Benefits of Hiring a Tax Lawyer: Who Should Do Your Taxes?
Benefits of Hiring a Tax Lawyer: Who Should Do Your Taxes?
Problems with taxes haunt close to half of the American population because most people here have more than one job. Mixed income tax returns can be pretty hard to file on your own unless you monitor your income closely every month. For some people, this is a huge time consumer, and they simply don’t have the time to sit down and fix the paperwork that comes with these tax obligations.
Some people, on the other hand, get into trouble with their taxes because they own businesses, and they make the mistake of binding their business tax with their personal tax. These two areas of taxation are very different from each other. Still others don’t know how to file taxes for their realty estate. Before their know it, they’re being audited by the IRS, and they’re receiving less than what they should get of their salaries because their bank accounts have already been garnished.
Hiring a Lawyer for Serious Problems with Taxes
You have the option to represent yourself while you’re being audited by the IRS but this is really not advisable. Remember, this is your hard-earned money that’s being settled, and if you sound irrational during the proceedings, things won’t look too good for you. It’s always difficult for the one being investigated to speak for him/herself in court, so it’s always good to have a level-headed and knowledgeable middleman.
More than just a calmer legal representative, though, you tax lawyer will also be there to protect your rights. During the tax audit, things can get pretty harsh. The IRS, in their hurry to get information about your lifestyle, might just cross the line and invade your privacy. Someone who’s representing himself in court might not even be away of these rights which is why it’s important to have a tax lawyer represent you during these proceedings. Problems with taxes are never easy to deal with. You’ll need all the help you can get to be freed from the penalties, or at least plead for a lighter penalty.
Your lawyer can reason out that you were not financially fit to meet your tax obligations. Another reason which may earn you the forgiveness of the IRS is the sudden death of a loved one, making you too financially and emotionally unstable to take care of your taxes. You can also plead for bankruptcy. Some people are no longer obliged to pay off their debts to the IRS when they’ve declared bankruptcy, but you’ll need a pretty good lawyer to develop this case. Sometimes it’s more advisable to just settle for a minimal penalty than declare bankruptcy, because that status also has its disadvantages.
Preventive measures
Actually, you don’t have to suffer from tax problems at all if you’ve consulted with a tax lawyer before the IRS was able to sniff your trail. Most people do not file their taxes because they mean to rob the country of its precious resources. They don’t because they can’t understand the complicated process of filing for taxes and they think it’s impractical for them to hire a lawyer just for this tax.
You can actually line up and ask an IRS lawyer him/herself to help you file your taxes. You can also ask for the layman’s version of the rule if these things are really confusing you. Don’t try to do things on your own and suffer the consequences afterwards.
At least if anything’s found amiss in the audit and you hired a tax lawyer to file for the papers for you, you can be forgiven because your payment delay was caused by wrong counseling on the part of the tax payer. If there are any penalties for this, they won’t be as harsh.
