Tax attorneys are lawyers that specialize in the often complex and technical arena of tax law. Facing tax issues, whether personally or professionally, can be one of the most stressful events in anyone’s life, and choosing the right tax attorney will help make the journey a smoother, less-anxiety ridden trek. Choose the wrong one, and you might end up pulling your hair out as you scream and run for the hills.

Don’t go to the yellow pages

While your first thought may be to begin with the yellow pages, this may be the worst source of all. An attorney that needs to advertise may not be the best unless they just moved to the area, or are just starting out- and in that case you probably want someone with more experience anyway.

The best source is someone who has been in your particular situation and has a reputable tax attorney that did a good job for them. If that isn’t an option, you can also do some searching online to find candidates, but it will be important to weed out potential scammers or inept attorneys who could put you in an even worse situation than you’re already in.

Questions to ask

• How long has the attorney been in business specifically solving IRS problems? The longer the better – and he/she should also have references from past clients who were satisfied with their work. A general lawyer or CPA may do tax law on the side, but without handling tax resolution every day, it would be impossible for them to know all of the tricks of the trade as well as the loopholes.
• What is their success rate on tax cases? It’s important to compare cases that are similar to your particular tax situation. Ask specifically how much the tax attorney saved their clients.
• If the attorney asks for all of the fees upfront, this is a clear sign that it’s time to walk away. Without any forthcoming payment, the attorney has no incentive to work hard at saving you money on your taxes.
• Remember that when you’re dealing with the IRS, there are no guarantees. No self- respecting attorney should offer a guarantee in regard to resolving your tax situation.

Referral service

Your best option in finding the right tax attorney to help you or your business is to contact a reputable service such as GoodAccoutants.com with access to over 50,000 accounting firms and tax professionals who are dedicated to helping to reduce your tax liability. This is your best route at keeping more of your hard earned money without having to hand it all over to the IRS