Fight the IRS
Fight the IRS and Win: 4 Tips to Successfully Pursue an IRS Challenge
Everyone makes mistakes. That adage has been true since the beginning of time, and it applies to the people at the Internal Revenue Service just as much as it applies to you and me. Of course, it is highly unlikely that the IRS would have an “axe to grind” against you personally. Thus, you can be relatively secure in the knowledge that the IRS will treat your tax situation in an objective way, given the volume of returns the IRS processes in a year.
That said, the amount of work the IRS must do – particularly in a climate where all departments in the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government have suffered massive cuts – means that the IRS ground is fertile for mistakes, probably many of them. That means that if a mistake is made with regard to your taxes, you need to help yourself by taking a stand and fighting for what is right. If you owe taxes, you pay them. However, it is not fair for you to pay taxes you do not owe.
Here are 4 tips to keep in mind when taking on the IRS. These tips will – mark my words – greatly enhance your chances of success.
1. Know Your Rights and Know That You Are In The Right
As a threshold matter, before gearing up for a fight with the IRS, you need to make sure that all of your ducks are in a row. It is not worth your time to take on the IRS without being sure that you have a valid claim.
If you believe that the IRS wrongfully informed you about money you owe, be 100% sure that a mistake has been made. As noted above, mistakes by the IRS are possible, and it is your right as a U.S. citizen to appropriately dispute an IRS claim. Just be sure to first look back at your finances to ensure that a mistake truly has been made by the IRS, not you.
2. Take Advantage of the Office of Appeals
The place you go to dispute an IRS claim is not immediately to Tax Court. Rather, you can take advantage of the Office of Appeals, which is function of the IRS. The Office of Appeals assists more than 100,000 taxpayers annually with tax disputes. Those tax disputes never have to get mired down in the Tax Court system.
What makes the Office of Appeals an attractive option is its impartiality. The Office of Appeals, formed back in 1927, puts a premium on remaining objective and independent in the dispute process. In other words, Appeals (as the Office is known) does not take sides. Its mission is to resolve tax disputes, without litigation, in a way that is fair and impartial to both the IRS and the taxpayer. Independence is a core value of Appeals.
3. Don’t Go It Alone
There is no question that Appeals is an attractive route for a taxpayer because it resolves disputes without expensive, time-consuming, and energy-consuming litigation. That said, there still will be some red tape to cut through when working with a bureaucracy like Appeals, despite its independence. The nature of resolving tax disputes, of course, requires some amount of process. Essentially, you are avoiding an expensive, lengthy litigation process in favor of a less expensive and less lengthy Appeals process. That is where the help of a tax attorney comes in.
Rather than deal with a whole set of new and complicated forms to fill out by yourself, why not retain someone who has been negotiating the Appeals dispute process for years. Get a tax law professional on your side.
4. Get a Tax Professional Who Knows Accounting and the Law
If you choose to get a seasoned professional in your corner to help with your IRS dispute, then find a lawyer who has dealt with the IRS on countless occasions. Not any type of lawyer will do in this situation. You need someone who has successfully stood up to the IRS many, many times, and who also has training in accounting so that he or she will make the dispute process that much easier.
Phil Bryce is the Ideal Tax Law Professional for You to Fight the IRS and Win!
Phil Bryce is admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court, he has stood up and won against the IRS in hundreds of cases, and he is a CPA! In fact, his expertise as a legal and accounting professional is demonstrated by the fact that he is frequently invited to present seminars on tax, estate, and asset protection matters to client groups, attorney conferences, and CPA conferences. Plus, Phil Bryce has the tenacity to keep the IRS honest every step of the way, so Phil’s clients are never at a disadvantage.
For all of those reasons, give Phil Bryce a call. He can be the tax professional in your corner fighting the good fight for you and against the IRS. Call today (865) 690-5566.