Awards & Recognition
The Los Angeles County Tax Attorneys, CPAs and EAs at The Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing are ready willing and able to help you with your tax audit or criminal tax investigation. For a reduced-rate consultation, call our Tax Law Offices today at 800-681-1295. Our two convenient Los Angeles County Satellite Tax Law Offices are located on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, and on Roscoe Boulevard in Panorama City. For a reduce rate initial consultation, call or schedule online today. Chances are good that we have a convenient location nearby to serve you.
10940 WILSHIRE BLVD, 1600
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Telephone: 310-492-5583
14500 ROSCOE BLVD, 4th Floor
Panorama City, CA 91402
Telephone: 818-935-6098
Undergoing a tax audit can be an extremely stressful situation, especially if you fudged the numbers on the tax returns under audit – but the stress caused by fear associated with having to face an audit or criminal tax investigation may be worse than once in the actual process with the proper representation. If you think you might soon be facing a tax audit or criminal tax investigation by the IRS, or you have received notice that you are being audited or investigated, talk to an Experience Tax Attorney right away. The Los Angeles County Tax Lawyers, CPA’s and EA’s at The Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing are ready willing and able to represent you during your audit or investigation, and negotiate with, defend and where necessary, fight the IRS during an income, sales tax or employment audit and the associated appeal or litigation if necessary.
While the threat of an IRS audit or criminal investigation might be serious, the potential outcomes of an audit or investigation vary greatly. Our experienced Tax Professionals can walk you through the audit or investigation process, and zealously represent your interests with the IRS. Our goal is to get our clients through their audit or investigation without having to pay unnecessary additional tax, penalties or interest in order to protect their net worth and there is nothing more important than our client’s liberty. For a reduced-rate consultation on your audit or investigation, appeal or litigation call our Tax Law Offices at 800-681-1295 or reach out to us online today.
Why am I Being Audited?
The thing most people want to know is why the IRS picked them to audit. The IRS states on their website that there are multiple reasons for audits. The first reason is that there is something in your audit that strays from the “norm.” The IRS uses various algorithms and automated processes to check tax returns against what they consider a “normal” tax return. If your taxes had an extremely low tax burden, it may trigger a red flag in the system, which could turn into an audit.
Another reason the audit may occur is if other people you interact with are undergoing IRS criminal investigations or tax audits of their own. People like business partners, investors, and others involved in your finances or business may be facing issues with the IRS. Since the taxing authorities see partners and investors as financially related, they may audit or investigate related people to ensure the errors or irregularities are not widespread, systematic, or part of a joint fraud effort.
Unfortunately, you can be audited even if you have done nothing wrong however “no change” audits are very rare. Intentionally and fraudulently claiming deductions, you are not entitled to, omitting taxable income or claiming tax credits you are not entitled to can result in exposure to criminal prosecution for tax crimes.
What Happens if the IRS Finds a Problem During my Audit?
When the IRS opens an audit, they often end up reviewing three years of financial records and tax documents. The IRS is empowered to reach back as far as six years for tax audits where there has been a 25% or greater understatement of taxable income – but they usually only audit taxes that are two or three years old. During this period, they will rarely find no problems with your taxes, and often uncover large errors or what might appear as purposeful misrepresentations in your taxes. If fraud is determined to have occurred in the audit of a return open to the standard three audit statute, the statute of limitations can be extended backward to literally the “dawn of time” for civil purposes and for up to 6 years for criminal tax prosecution purposes.
In order to achieve damage control during an IRS audit or criminal investigation, it often takes the skilled advocacy of an Attorney where the IRS is getting either the law or the facts wrong. The selection and explanation of key tax decisions or proper primary authority, and presentation of supporting evidence may be necessary to prevent the unnecessary loss of previously claimed tax credits or deductions. Having a Tax Attorney represent you during your audit can help ensure the most optimal financial outcome, even if you had very few errors on your taxes. If an optimal result cannot be achieved at the audit level for some reason, a Tax Attorney is the most powerful advocate during any necessary subsequent Appeal or Litigation and ordinarily only a Tax Attorney can represent a client in litigation.
If your returns contain blatant and suspicious errors, you should certainly hire a Tax Attorney to help mitigate any criminal exposure as well as tax, penalties and interest and any other adverse results the IRS may pursue. When the IRS legally establishes that you owe them money, their collection powers are astronomical. Our Collection Attorneys may be able to convince the IRS to enter into an agreement for long term installment payments, an Offer in Compromise or other viable collection alternative.
Can I Appeal if I Disagree with the Results of an IRS Tax Audit?
If you do not agree with the results of an IRS tax audit, it may be possible for you to challenge or “appeal” the IRS’ findings. Be advised that, due to the complexity of this process, it is in your best interests to be represented by a skilled and experienced IRS tax audit, appeals and litigation attorney serving Los Angeles County.
To initiate the process, you will need to prepare either a document called a “protest letter” or “written protest” or a tax court petition. Your protest letter, which should not be mailed to the Office of Appeals, but to the address on the letter informing you of your right to appeal, must explain which findings you disagree with, why you disagree with such findings, and the pertinent facts and laws to support your position. The filing of a tax court petition is more involved yet and must be done carefully so as to not lose important appeal rights. A Tax Attorney can help you prepare the strongest possible protest letter or tax court petition while guiding you through each stage of the IRS tax audit, appeals and litigation process, thus increasing your likelihood of success.
LA Tax Audit Lawyers
The Los Angeles County Tax Attorneys, CPAs and EAs at The Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing are ready willing and able to help you with your tax audit or criminal tax investigation. For a reduced-rate consultation, call our Tax Law Offices today at (310) 492-5583 or 800-681-1295. Our two convenient Los Angeles County Satellite Tax Law Offices are located on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, and on Roscoe Boulevard in Panorama City. For a reduce rate initial consultation, call or schedule online today. Chances are good that we have a convenient location nearby to serve you.
