Getting To Know You Tuesday: Morgan Q. Anderson
Morgan Q. Anderson knows her way around the IRS, and she isn’t afraid to push back. An enrolled agent, NTPI Fellow, and CEO of Golden Lion Tax Solutions, Morgan has spent 27 years working exclusively in tax representation, helping taxpayers navigate complex collection cases and negotiate resolutions with the IRS and state tax agencies. She’s also a tax educator, author of “Tax Debt Rule #1: There’s ALWAYS a Solution,” and a subject matter expert for the National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP).
But Morgan’s path into tax wasn’t exactly planned. She was managing a candle store when a classified ad led her into tax representation, and she hasn’t looked back. These days, when she’s not advocating for clients, you might find her watching deer and turkeys outside her Utah home office or dreaming of adding a 1960s muscle car to her garage. Here’s more about Morgan, including why she thinks tax professionals should specialize, what she wishes taxpayers understood about the IRS, and how she went from being an AI skeptic to an AI user.
So, let’s get to know Morgan.
In Her Own Words
1. Where are you right now? I am sitting in my home office, looking out at a small pack of deer and turkeys migrating through my front yard, which I am lucky enough to claim as a daily event. Who would expect that in Ogden, Utah??? Yes, that Ogden, home to one of the large IRS processing campuses. This is probably the only audience that would get a small snicker out of that location…
2. What’s your official title, and what do you actually do? Officially, I am the CEO of Golden Lion Tax Solutions. Professionally, EA, AATPR, and NTPI Fellow follow my name. To my clients, I am their advocate, probation officer, mother, and sometimes, priest. To the IRS and state tax professionals I work with, I am my client’s advocate, a knowledgeable breath of fresh air, an unmovable force field around my clients, and even sometimes, a huge pain in their backside. This all sums up nicely to identifying my and my company’s sole area of focus in tax representation.
3. Where did you go to school, and what did you study? College wasn’t my thing; I despised having to take a science class when I “KNEW” I would not be pursuing anything science-related for a career. So through my mid-20s, I tried on jobs like shoes until I landed in an industry that spoke to my heart and soul and truly inspired me. Since then, my classroom has been the IRS itself, and I have never stopped learning.
4. How did you end up in tax? It was a happy accident! I was managing a candle store in Boulder, Colorado, bored out of my mind. I answered a classified ad (this was 1999, after all!) for an administrative assistant and ended up interviewing with one of the first nationwide leaders in tax representation. I stumbled into a world perfectly suited for me: numbers, law, debate, problem-solving, and education.
5. What was your first real job? At the ripe age of 14 and ½, as soon as I could secure a work permit from my high school, I was a hostess at Caleco’s restaurant in Webster Groves, Missouri. I remember how proud I was to earn my first paycheck of $14.62 while being paid $3.85 per hour. I have consistently worked every day since.
6. What’s one thing people might be surprised to learn about you? I am a 1960s muscle car fiend. My dream is to own a 1966 Pontiac GTO or 1967 Camaro RS/SS. I grew up in a family of gear-heads… people whose grins got wider the more a vehicle rumbled under them and whose grip on the steering wheel tightened as they shifted gears. I still catch myself turning my head when I hear the rumble of an engine coming down a road just to see if I can identify the source before it rolls into view!
7. If you weren’t working in tax, what would you be doing? Event planning, no question. I thrive under pressure and love tending to the little details most people wouldn’t anticipate. I am always thinking five to ten steps ahead, and that habit pays off every day in how I represent my clients before the IRS and state tax agencies.
8. What’s the best piece of tax, money, or career advice you’ve ever received? Decide one area to focus on and dig deep to become a true expert. That’s why I don’t dabble in anything except for representation. Though I am licensed to do almost everything in the tax world, I keep firmly in the confines of my representation sandbox. I don’t believe we serve our clients better by being a jack of all trades and master of none. Find the part of the tax world that inspires you to sit down at your desk every single day and do that exceptionally. That goes for all of us! Whether your corner of the tax world is advisory, international tax, or accounting, pick one and dig in until you are the expert.
9. What tax issue do you think is getting too much attention right now? It may be an unpopular opinion, but disaster and administrative tax relief extensions. What started as an anomaly here or there after the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 was passed has become so commonplace that you need a chart updated monthly to keep track of who has how much time to file their tax returns! Before our current technology was implemented, I can understand how it would take time to recompile paper ledgers, bank statements, etc. However, now that everything is electronic and backed up in one cloud or another, extensive delays aren’t as necessary.
10. What tax issue isn’t getting enough attention? Our country’s increasing non-filer issue. The IRS is not a big, hairy, one-eyed monster showing up at your front door in an overcoat and fedora, badge and gun in hand, to seize your firstborn, but our “voluntary” compliance system only works if taxpayers have a healthy fear of the repercussions. File and pay what you rightfully owe, and everything works out. When more and more people get nothing but notices that wag a finger and ask them to please file their outstanding returns, that healthy fear dissipates.
11. What’s the biggest tax myth you’d like to bust? That it’s all the IRS’s fault. Every time I hear someone boast, “abolish the IRS” or the like, I get nauseous. The IRS is just the arm of the government tasked with carrying out what Congress puts into motion. Don’t mess with the accounts receivable department of our government.
12. What’s a tax question you wish people would ask you more often? “Can I pay my estimated taxes more often than quarterly?” Absolutely! Small business owners and the self-employed have thousands of things to keep track of, and our “not quite quarterly, but we’ll call it that” due dates do nothing to help. To make planning easier, we move our clients to monthly payments. I tell them to think of it like a mortgage or car payment that simply gets paid every month. Staying current on ongoing tax obligations is key to negotiating a solution for past-due tax debt, so this makes taking that step easier.
13. What’s one tax rule you would change if you could? I would like to see all Social Security payments be tax-free. Workers pay into this system with every paycheck for decades, and they have no say in how those dollars are invested in their name. How much might they have earned with some direction over those funds? That’s an open-ended debate; like anything on the internet, you can seek and find a study to support your position. My opinion is that you’ve contributed most of your life to this, and it should come back to you tax-free.
14. What’s one non-tech thing in your office that you couldn’t do without? My chair! It’s an old Banker’s Chair my great-uncle used for decades while he ran his plumbing company. It’s rock-solid oak with a barrel back, perfectly worn and broken in. Who knew that sitting on solid wood could actually be comfortable?
15. Which tech tool, platform, or software do you rely on most in your practice? We rely heavily on two software platforms. The first is IRS Solutions, which I’ve used since I started Golden Lion. I love how fast it downloads all the transcripts we need for our daily practice, as well as the integrated forms it will spit out at the touch of a button. Having come from the days of manually entering data on 2848s and the 433 series, it’s a fantastic time-saver! The second, and I am always amazed at these words coming out of my mouth: Marble.ai. I was firmly in the “no AI” camp since the concept of using an AI tool was introduced to our industry. However, I have found immeasurable time saved by opening a new task within the program, typing a summary of the client’s situation and what we would like to propose, and having it provide a summary of tax law to support what we intend, along with other pros and cons to contemplate before compiling the proposal. I always check its work against the actual tax law and IRS guidance before anything goes into a proposal; it is a starting point, never the final word. But what a game changer!
16. What’s the best use of AI in tax or tax practice? We have found that it is an incredible springboard – to go from a blank piece of paper to an organized thought to build from. I am fascinated by how it gives me new threads of thought or issues to ponder before building our resolution proposals.
17. What are you watching right now (streaming or otherwise)? A friend of mine suggested Ride Or Die on Amazon Prime, which has sent me down a binging rabbit hole over the last two days. As a “WOACA” myself (“Woman Of A Certain Age,” for those who haven’t found this series yet), I’ve found so many recognizable challenges the characters face. It’s a great one for women to bond over. And for the men in the audience, don’t worry… there are plenty of opportunities to relate to the male characters, plus lots of action!
18. Coffee or tea? Coffee… sweet and moo’ing.
19. Pancakes or waffles? Oh, that’s a tough one! In the summer, it’s pancakes, and in the winter, it’s waffles. There’s something about waffles that conjures up thoughts of a big fuzzy sweater and jeans.
20. If you received an unexpected tax refund tomorrow, what would you do with it? Probably dump it into my ’60s muscle car investment fund… or maybe I should start a second one titled “Unexpected Mechanic’s Bills for the ’60s Muscle Car”?
You can find out more about Morgan’s company on her website. You can also find her on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
About Getting to Know You
If you’d like to recommend a tax pro to be featured, send your suggestions to gtky (at) taxgirl (dot) com with the subject: Getting to Know You Tuesday. Self-nominations are totally okay and encouraged! If you’ve submitted a nomination before, feel free to send it again. I’ll consider all submissions, even those that were selected, so long as they were more than three years ago.
