FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
We offer a variety of fee types to suit our clients' needs. We have the standard hourly billing, flat fee agreements, and also offer unbundled legal services. Pricing will vary depending on the complexity of the matter. Hourly billing involves billing when the work is done, which is sent to the client via invoice twice a month. Flat fees are a fixed price for a particular service, such as representation for an audit, no matter how long it takes. The entire fee is not due up front. Instead, the total fee is broken up into progress milestones. Payment is due after completion of each milestone. Unbundled legal services are like flat fees, but don't involve actual representation. They can be for services like tax consulting or providing advice on how to handle an audit yourself.
- What types of customers have you worked with?
I have worked with a wide variety of clients - entrepreneurs, start-ups, carpenters, tradesmen, and doctors, to name a few. They have brought an equally wide variety of case types including relatively simple audits of itemized deductions, to moderately complex cases involving appeals of IRS valuations, to tax court cases that involved litigating audits that spanned a dozen businesses owned by a single businessman. Other times, individuals just needed help in resolving issues of back taxes or missing returns. Each client has a unique set of needs and goals to be met.
- Describe a recent project you are fond of. How long did it take?
Two projects come to mind, but for different reasons. The first one was a case we received from another representative. The IRS had audited an individual that owned over a dozen businesses and determined that he owed over $1,000,000 in tax. The previous representative fought the IRS down to $800,000 and the IRS said that's the best the taxpayer would ever get. When we got on board, we gathered all the documents together and began systematically organizing and categorizing each item at issue. Then, we went and applied the law to each item to determine the correct amount of tax, which was far less than the IRS was arguing. Ultimately, the IRS agreed with us on the eve of trial and reduced the tax liability by half again, to roughly $400,000. The other project that comes to mind involves a case I had the opportunity to work on volunteering with a Low Income Taxpayer Clinic. An individual had submitted an Offer in Compromise to try to resolve back tax debts because they caused a financial hardship. The IRS denied the offer and the decision was appealed. Initially, the appeals officer intended to reverse the decision, but the manager would not allow it. After a conference, the manager declined to change her decision. After another conference, this time with the technical adviser to the manager, we determined that the IRS had used the wrong criteria when evaluating the Offer. The technical adviser agreed and spoke to the manager. Ultimately, the Offer was accepted.