Don’t Settle for an Inexperienced Local Foreign Account Lawyer

Due to the complexity of offshore disclosure, when a Taxpayer is out of compliance or failing to report foreign accounts, assets, investments, equities, trusts, entities, etc. and they want to get into compliance, it is very important that they find a highly experienced foreign account/offshore disclosure lawyer specialist. While Taxpayers who are located outside of areas such as New York City, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, and other large locales may prefer to use a local lawyer to assist them with offshore disclosure, finding an experienced local offshore tax lawyer may prove difficult. Each year we are contacted several times by taxpayers who retained a less experienced lawyer only because the attorney was local and the client was led to believe they needed to hire a local lawyer. The client does not realize that they can work with a Board-Certified Tax Law Specialist outside of their local area and even outside of their country because lawyers who practice before the IRS only have to be licensed in one state (and it does not need to be in the state where the Taxpayer is located). Noting, that offshore disclosure submissions rarely require an in-person meeting either with the client or with the IRS. Before a Taxpayer retains a local lawyer, they should be aware of a few important facts about hiring an offshore disclosure lawyer for dealing with the IRS and FinCEN.

Offshore Disclosure Lawyers Can be Licensed in Any State

To practice before the IRS is a lawyer, an attorney can be licensed in any state. In other words, if a Taxpayer in Kansas needs to hire an offshore disclosure lawyer then they can hire an attorney in California if they prefer.

You Only Get One Shot at it

Unlike other areas of tax law, with offshore disclosure, the Taxpayer only gets one shot at making the offshore disclosure. Therefore, they want to ensure that they retain an attorney who is experienced and specializes exclusively in offshore disclosure — and not just someone who may be in proximity to their location.

Foreign Asset Reporting Does Not Require In-Person Meetings

As mentioned above, when dealing with the IRS on matters involving offshore disclosures such as the Streamlined Procedures, Voluntary Disclosure Program, Delinquency Procedures, Reasonable Cause, or Penalty Abatements, it does not require in-person meetings. Therefore having a local attorney does not provide a benefit in that capacity — but even if in the slim chance that the Taxpayer must meet with the IRS in person, the attorney can appear as well because as long as the attorney is licensed in one state they can practice before the IRS in any location.

Only a Few Offshore Disclosure Specialists have 25 Years of Experience, are Dual-Licensed, and Board-Certified in Tax Law

Due to the complexity and nature of an offshore disclosure, it is important to retain a specialist who practices exclusively in offshore disclosure. There are only a handful of attorneys nationwide who have 25 years of experience, practice exclusively in the area of offshore disclosure, are Board-Certified Tax Law Specialists, and are dual-licensed for law and tax preparation.

Is the Law Firm Assigning Your Case to an Inexperienced Lawyer?

Another common issue taxpayers should be aware of is when they think they are hiring an experienced law firm, only to learn that the attorney assigned to them is a newer attorney with less than 5-10 years of experience. In these types of situations, while the taxpayer may be paying a lower fee because the attorneys thus experienced, chances are they do not have the background to properly represent the taxpayer in complex offshore disclosure matters and all the additional time they spend on the case will be billed as well — so instead of having an experienced attorney bill 10 hours, you have an inexperienced attorney billing 20 hours at half (or more) the rate of a partner, but without the experience — which impacts the quality of the final product.

Late Filing Penalties May Be Reduced or Avoided

For Taxpayers who did not timely file their FBAR and 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.