by Louis Meeks on December 15, 2014 in Blog
IRS Tax Attorney
Tax attorneys can handle a wide variety of issues that face taxpayers, from adequate planning, to resolving issues with the IRS, or coordinating the tax aspects of complex commercial transactions.
Like all lawyers, tax attorneys at one point had to go through the gauntlet of law school and the bar exam, but at some point in their career they chose to specialize in taxation. Generally, tax attorneys will focus within a specific sub-set of the practice, such as:
- Transactional planning: When large companies are merging with each other, or executing complex deals, tax attorneys are often brought in to advise the clients of how best to structure payments and characterize income to minimize the tax consequences. This work is often very detailed, and in today’s economy, can require knowledge of both domestic and foreign tax law.
- Litigation: When tax issues cannot be readily solved, and large dollar amounts are at stake, taxpayers will often hire an IRS tax attorney to represent them either before a specialized administrative court (such as the US Tax Court), or in district court. Tax litigation, like all litigation, is often a drawn out process and can require a team of legal experts working together to adequately represent their client.
- Resolution: The most common work for tax attorneys is to help small businesses and individuals resolve tax issues before the IRS and state agencies. IRS Tax Attorneys are well suited to this work as they have a command of not only the regulations that govern how the IRS or state agencies go about assessing and collecting tax, but also have the legal foundation to analyze whether tax is owed in the first place.
To provide an example of how hiring a tax attorney to help resolve a tax issue can be the better move, consider the common experience of taxpayers who have gone years without filing. Frequently, when a taxpayer does not file but earned income, the IRS will prepare returns for the individual. However, as you would expect, Uncle Sam will not calculate the balance owed by the taxpayer in a favorable way. This leaves taxpayers with huge, inaccurate amounts owed to the IRS. An IRS tax attorney can better assess what income was actually owed, and if he or she is qualified, prepare an accurate return to ensure the taxpayer’s balance is (likely) reduced. From there, the tax attorney can also represent the taxpayer before the IRS, assessing what (if any) penalties might be waived, and what the taxpayer’s best resolution is, from a simple installment agreement, all the way through the maze-like Offer in Compromise program.
If you believe you could use the help of an IRS Tax Attorney with experience before the IRS or state agencies, contact the professionals at Victory Tax Solutions. We can be reached at 877-772-0123.
