IRS Disputes
How Fresh Legal Perspective Can Help
Have you recently been contacted by the IRS or the Florida Department of Revenue? Fresh Legal Perspective focuses on helping our individual and business clients effectively resolve tax disputes and minimize tax liability.
Whether you are an individual, a small business owner or a representative of a corporation, tax issues and disputes can become complicated quickly. If you are facing an audit, have significant tax debt or have mounting liability, it is important to consult with an experienced tax law attorney as soon as possible to protect your rights and minimize penalties and other consequences.
Fresh Legal Perspective understands the complexity of these cases and the seriousness of the potential implications, including large penalties and criminal liability.
What to Expect During an IRS Audit
If you receive a notice that the Internal Revenue Service is performing an audit, you have a limited time to review your tax return, prepare your documentation, and respond to the IRS notice.
Upon the completion of the audit, the IRS auditor will deliver a report of proposed adjustments, commonly known as a “30 day letter.” The taxpayer will have thirty (30) days from the date of the letter to appeal the adjustments proposed by the IRS.
There are three levels of appeals that you can file before exhausting your options.
First, if you are dissatisfied with the agent’s report, ask to speak with the agent’s manager. Appealing the agent’s report to the agent’s manager is particularly useful in situations where the agent acted in an unprofessional manner or if you believe the agent failed to give proper consideration to additional evidence you provided during the audit. The agent’s manager will meet with you and personally review the audit report along with any additional information provided to reach a conclusion.
Second, if the manager’s conclusion is similar to the agent’s findings, but you still disagree with the audit report, the next option is to file an appeal with an IRS appeals officer. An appeals officer is specially trained to handle audit appeals and will specifically review your arguments against the finding of the initial audit report. To increase the likelihood that an appeals officer will agree with your basis for challenging the audit results, make sure to include all of the necessary documentation to back up your claims in your appeals packet. Be sure to provide an outline that lays out your arguments in a clear and concise way.
If the taxpayer does not wish to contest the findings directly with the IRS, the IRS will issue a Notice of Deficiency.
Last, from the date of the Notice of Deficiency, the taxpayer generally will have ninety (90) days to file a petition with the US Tax Court. The petition to the US Tax Court does not require payment of the tax prior to the case being heard. Navigating an appeal to the tax court requires a detailed understanding of the rules and procedures; there are several technical rules, deadlines, and format requirements. For example, if you miss a response filing deadline with the tax court, your case could be dismissed leading to the assessment of the taxes and penalties.
The taxpayer may also have the right to file a petitions with the US Court of Federal Claims Court or the US District Court. However, the Claims Court and the District Court generally do not hear tax cases until after the tax has been paid and the taxpayer has submitted an administrative refund claim that has been denied by the IRS.
Fresh Legal Perspective can assist the taxpayer in the defense of an audit at any stage of the audit process. Call Fresh Legal Perspective today to learn what IRS audit defense and appeal options may be available to you!
This portion of the site is for informational purposes only. The content is not legal advice.
