Todd S. Unger, Esq., LLC

Focus and practice areas

Todd S. Unger, Esq., LLC handles tax matters, and almost nothing else. The firm represents individuals and businesses who have a problem with the IRS: audits, tax debt, wage garnishments, bank levies, liens, unfiled returns and the notices that arrive when any of those go unresolved.

The named service list runs to IRS audit representation, installment agreements, offers in compromise, penalty abatement, innocent spouse relief, payroll and employment tax matters, and back taxes. Tax planning and compliance work also appears on the about page, alongside tax controversy.

That is a narrow menu by the standards of most general practices, and in my opinion the narrowness is the point. Somebody who does audits and collection defence every week knows the forms, the deadlines and the people on the other side of the table. A firm that dabbles in tax between real estate closings usually does not.

Where the firm can act

The office is in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Client coverage runs to New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, which matches the three state bars Todd Unger holds.

Federal tax work sits differently. The firm handles federal matters nationwide, which is possible because IRS practice is governed by federal rules rather than state licensure. Representation before the IRS itself turns on authorization to practice before the agency, so geography matters less once a case is federal.

The United States Tax Court admission matters here too. Tax Court has its own bar, separate from any state bar, and admission is what lets a lawyer file a petition there and argue the case. Without it, a taxpayer who wants to contest a notice of deficiency in Tax Court needs different counsel to carry the petition.

Todd Unger's background

The route into tax law was not the usual one. Todd Unger studied psychology at the University of Vermont, then worked at an international investment bank and as a proprietary equity trader in New York before law school.

Law school came at Nova Southeastern University Law Center. After that he earned an LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center, a one-year graduate degree taken after the JD and dedicated entirely to tax.

The LL.M. is worth pausing on. Tax law is one of the few fields where a post-JD degree is common among practitioners, because the Internal Revenue Code and its regulations are large enough that general legal training only gets you to the door. The Georgetown programme is a well-known one for that qualification.

Bar admissions and memberships

Unger is licensed in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. He is admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court.

He belongs to the American Bar Association's Section of Taxation and to the New York State Bar Association's Tax Section. Both sections publish commentary on pending regulations and run continuing education for members, so section membership is one of the ordinary ways a tax lawyer keeps current with code changes.

How IRS matters usually proceed

The following is general context on the kinds of matters the firm names, and it describes how such cases typically move rather than any particular result at this firm.

Audits and appeals

An IRS examination starts with a letter. Correspondence audits ask for documents by mail. Field and office audits involve a revenue agent and a scheduled meeting. The agent issues a report proposing changes, and the taxpayer can accept it or contest it.

Disagreement goes first to the IRS Independent Office of Appeals, a separate function inside the agency staffed by appeals officers who did not work the audit. Appeals settles a large share of cases because officers there can weigh the hazards of litigation, which the examining agent cannot. If Appeals does not resolve it, the statutory notice of deficiency starts a 90-day clock for a Tax Court petition.

Collection and tax debt

Collection is a different track from examination. Once tax is assessed and unpaid, the IRS can file a lien, levy bank accounts and garnish wages. Installment agreements spread the balance over time. An offer in compromise asks the agency to accept less than the full amount, and it is evaluated against the taxpayer's reasonable collection potential: assets, income and allowable living expenses under IRS standards.

Penalty abatement runs on its own rules. First-time abatement covers a clean compliance history. Reasonable cause relief requires a factual showing about why the failure happened. Both are documented requests, and the quality of the paperwork tends to decide them.

Unfiled returns and payroll tax

Overdue returns carry their own complication: the IRS can prepare a substitute return on the taxpayer's behalf, usually without deductions or credits the taxpayer would have claimed. Filing the real return afterwards can reduce the assessed figure.

Payroll and employment tax cases are the sharper end of the practice. Unpaid trust fund taxes, meaning the amounts withheld from employees, can be assessed personally against owners, officers and others the IRS finds responsible. That personal exposure is why business owners in this position often get counsel involved early.

What the listing shows

The firm publishes its credentials plainly: three state licences, a Tax Court admission, a named law school, a named LL.M., two bar section memberships. Each is a checkable fact rather than a claim about outcomes.

As a reviewer, that is the sort of page this directory likes to see. The website is organised around a single problem, the practice areas match the qualifications, and the biography explains where the tax knowledge came from. Nothing about audits or offers in compromise is dressed up as easy.

The site does not state a founding year, and it does not give Unger a title such as founder or partner. Social presence runs to Facebook, X and LinkedIn.

Readers looking for the practical fit should note the two halves of the coverage. State-licensed work reaches taxpayers in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Federal IRS and Tax Court matters reach further, and that is where a Cherry Hill office can take on a client several states away.