Katherine Johnson, CPA, CTRS

With over 30 years of experience as a CPA, Katherine Johnson has dedicated her career to helping clients navigate the complexities of taxes. Passionate about alleviating financial stress, she specializes in assisting individuals and small businesses facing tax challenges, including unpaid taxes, audits, and penalties.

Katherine's extensive knowledge and personalized approach enable her to develop effective strategies tailored to each client's unique situation. Her commitment to excellence and clear communication ensures that clients feel supported throughout the resolution process. Trust Katherine to guide you toward a brighter financial future with confidence and peace of mind.

Certified Public Accountant (Kentucky, since 1996)

A CPA license carries unlimited rights to represent taxpayers before the IRS — the same standing as an Enrolled Agent or a tax attorney. It also means Katherine is accountable to a state board and bound by Circular 230, the federal rules governing practice before the IRS. If a firm's website doesn't name a licensed individual, that accountability isn't there.

Certified Tax Resolution Specialist (ASTPS, July 2026)

The CTRS is awarded by the American Society of Tax Problem Solvers and is specific to resolution work — collection, settlements, liens, levies, audits — rather than tax preparation. It's a distinction worth understanding, because the two are genuinely different disciplines. A great return preparer isn't automatically the right person to negotiate with a Revenue Officer. Katherine earned the designation in July 2026.

Georgetown College BS in Accounting and Marketing/Finance

Local, and she stayed.

20+ years in corporate accounting and financial modeling

Useful background more often than you'd think. A great deal of resolution work comes down to building an accurate, defensible financial picture — which is exactly what that career was.

Next Level Tax Resolution is a small firm, and that shapes the experience more than anything else about it.

There's a real office in Georgetown with real people in it — Katherine and a team of three who work alongside her. They're the ones who gather your documents, request your transcripts, chase down what's missing and put your file together.

Every case here is worked by a licensed CPA. There's no sales team, no handoff after the engagement letter is signed, and no case manager relaying messages from someone you'll never meet.

She'll tell you if you don't need her.

Some situations are straightforward enough to handle directly with the IRS. When that's the case, Katherine says so on the first call. It costs her a client and it's the right answer.

No settlement figures before the transcripts.

Nobody can responsibly tell you what the IRS will accept before seeing what the IRS actually has on file. A firm that quotes you a number on a first call is selling, not advising.

No credit card before the case is reviewed.

The consultation is free, and it's a conversation, not a closing sequence.

A CPA works your case, not a department.

Her team prepares the file. Katherine reviews it, sets the strategy, and handles the IRS. That doesn't change with volume, because the practice isn't built to scale past it.

Plain language.

If you leave a call with Katherine not understanding what happens next, something went wrong.

No judgment about how it got this far.

This one matters more than the rest. People arrive embarrassed — about the unopened mail, the years that got away from them, the thing they meant to deal with in 2019. Katherine has been doing this for three decades. There is nothing you can tell her that she hasn't heard, and there's no version of this conversation where she thinks less of you for it.