While there are many things in your life you’ll need an attorney for, tax-based issues should definitely be one of the top. Not only can tax discrepancies end with you potentially having to pay out more money, but there may even be legal action taken against you. They aren’t something you want to take lightly.
Hiring a tax attorney can greatly alleviate many of these burdens and stressors, whether they be handling tax-based disputes, helping start a business, or helping plan your estate in a way to reduce the amount of taxes you may owe.
What Is A Tax Attorney?
A tax attorney is a lawyer that specializes primarily in tax law. They help deal with tax disputes with the IRS for their clients as well as help to optimize their finances to best comply with the tax rules in their state. Tax attorneys can specialize in local tax law for a specific state or they could focus primarily on business or international taxes.
Tax Attorney Vs. CPA
While both professions help you with tax-based issues and disputes, their area of focus actually rarely overlaps. Many businesses and individuals will have a CPA as well as a tax attorney on hand for two entirely different reasons.
CPAs (certified public accountant) are individuals that focus on a broad range of tax-based and accounting fields. This can range from bookkeeping to business strategy to auditing. They are meant as effective preventative measures by helping go through your taxes to make sure they are as compliant with the IRS as possible. They are not licensed as lawyers and cannot offer legal advice outside of their profession.
Tax Attorneys are licensed, practicing lawyers that specialize in tax law. Rather than managing your financial records or doing bookkeeping, a tax attorney is meant to handle any disputes that may arise with the IRS while also reducing any tax liability a business or person may have.
What You Should Look For In A Tax Attorney
While there are many areas you should focus on when it comes to a quality tax attorney, the biggest things to focus on is a certified practicing license for your state as well as knowledge and evidence of advanced education in the tax field.
Properly Licensed
It’s extremely important that the attorney you’re using have a license in your state. Tax laws vary from state-to-state, and a legal expert in Florida may be entirely out of their depth in California or Texas due to the differences in how the tax law is laid out.
You can always determine if your lawyer is legally licensed in your state by checking the bar association online. It should be very easy to get their bar number, so if there is any difficulty, that should also be a concern.
Signs Of Advanced Education
Ideally, a tax attorney should have more than their law degree and practicing license. They should also have a specialized degree in taxation (an LL.M) as well as even a CPA license. This isn’t mandatory, but the more your attorney can show you they are trained in this field, the more effective they are likely to be.
You Can Find Legal Counsel
If you are in the San Diego area and are someone that needs a tax attorney, are facing IRS disputes, or need help planning your estate, finding help is possible. The dallolawgroup is a team of highly trained, experienced, and award-winning tax attorneys that have consistently been able to help individuals get out from IRS debt and find tax-based relief. To learn more, check them out at dallolawgroup.com.