Working With A Non-Local Tax Attorney – Getting the Best Attorney for Your Voluntary Disclosure No Matter Where You Live

 

Many IRS Voluntary Disclosure clients make the mistake of choosing their tax counsel based largely on proximity. Call us at (415) 745-1924 to learn why that might be a mistake.

 

We understand it’s natural instinct to choose local counsel – we all like to visit an office, see the attorney in person, and get a sense for the candidate’s trustworthiness and qualifications.

 

Unfortunately, if you live in a smaller community in the U.S. or anywhere outside of the United States, you’re unlikely to find a local tax attorney with experience in OVDP – and in this area, experience is everything.

 

Remember: you’re only going to be making a foreign account disclosure once in your life, and you’ll only get this one chance to get it absolutely right. You owe it to yourself to hire the best tax attorney possible – even if that means someone not right in your region.

 

ATTENTION: As of June 18, 2014, the IRS now offers four different options to address undisclosed foreign accounts, including the Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures (sometimes called ‘Streamlined Disclosure’) which requires only three years of amended federal tax returns and a 5% penalty of the highest balance in the last six years. Call now to determine if you qualify!

 

How does OVDP tax attorney Andrew L. Jones handle remote (non-California) clients?

 

– All consultations and meetings are taken in one of three ways: 1) telephone, 2) Skype or other video conferencing, or 3) in-person (when appropriate, we travel to clients with large undisclosed account values or particularly sensitive facts and circumstances).

 

Every consultation or post-engagement meeting is protected by the robust attorney-client privilege. Contrary to popular belief, there is no more ‘security’ inherent in a phone conversation than a meeting in person, because with basic precautions, your discussions with an attorney may never be introduced against you in a court of law.

 

– If you retain me as your attorney, all day-to-day interactions are conducted by phone, video conferencing, email, or rarely, paper exchanges by USPS or UPS/FedEx. As a practical matter, your interactions with me, whether you live in Nevada or the Netherlands, or anywhere else around the globe, are no different from my interactions with California clients. On rare occasions, I require an ink original signature, and such documents are provided to you by email or courier service, with signing supervised by phone, video conference or (rarely necessary) in-person supervision.

 

– My clients remark on my high level of availability and my efforts to reduce demands on their time (after all, you hired me to handle your voluntary disclosure and reduce your workload and stress). I can be reached by phone or email 7 days a week from 9 am to 9 pm. Bottom line: your concerns don’t disappear over the weekend – so neither will I!

 

Determining whether you have an undisclosed account that needs to be reported is a stressful process. Deciding to hire an attorney to carry out your voluntary disclosure to the IRS can – at times – seem just as stressful.

 

Don’t choose proximity over skill. Give us a call now at (415) 745-1924 – we’d be honored to be considered!