How to decide which Tax Lawyers to retain?

Answer 1

Tax lawyers are expensive, and a tax payer who wishes to retain a firm of tax attorneys to resolve a particular tax question should make sure that he chooses the right firm.

Exactly which firm of tax lawyers would be right for which individual or corporate tax payer depends on several factors including whether the individual tax payer runs a business and the size of the corporation’s business holdings. Another factor that will influence which tax attorneys will be right for which tax payers is the nature of the tax payer’s query as, for instance, an international tax lawyer is not equipped to resolve queries regarding domestic property tax assessments.

Most firms of tax lawyers are made up of several departments - each having one or more tax partners, senior managers, managers and clerks - and each department will specialize in a different aspect of tax law. Not all tax attorney firms will, however, offer all types of services, and some may even choose to specialize in only one aspect of tax law like, for instance, criminal tax law or income tax litigation. The other extreme also applies, and here the tax department is but one of several specialized departments in a large litigation firm.

Once a tax payer thinks that a certain firm of tax lawyers may be qualified to resolve his particular problem, he should take a closer look at what the partners can bring to the table. Questions to raise in this regard include how long have the partners been practicing, what experience they have that makes them the best people to resolve the tax payer’s tax issue and whether they belong to any professional tax societies. An example of this principle in action would be the following: an international tax lawyer may be fully qualified to deal with all types of tax issues between Britain and the USA but this would not help the tax payer if his tax issue concerns an Australian / USA tax situation.

Tax attorneys are highly professional individuals who can help a tax payer resolve almost any tax problem, but the trick is to get the right one for the job.