Can You Terminate Your Tax Attorney or CPA After Hiring Them?

Second-Guessing Your Tax Attorney, Can You Cancel?

Second-Guessing Your Tax Attorney, Can You Cancel?

Several times each year, our international tax law specialist firm gets contacted by U.S. Taxpayers who previously retained a different international tax law firm, and want to change attorneys. Typically, this is because the initial attorney offered a ‘free consultation’ that the taxpayer did not realize was just a fear-mongering scenario until they can take a step back and realize it is nowhere near as bad or dire as the firm made it seem. 

Taxpayers should know that they have the right to cancel a contract with a law firm if they no longer want the services of that lawyer — and no, that lawyer cannot report you to the IRS (unless they want to lose their license).

In addition, the firm is required to refund any unused portion of fees. And, when you receive your final bill, if you believe that they are fluffing their fees to charge you for services that were not performed, you have the right to ask the firm/lawyer for an audit — and to take any action necessary. Here are some common examples of taxpayers who reach out to us after they were sold in a free initial consultation and now want to seek out new counsel.

The Attorney Was Fear-Mongering You

Unfortunately, many taxpayers get fear-mongered into believing that failing to report a few foreign accounts and assets is ‘the end all be all’ of their existence. The attorney offering the free consultation rushes them into an agreement (based on fear) and then begins charging them an hourly fee which is not justified based on the facts. After further research, the taxpayer realizes he has the right to cancel this agreement.

Attorney Falsely Claims to Be Board-Certified

A few law firms claim to be ‘Board-Certified Tax Law Specialists’ even though no one at the law firm is Board Certified.

In one example, a law firm claims to be a ‘Board Certified Tax Law Specialist’ because the firm hired an attorney with 1-2 years of legal experience and who also recently passed the CPA exam.

This does not make the firm Board-Certified and sooner or later, the Taxpayer learns that the level of service and knowledge about offshore disclosure is not what they imagined from a Board-Certified firm because the firm is not Board-Certified — and the taxpayer has the right to cancel the contract (and take further action against the firm if necessary).

Hourly-Fees Gone Awry

Many taxpayers get sold on an hourly fee when they are initially speaking with the attorney because the attorney makes it sound like it will not be that expensive and because the firm charges an artificially reduced initial retainer.

The taxpayer quickly learns that after the attorney has used up that retainer (usually in less than a week or two) the taxpayer is forced to replenish the retainer multiple times throughout the agreement the service is not what it was purported to be. The taxpayer has the right to cancel the contract.

Late Filing Penalties May be Reduced or Avoided

For Taxpayers who did not timely file their FBAR and/or other international information-related reporting forms, the IRS has developed many different offshore amnesty programs to assist Taxpayers with safely getting into compliance. These programs may reduce or even eliminate international reporting penalties.

Current Year vs. Prior Year Non-Compliance

Once a Taxpayer missed the tax and reporting (such as FBAR and FATCA) requirements for prior years, they will want to be careful before submitting their information to the IRS in the current year. That is because they may risk making a quiet disclosure if they just begin filing forward in the current year and/or mass filing previous year forms without doing so under one of the approved IRS offshore submission procedures. Before filing prior untimely foreign reporting forms, Taxpayers should consider speaking with a Board-Certified Tax Law Specialist who specializes exclusively in these types of offshore disclosure matters.

Avoid False Offshore Disclosure Submissions (Willful vs Non-Willful)

In recent years, the IRS has increased the level of scrutiny for certain streamlined procedure submissions. When a person is non-willful, they have an excellent chance of making a successful submission to Streamlined Procedures. If they are willful, they would submit to the IRS Voluntary Disclosure Program instead. But, if a willful Taxpayer submits an intentionally false narrative under the Streamlined Procedures (and gets caught), they may become subject to significant fines and penalties. 

Need Help Finding an Experienced Offshore Tax Attorney?

When it comes to hiring an experienced international tax attorney to represent you for unreported foreign and offshore account reporting, it can become overwhelming for Taxpayers trying to trek through all the false information and nonsense they will find in their online research. There are only a handful of attorneys worldwide who are Board-Certified Tax Specialists and who specialize exclusively in offshore disclosure and international tax amnesty reporting. 

*This resource may help Taxpayers seeking to hire offshore tax counsel: How to Hire an Offshore Disclosure Lawyer.

Golding & Golding: About Our International Tax Law Firm

Golding & Golding specializes exclusively in international tax, specifically IRS offshore disclosure. 

Contact our firm today for assistance.