What Are the Advantages of Hiring a Tax Attorney to Represent Me in an IRS Audit?

On: August 24, 2018

Audits are document intensive. So are tax attorneys. You need to provide documentary proof that certain incomes and expenses were made or not made. You need to be able to know exactly how much to say to satisfy the auditor without opening the audit up to ever increasing questions. Auditors are on fishing expeditions to find out everything they can about the taxpayer. Taxpayers are often intimidated by their investigative ways. Tax attorneys are not. They understand satisfying the needs of the auditor without causing their clients any harm.

Attorney are, in general, adversarial, and not scared to say no. If an auditor gets overly inquisitive, an attorney will know when to stop the audit and/or appeal the findings of the auditor.

Hiring a tax attorney will help the average taxpayer deal with the highly procedural nature of an audit: filing deadlines, responses, appeals, re-considerations, equitable relief options, etc… Most taxpayers fins having a tax attorney with them during this process helpful in just walking them through the ordeal.