Should I Call a Tax Lawyer? A Guide for Businesses Falling Behind on Their Taxes

With tax season right on your doorstep, it may be very tempting to follow Wesley Snipes's example and declare yourself a tax denier, and not pay your income taxes on the grounds that you believe you don't owe them.

While that may be fine to believe in your own mind, you can't live that way in the real world. Here, if you fall behind or fail to pay your taxes, you could find yourself facing considerable jail time and heavy fines. And if the tax rates increase, you could end up owing the IRS more than you make, which will make paying off everything you owe virtually impossible.

Paying tax in a gray area

Most people have ordinary jobs with salaries that have withholding. As such, they rarely get into deep trouble with the IRS, unless they get in over their heads with gambling or something similar.

However, if you run a business or are self-employed, you could find yourself in a gray area outside the typical paycheck-withholding system. Maybe you didn't realize what taxes you had to pay or when you needed to file your return, or something weird just happens. It could be just an honest mistake, but it's one that could cripple your business.

The next thing you know, you've got the IRS sitting outside your door. They've seized one of your bank accounts, and they're going after everybody who has any connection to your business in an effort to get their money back.

Why you shouldn't try to deal with the IRS yourself

The first problem many people run in to is that they don't understand that everything they say to any IRS employee is being memorialized. It is possible that IRS personnel could mistake what a person says, which could even result in an indictment for making a false statement to a federal officer. If you're already a year or two behind, why risk getting into more trouble by interfacing with the IRS yourself?

Tax law is an extremely complex field. For more than 100 years now, tax lawyers have been finding ingenious ways of helping their clients avoid tax, and the tax writers have come up with equally ingenious ways of eliminating those loopholes. With all that legislation on the books, it takes somebody who specializes in tax law and keeps up with it on a regular basis to know what to do when the IRS comes calling.

What to look for in a tax lawyer

Hiring a tax lawyer is perhaps the most important decision you'll have to make when dealing with the IRS. If you hire a lawyer with insufficient training and experience, he can take your money and not even know what he's doing. When you're already behind on taxes, this lack of experience can get you into even deeper trouble.

Most people go to accountants about tax problems. Unfortunately, accountants are not trained in how to handle real litigation. They also have only a very limited confidentiality privilege, a huge problem when you're dealing with the IRS because you've fallen behind.

Look for a lawyer who has a specialized degree in taxation, and preferably graduated from a nationally recognized law school like the NYU School of Law. You should also look at peer-reviewed ratings like those published by Martindale-Hubbell, or seek recommendations from judges and other lawyers. When you're dealing with the IRS, you need a tax lawyer who knows what he's doing, and has the credentials to back it up.

If you're too far behind on your taxes, the only person you can talk to about fixing it is a tax lawyer. Don't put your livelihood at risk by declaring yourself a tax denier or trying to interface with the IRS yourself. If you're behind on your taxes, find a reputable tax lawyer today and save yourself and your business.

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Los Angeles Tax Law Explained

Would you like to find out what those-in-the-know have to say about ? The information in the article below comes straight from well-informed experts with special knowledge about .

The tax laws differ from state to state. The Los Angeles tax laws are particularly complicated and are enough to baffle anyone. The tax laws are also important because they affect the lives of millions living in the city. Thus, the tax attorney is a very important figure in the realm of the city. A good tax attorney will help you understand your unique situation, give you advice as to how you can minimize the tax payments and defends you in case there is an accusation of tax evasion or fraud leveled against you.

The tax attorney is someone who is well trained in matters of law. The most revered of lawyers have the prestigious LLM degree that is the Master of Law Letters. Many clients prefer the attorneys who have an LLM degree because the notion is that the best lawyers of the city have the LLM. These lawyers supposedly provide the best tax assistance.

Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:

The Internal Revenue Service does not apply the partial payments made by businesspersons and organizations in Orange County or Ventura County, California, Los Angeles County or Santa Barbara County before January 1, 2003. The IRS, according to their own convenience, applies the payments to the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty. This partial payment is made on Form 941 tax liability and the IRS accepts the payments in accordance with their own priorities. The IRS also sends the Letter 1153 to the businessperson or the organization.


The IRS acceptance of payment is prioritized. The liability that accompanies the minimum decree of limitations for collections is first in the list of payment applications. That is followed by the one with the next minimum amount of limitations of collection and so on. This method of payment application followed by the IRS does not necessarily mean that the ones impending for the longest time will be taken care of before others. It is just the tax period that has the minimum collection statute that is given top priority.


The IRS sends the Letter 1153 (DO) to a business executive who owes a certain amount to the IRS and has his Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP). The Letter 1153 (DO) is sent before June 19, 2000. If the business executive receives the letter and has made the partial payment to the IRS by the Form 941 before January 1, 2003, the IRS assesses his partial payment.


When some business executive has made a partial or undesignated payment in a similar manner as described above, the payment will be subject to application to various taxes. First, the payment will be under the non-trust fund part of the tax, then under assessed lien fees and collections, then under assessed penalties for defaulters, followed by assessed interest, accrued penalties and accrued interest. After all this is over, the payment is ultimately assessed to the trust fund segment of the tax under the IRS.


Is there really any information about that is nonessential? We all see things from different angles, so something relatively insignificant to one may be crucial to another.

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Best Los Angeles Attorneys

This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding Los Angeles tax attorney. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about Los Angeles tax attorney.

Given the healthy business profile in Los Angeles, it can be expected that there would be times when businesses would be involved in various legal matters, which include negotiating a merger or law suits. However, given that in these instances, businesses need to have people who would aggressively represent their interests, it is very important that businesses get the best lawyers possible. Unfortunately, there are some businesses, especially those that have just started their operations that are not aware of the sources from which they can get very good lawyers. The good news is that there are some steps that these businesses can take to help them get the best lawyer that would aggressively represent their interests in a number of situations.

Sometimes the most important aspects of a subject are not immediately obvious. Keep reading to get the complete picture.

Some helpful stepsOne of the best ways for businesses to have access to very good lawyers is to ask for referrals from their colleagues in the industry. This is because given the legal matters that are involved in running a business; these businesses can refer some of the better lawyers that they have worked with in the past. In addition to this, businesses can also gain access to first hand information on lawyers from their colleagues. In the process of shopping for a lawyer, it would also be helpful for businesses if they asked for references from the lawyers they are considering. This can be very helpful because by interviewing not only the lawyer but also the references the lawyer would give, business owners can gauge the skill level of the lawyer based on how he handled the cases of his other clients. Another good way by which businesses can gain access to good lawyers is to ask other lawyers, which include their tax lawyers. This is because lawyers who have a good reputation among their colleagues can be considered some of the best lawyers given the respect that other lawyers have for them.


In a city like Los Angeles, getting a good lawyer is not a luxury but a necessity for businesses given the legal aspects that are involved in running and maintaining a business. The good news is that businesses can gain access to some of the best lawyers by employing simply knowing where to look and who to ask because knowledge on these can give businesses access to lawyers who would aggressively represent their interests in the legal arena.


Sometimes it's tough to sort out all the details related to this subject, but I'm positive you'll have no trouble making sense of the information presented above.

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