Why You Need A Tax Attorney

Three Solid Reasons To Engage A Tax Attorney
It is crucial to engage an experienced tax attorney to solve your tax problems.  Tax attorneys are indispensable for compelling reasons:

• Attorney-Client Privilege.  Only attorneys can protect their clients with the Attorney-Client Privilege.  When an attorney represents you, the government cannot force him or her to testify against you in a criminal trial.  No matter what an attorney learns while representing you stays confidential.  Without the Attorney-Client privilege, a CPA, tax preparer, or enrolled agent can be forced to testify against you.

• Total Protection.  Only tax attorneys can protect you using all your legal rights.  Tax attorneys can represent you from the beginning stages of an audit through IRS appeals and the U.S. Tax Court, if that becomes necessary.  For those taxpayers who must resort to bankruptcy to solve their problems, they’re best off hiring an experienced attorney.  It’s important to learn about all your legal options at the outset and craft an appropriate strategy, not after the fact when it’s too late.

• Aggressive Advocates On Your Side.  A competent tax attorney can protect you from incompetent, rude IRS employees.  Our job is to attain the best possible outcome, ensuring that you pay the right tax and not a penny more.  We do it aggressively and respectfully.

Tax Attorney Or Tax Resolution Business:  What’s The Difference?
Tax resolution companies are businesses where you often deal with a “consultant” or “representative” who does not have the legal training or experience you need.  Your initial contacts often are with a trained telephone salesperson who will subject you to high-pressure sales tactics.  Tax resolution businesses often over promise and under deliver.  Because people with tax problems are already stressed, these sales tactics often work.

As a glaring example of abuse, in August 2010, the California Attorney General filed a $34 million lawsuit against Roni Deutch, accusing her firm of misleading consumers by falsely promising to reduce tax debts to the IRS.  The Attorney General alleges that the firm takes large, up-front payments with little or no help in reducing tax bills.  (To read the Complaint, Click here.)

Deutch allegedly spends $3 million a year on advertising, using false testimonies from clients who claim her firm saved them thousands of dollars in tax debts.  Three clients who appear in one advertisement still owe the IRS the full amount of their taxes plus interest and penalties, alleges the Attorney General.  As part of their sales tactics, the Attorney General said that telephone representatives claim a 99 percent success rate in dealing with the IRS.  In reality, the firm reduces only 10 percent of its clients’ tax bills.

In another troubling example from June 2008, 18 states sued J.K. Harris, a national tax resolution firm, for deceptive advertising.   J.K. Harris aired a national TV ad campaign promising consumers it can settle consumers’ debt with the IRS for “pennies on the dollar.”   The states and the tax resolution firm agreed upon a settlement in which the firm agreed to stop misleading consumers about its services and to pay $1.5 million in restitution.  ”This company took advantage of people who paid for tax assistance and, in some instances, profited by taking their money and not giving them any help at all,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. “This agreement will ensure that this firm is honest with its clients and provides refunds if they are unable to assist them.”  (Click here to read more.)

Tax attorneys, in contrast, are highly trained professionals who have attended at least three years of law school after college, and often have earned an advanced degree in taxation through years of study.  Attorneys in general, and tax attorneys in particular, must adhere to the highest ethical standards, ever careful to represent the truth and avoid taking advantage of their clients. Tax attorneys may or may not charge more than tax resolution companies, but no matter their fee, tax attorneys give personal attention to their clients.  At the heart of the tax attorney’s craft lies a detailed understanding of complicated tax law and regulations and each client’s unique situation.  Tax attorneys do not operate like factories with an assembly line.  Tax attorneys value the time with their clients to learn about the client’s personal situation.  With that knowledge in hand, tax attorneys devise a strategy that works for the individual, solving his or her tax problems and protecting his or her assets.

Put strong, aggressive experience to work for you.

Call STS Tax attorneys at 1-800-TAX(829)-6183 or complete our simple Contact Form.