Choosing A Lawyer To Defend You From An IRS Audit
Posted by Tax Man - 23/02/12 at 01:02 amWhat makes tax lawyers different from other legal eagles is that taxation itself is a vast subject and there are several branches in taxation. This is why no one lawyer can be an expert on all tax related matters. So you have tax lawyers who specialize in different tax issues and are considered experts in their respective fields. Thus, it becomes imperative to be well informed about this particular field and also your exact requirement when you go looking for a tax lawyer. This is the case only with tax law, not so much with other legal issues.
Many Americans worry about being audit after filing their taxes. If this happens, the best thing to do would be to seek out a lawyer who can understand your specific situation. The IRS has three different ways of auditing you so if you are worried about a possible audit a tax attorney should be contacted at once.
In most cases, a correspondence tax audits will be utilized. In such an audit, you are informed that there is a problem, and you will be asked for additional information or payments. If you are uncomfortable with giving the information asked for, you should refer to a tax lawyer. If the audit summons you to pay money, you should determine whether you are willing to pay or whether you want to fight this summon.
An office audit is more complicated than a correspondence audit. You will need to come to your appointment with backup documents and information. You would be well advised to bring an experienced tax audit lawyer with you. If you come alone, the agent may try to get you to make incriminating statements and may also try to find out information he or she has no right to know. A good tax audit lawyer can protect you from this.
Field audits are the stuff of legend. In a field audit, they come to you. An agent will appear at your office or home and start rifling documents. This should scare the “you know what” out of you. In such a situation, you must get a tax audit lawyer. They will often sit down with the agent as the audit occurs. This is particularly effective since the lawyer can effectively push the agent in directions that are helpful to you while avoiding less comfortable areas.
It is a serious matter once the IRS contacts you for a field audit. The strategy of the IRS is to find the necessary evidence that you have tampered with or committed fraud on your tax return. They target those they believe have done something wrong on their tax return. Therefore, it is vital that you take you audit as a significant occasion because it usually lends itself to tax assessments and even the possibility of incarceration for more egregious tax evasion.
The audit process can go on for years after the IRS first contacts you, so when you decide to retain a tax lawyer, he needs to be one that can actually help you.
You should choose a tax audit lawyer who will fight your case with high competence and nothing less. They say that the definition of wisdom is learning from your mistakes; however, this is not the time to allow for mistakes. Your lawyer should already possess said wisdom, and have at least seven years of experience in handling tax audits. You definitely want to avoid a situation in which an inexperienced lawyer is learning from his mistakes while defending you.
Ron Finkelstein is NOT a tax attorney or aCPA. He is merely a entrepreneur who’s paid lots of cash throughout the years to find out tax tips like how to select a tax audit attorney and commute mileage deduction
