About Us

Michelle Turpin is the founder of Michelle Turpin P.C. She has over 30 years representing taxpayer’s in Federal and State controversies (e.g., representation during audits, appeals, collection, Offer in Compromise, Trust Fund Recovery Penalty, levies seizures, failure to file and United States Tax Court litigation). Michelle’s practice also focuses on tax planning for businesses and estates, she is experienced in partnership tax, corporate tax, individual income tax, estate tax, fundamental estate planning, entity formation and asset protection planning.

In addition to her legal work, Michelle has served as a board member for several Utah non-profit, tax-exempt organizations. She also enjoys being involved in various political activities. Michelle was born in Utah where she has lived for most of her life.

Michelle graduated from the University of Utah with a B.A. in Finance in 1986. Michelle received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Utah, School of Law in 1989 and her LL.M., Masters in Taxation from the University of San Diego in 1990. After graduating, Michelle served an internship for the Internal Revenue Service, Office of District Counsel in San Diego, California. Prior to forming Michelle Turpin P.C., Michelle practiced in two other Utah firms.

S. Mark Barnes is an attorney, who served with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel (Tax) and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney (Bankruptcy) for 30 years. In 2017, he retired as IRS Counsel, where he advised to the Internal Revenue Service, and litigated cases before the United States Tax Court and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah. For twenty-five years, Mark was cross deputized as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the purpose of representing the IRS before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. He also spent several years advising the Criminal Investigation and evaluating cases prior to referral for prosecution. During his government career, Mark spent several years litigating large valuation cases involving real estate, businesses, and various financial products. He has extensive experience working with expert witnesses.

In addition to valuation cases, Mark spent much of his government career working on international tax issues such as FBAR penalties, Advanced Pricing Agreements, transfer pricing, withholding taxes, and tax treaty issues. Other areas of expertise include fraud penalties, failure to file penalties, innocent spouse, offers‐in‐compromise, trust fund recovery penalties, bank deposits analysis, unreported income, business substantiation, dependency deductions, etc. Since joining our firm, Mark has expanded his expertise into other areas, such are criminal tax defense and both the federal and state levels. He also has expertise in state sales tax, domicile, withholding, income tax and other state tax issues. In addition to his legal work, Mark has served as a board member of several non‐profit/tax-exempt organizations. He believes in service to the community, and the importance of equality for all people.

Mark was born in Utah, where he has lived for much of his life. He graduated from the University of Utah with a B.A. in Economics in 1982. Mark received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Utah, School of Law in 1987. Mark is fluent in Japanese, and in 1986, attended a study abroad program for American law students at the University of Tokyo. He served as an intern at the Tokyo law firm of Welty, Shameal and Kasari. Mark strongly believes in the importance of education and for two decades he has taught higher education classes in law, economics, finance, and ethics.

I’m Sandra Fratto, Legal assistant at the Law Offices of Michelle Turpin P.C. I was born in Lincoln, Nebraska and later moved and was raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. For thirty (30) years, I worked as a legal assistant in the domestic, probate, personal injury, and most recent tax fields.

For the past two years I have had the pleasure of assisting Michelle Turpin in assessing client’s tax situations with sensitivity and compassion, scheduling consultations, following through with deadlines and helping many clients through difficult times.

I am married to my high school sweetheart, a proud mother of two wonderful children and grandmother of three precious grandchildren. I love horseback riding, camping, and spending time with my family.

Staci Spencer is an Enrolled Agent with several years of experience in tax conflict resolution.  She is federally licensed as a tax professional to represent taxpayers before the IRS and also has many years of individual and business tax preparation experience.  Her objective is to represent the financial position of taxpayers before the Federal or State governmental taxing agencies with the highest degree of intelligence, ethics and professional conduct.  She has a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Montana State University, many years of experience with small business accounting including payroll tax issues, and is also a member of the National Association of Enrolled Agents and as such, is required to fulfill professional education credits that exceed the IRS’ minimum.  

To become an Enrolled Agent, she was required to pass a comprehensive examination covering all aspects of the tax code.  While spending her time as a wife, mother of three, tax practitioner and community service volunteer, she made time to prepare for this exam and successfully passed it on the first attempt.  In the many years since, she has been developing her skills in tax conflict resolution, with a primary focus on the compliance and collection aspects.  She also has a solid foundation of experience in the areas of examination and appeals.  When she’s not working on conflict cases or preparing tax returns, she’s spending time with her three kids, taking walks along the river with her husband, reading good books, exploring music, gardening or riding the area’s bike trails.