Your CPA who prepared your tax return which has now been selected for audit, wants to represent you – why should you decline his offer and hire a tax attorney?

We hear this question all the time.

CPA’s prepare tax returns and there are a lot of CPA’s and other tax professionals who are great in preparing tax returns.  A taxpayer will provide them with information and tax documents and a return will be generated for filing with the IRS.  This process I refer to as “compliance”.

But a tax attorney will focus on “representation” – meaning that the cases taken on by the attorney are when the IRS is questioning a return or making other civil inquiries or even criminal inquiries of a taxpayer.

A tax attorney being familiar with the “representation” aspect knows who to speak to at IRS and how to best present your case.  The tax attorney can also devote full attention to your attention at any time since the tax attorney’s workload is not jammed like the CPA’s workload during tax season who is busy with tax return preparation and more focused over meeting filing deadlines and therefore cannot provide the needed attention to your case.

Speaking of civil and criminal inquiries, a taxpayer who engages a tax attorney also gets the benefit of attorney-client privilege.  This benefit allows that taxpayer to freely discuss with his attorney any matters or issues without the threat of these communications being disclosed to the government or anyone else.  You do not get this level of privilege when represented by non-attorneys.

But I would have to say that the biggest factor is that with the tax attorney there is no conflict of interest.  The best way to explain this is by example – if a great defense is to rely on what the tax preparer did, do you think your tax preparer will put himself under the bus to save you from the IRS – chances are not.  A tax attorney who had no involvement in the preparation of your returns can make these arguments thus truly serving your best interests.

The tax attorneys of the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Los Angeles and California know exactly what to say and handle the IRS.  Our experience and expertise not only levels the playing field but also puts you in the driver’s seat as we take full control of resolving your tax problems.

Description: The Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. has helped many people avoid collection action by the IRS and State tax agencies. Working with a tax attorney in Los Angeles or elsewhere in California is the best bet for reducing or eliminating the amount you owe.