirm what they owe and that they want help, then book the ones who qualify." Under the example note it says: "If a prospect misses any of the three boxes, they don’t go on your calendar." The page also says at the form step: "Anyone who owes under $100K is screened out before they get to you."

Those are the only checks the page shows. The sections below are general method for building your own screen, and they describe nothing RevLab does beyond these three.

The five checks

1. Balance floor. Every appointment takes the same intake and case manager time whatever the balance, so a floor protects that time. The number is your decision, tied to your fees and your capacity. RevLab's is $100K, and a firm with a different fee structure may set another. Ask for the figure from the notice itself, because the IRS says the CP504 notice "explains how much you owe and your payment options." Treat the number as stated until you have seen a notice or account figure.

2. Wants help now, and is the person who decides. "Wants help with it now" is RevLab's second check. The decision-maker question is a general addition: the person on the phone has to be the one who can sign the engagement. If a spouse, a partner or a bookkeeper has to agree, book the appointment only when that person is on it.

3. Notice or enforcement stage. Ask which letter they hold and read the notice name back. The IRS describes each stage on its own pages:

• A CP504 is a Notice of Intent to Levy. The IRS says it is "your Notice of Intent to Levy (Internal Revenue Code section 6331 (d))" and that without payment it "can levy your income and bank accounts, as well as seize your property."
• An LT11 or Letter 1058 says: "We intend to seize your property or rights to property. You must contact us immediately." It also points to a collection due process hearing, and IRS Publication 594 says that for proposed levies the request date is 30 days from the date of the letter.
• A levy, per the IRS, "permits the legal seizure of your property to satisfy a tax debt."
• A federal tax lien is "the government’s legal claim against your property when you neglect or fail to pay a tax debt."
• A revenue officer is the IRS employee who may visit a home or business as part of collection. The IRS says that "Normally, before a visit the Revenue Officer mails an appointment letter or calls to set up a visit."

Stage is a reason to move someone up the calendar, not a reason to turn them away. A prospect holding a levy notice with a hearing deadline in the notice should be offered the earliest slot you have.

4. Ability to pay your firm. Ask plainly, once, before the appointment, whether the prospect can fund your engagement. An EA wrote about one kind of prospect: "...the clients that owe the IRS and would be eligible for an OIC or Non-Collectible, are ones that can’t afford to pay me." (Quack_Shot, EA, 2025-08-08). A big balance and no ability to fund the engagement is a mismatch the screen should catch.

5. Confirmed time. "Confirmed the time" is RevLab's third check, and the section on the confirmation step covers it.

What disqualifies and what is a judgment call

Under RevLab's three checks, three things disqualify: a balance below $100K, no wish for help now, and no confirmed time. Any firm can write its own list. A reasonable list separates the hard stops from the cases where an owner decides.

Judgment calls, with reasons the IRS itself gives:

• Unfiled returns. The IRS says an offer in compromise requires you to "File all required tax returns," and that an installment agreement is available "If you’re current on your tax filings." So unfiled returns change the work and the order of steps, but the case stays workable: RevLab's own example note reads "Four years of unfiled returns and a levy notice." and a balance of "$140,000".
• Open bankruptcy. The IRS lists "Not be in an open bankruptcy" among offer in compromise requirements, so it narrows which resolution paths exist.
• A prospect who could pay in full. The IRS says that "Generally, we won’t accept an offer if you can pay your tax debt in full through a payment plan and/or equity in assets." A firm decides whether that is its kind of case.
• Business or individual taxpayer. The IRS offer pages treat employers separately for tax deposits, so ask which one you are talking to.

The confirmation step

Confirmation means a person on your side reaches the prospect, checks the balance and the wish for help against what the form said, offers times, and records the time the prospect agreed to. RevLab's example note shows the record: "Wants help: Yes, ready to talk this week" and "Confirmed: Yes, reminder sent Wednesday".

An empty slot you find out about before it starts costs nothing, and one you find out about when it starts costs an hour of someone's day. That is the reason to build the step. There is no sourced figure for how many more confirmed appointments show up than unconfirmed ones, and this guide does not give one. Log how many booked appointments are actually held and use those.

Only contact people who agreed to be contacted on your form, and call or text only at the number they gave.

Hypothetical example: a screening conversation, one phone call, US dollars, no ad spend involved. The form says the prospect owes "about $180,000". The screener asks: "Which letter did you receive?" The prospect names a Notice of Intent to Levy, CP504, and when asked to read the balance printed on it, reads $181,400. The screener asks whether anyone else has to agree to hire a firm, and the prospect says their spouse does and will join. The prospect can fund an engagement now. The screener offers Thursday at 9:00 AM, the prospect agrees, and the screener records the time, sends a reminder and notes spouse on the call. All five checks passed, so the slot is booked.

Handling the screened-out

Someone below your floor or not ready still has an IRS problem, and a polite dead end is worse than a short honest message. Tell them the balance or timing is not a fit for your firm in plain words. Point them to the phone number printed on their notice, because the IRS tells recipients of a CP504 to "contact us immediately at the toll-free number shown on your notice" if they cannot pay in full. Link them to the IRS page for their notice.

Promise no result and no IRS program they will qualify for, whatever their balance. Record the reason for every screened-out prospect, in the same fields as everyone else. If they hold a levy notice, say the same day that the notice carries a deadline to request a hearing, and tell them to read it. The IRS page for levies says that if you receive a Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to A Hearing, "contact us right away."

What to log so you can measure cost per booked consultation

One row per lead, written at the time:

• Date and time the form came in, and the source (which ad or channel).
• The balance the prospect stated, and the balance confirmed from a notice.
• The notice name they hold, and whether a revenue officer has contacted them.
• Whether they want help now, and who else decides.
• The answer on funding the engagement.
• Whether the time was confirmed, and the slot.
• Outcome: screened out (with the reason), booked, held, no-show, retained.

Cost per booked consultation is the money spent on a source divided by the booked consultations it produced. The held guide on cost per booked consultation versus cost per lead covers that math in full. The math needs two counts to be honest, leads and booked consultations, and the log above gives you both along with the reason every lead dropped out.

Related guides

• Vetting tax resolution lead vendors: what to demand in writing, including how a vendor defines qualified.
• How tax resolution firms get clients: five sources compared, for choosing where leads come from.
• What a tax resolution firm can and cannot say in ads: the claims and solicitation rules before the lead arrives.

Next step

If you want to see how RevLab runs this screen for an Enrolled Agent or tax resolution firm, book a strategy call with John on the RevLab homepage calendar.