EXAMINATION INFORMATION FOR OUR

Audits of our clients used to be extremely rare. We would have some years go by without a single notice of examination. But with the new compliance initiatives by the IRS, and the government's need to raise revenue, this has changed.

But because you had the foresight to allow us to handle your tax return, you will incur no additional cost for professional fees for representation on any civil matter up to and including litigation, but starting with a basic examination.

WARNING: We are only able to represent you without cost during examination, or audit proceedings. We do not represent you during collections actions, because how you pay the government what you owe is outside the scope of what is on your tax return. Unless you have made prior arrangements with us so we can maintain a legal presence with the IRS, it is impossible to provide any legal representation after a notice of deficiency has been issued and the last date to petition the United States Tax Court has passed. The IRS only has to send this notice via Certified Mail to your last known address. If you do not receive it, or choose not to receive it, this will make no difference. Once the last date to petition the Tax Court passes, all opportunities for legal remedies have passed and we cannot act as attorneys on your behalf. Please note this is not a change in our policy, but a clarification made necessary by clients who have ignored IRS notices until the first collections bill comes and then expect action from us. At that point we are powerless to stop the IRS because the legal remedies set forth in the tax code have expired. The only relief available will be for a client to send in documents to the IRS and hope for the best. This is called the audit reconsideration process and is explained in IRS Publication 3598.

1. When you receive a letter from the IRS, open it immediately and fax it to us immediately. If you delay this, our ability to help you will diminish rapidly. In many cases, if you wait until after the deadlines in the IRS letter have passed to notify us, we will be able to do very little for you. Let us make it very clear this is your responsibility. FAX or EMAIL all pages of the IRS Notice to us at 800-259-3372.

2. We will send you a power of attorney. You (and your spouse if you are married) will sign and date this form and return it to us. It may be sent by fax or email. We do not need an original copy.

3. Do not contact the IRS by telephone. We will do that for you, if it becomes necessary or we may ask you do call the IRS under certain limited circumstances. If this is an office examination, the IRS will want a call within ten days of the date on the letter for an appointment. Prior to making an appointment we will contact you to coordinate your schedule. If this is a correspondence audit there will be a thirty day period to respond by fax or mail. If you wait until after this thirty day limit you will forfeit your ability to go to Tax Court and lose the chance to apply to have the government pay all of your fees and costs.

4. If this is a correspondence audit (conducted by mail), we will review the IRS notice and your tax return, then send you a letter with detailed instructions on what documents we will need you to send to the IRS to successfully defend your tax return, along with the deadlines you will be required to observe. Again, this is your responsibility. We may be your legal representatives but you control the documents. You do not "store" documents with us and we do not keep them, with the exception of Forms W-2 which may be retrieved for a fee.

5. We understand that for a variety of reasons you may not have as many records as you did when completing your initial tax return, despite our constant theme of record-keeping. But we want you to understand these records (which again we speak of so often) are a vital element in preventing you from having to pay additional tax. IF YOU HAVE NOT KEPT THE REQUIRED RECORDS YOU SHOULD EXPECT TO PAY THE GOVERNMENT! We will completely cover you for legal services, but we cannot produce the necessary documents. You must do that yourself.

6. Once the IRS renders a decision, we will review your options with you. You will then make the decision whether to continue to appeal in the administrative process, if that is even an option. In the event the Internal Revenue Service has issued a statutory notice of deficiency, which requires the filing of a tax court case, and there is an issue of law we recommend you pursue, you may choose to proceed further. If you submitted information within the IRS time deadlines you could even have the government pay your costs and fees back and further pay our attorney fees.