Judge Elizabeth A. (“Tex”) Copeland dismissed the plea of Marc Alessandro, Docket No. 1099-23L, filed 10/20/23, that “[a]ny tax lien or levy would cause [Mr. Alessandro] to lose his license [as a financial planner] and would then [cause him to] lose his ability to earn income.” Order, at p. 4.
Judge Tex Copeland gave as her reason “so far as we can discern, FINRA does not require licensed financial planners to report tax levies….” Order, at p. 5.
May I most respectfully suggest that the Court look at FINRA Form U4, at pp. 14 and 33? A source tells me that the judgment and lien information from the Form U4 as to any registrant may be released to the public, per FINRA Rule 8312. This may negatively impact employment of the registrant.
My information may be a wee bit rusty, as I never served as a FINRA arbitrator, since in 1998 FINRA took over arbitration proceedings from the old Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. So any reader with fresher information, please weigh in.
Howbeit, as Mr. Alessandro did not submit Form 433-A and backups, all this may be moot, and not worth a motion for reconsideration.
Taishoff Law 
Mr. Taishoff,
First of all, thank you for all you do – I look forward to reviewing your comments every day. I have an elderly client who is a financial planner and sells financial products. The IRS put federal tax liens on him 6 years ago. He can still continue to work as a financial adviser and sell financial products from his existing contracts BUT he cannot solicit to add additional products from his current fiduciaries or enter into new contracts with other fiduciaries. For example, he cannot go to Prudential and ask to be an agent for some of their financial products since he has a Federal Tax Lien. Prudential has an accepted profile for companies selling their products and a federal tax lien falls outside the accepted profile. I am working with this client to reduce his outstanding IRS balance due to under $25K and then set up a full pay installment agreement via direct debit – after 3 successful payments he can solicit the IRS to release his Federal Tax Liens. Thank you for your support of the federal tax representation community. Bill Nemeth, Enrolled Agent CELL: 770-616-1638 GAEA President and Education Chair Elected Member of the NAEA Affiliate Council NAEA Education Foundation Chair
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Mr Nemeth, Many thanks for your kind words. I wish you luck in your efforts to eradicate this lien. I said it five years ago, or rather, I quoted Shakespeare saying it, “After your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.” That goes for a negative report on a U4 or a bad U5.
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