alliantgroup Welcomes Former IRS Commissioner of Small Business, Darren Guillot, as National Director

Until his retirement from the IRS just last month, Guillot served as IRS Commissioner of the Small Business Division and capped 36 years with the service. As Commissioner, Guillot oversaw enforcement of all small and medium-sized businesses in America, leading a workforce of more than 12,000 employees.

His roles included overseeing the IRS’ Collection Operations, as well as standing up and leading the Office of Fraud Enforcement (OFE) – including its embedded Emerging Threats function.  During his tenure, OFE was a key player in corralling threats to tax administration such as Ghost Employers, High Income Delinquent Filers (HiDeF Sweeps), and COVID relief fraud including ERC fraud. OFE provides support and coordination for all the service’s efforts in detecting and deterring fraud.

As he departed the IRS, his team was writing the playbook on addressing High Wealth High Balance due taxpayers and similarly OFE was working alongside the Office of Promoter Investigations (OPI) on how to detect and address potential fraud and abuse related to the clean fuel credits and the ERC.

“I am staunchly pro-small business because the tax code exists to make U.S. businesses more competitive. The fact is 63% of jobs created in the U.S. come from small to medium-sized businesses and I’m thrilled I can continue to educate them on not only what incentives they need to be claiming, but also how to claim them properly under the Service’s standards,” said Guillot.

His extensive experience in IRS’ Independent Office of Appeals culminated in his leadership of the Appeals Judicial Approach & Culture project (AJAC) that resulted in many key policies and procedures still in use today by appeals officers. As the IRS more carefully scrutinizes ERC claims, many businesses may seek further review in Appeals and Guillot will be an important advocate for clients who have concerns about the correctness of audit changes or civil enforcement that could result.

Throughout his executive career, Guillot consistently toiled to make a difference for millions of businesses and individual taxpayers; successfully imagining better policies and improvements, then leading their implementation with a results-oriented approach. alliantgroup looks forward to Guillot continuing his work supporting the small and medium-sized businesses of America.