When most people hear the word ‘attorney,' they think of a courtroom where someone goes on trial for doing something illegal. That something illegal, in the minds of most people, is robbery or murder or battery or something very public and dramatic. What most people don't think of, however, is hiring an attorney to take care of tax problems. After all, everyone files taxes, and some people even have professionals do it for them. But some of the most common lawsuits occur when private citizens unknowingly violate tax law. In these cases, a tax attorney is necessary. Here are three reasons you need a tax attorney.

1. No Reason at All. A tax attorney is held to the same standards of confidentiality that apply to your priest or your doctor. He or she is never allowed to testify in court regarding the information that you have provided. Unfortunately, many people also have the same attitude toward tax attorneys that they do toward their doctors and priests. That is, they don't call upon the services of a tax attorney until something is wrong. And once the IRS has sent a notice to you, you'd better believe that something is wrong. If you have a tax attorney on your side in the very beginning, filing for you and providing sound advice about how to arrange your financial situation so that you don't come under scrutiny of the IRS, then you will probably avoid all potential problems with the IRS. But if something does come up, you already have the services of an attorney who is intimately familiar with your situation and can act quickly to resolve it, particularly since he or she doesn't have to waste time becoming familiar with your case in order to defend you to an IRS auditor.

2. Tax Law is Complicated. That's probably a given, but many taxpayers don't realize just how complicated it actually is. In fact, many taxpayers believe that they can manage representing themselves in front of the IRS when a problem arises, which is just about the same as going into court as a criminal defendant without a lawyer on your side. The truth is that the tax law changes all the time, and only a professional whose career is based on keeping up with those changes will ever be able to keep them all straight. And laws vary from state to state. So even though you may find plenty of information about Texas tax law on the internet, it may not necessary apply to tax law in Maine. Finally, despite what the IRS would like you to believe, tax law is never black and white. And a tax attorney can identify the shades of gray that apply to you.

3. A Tax Attorney Can Stop the IRS. Sure, the IRS will stop hassling you if you know exactly what to say in your own defense. But if you don't, rest assured that the auditor will continue to use whatever intimidation tactics necessary to wear you down and get you to pay every penny they want from you. A tax attorney, on the other hand, can use the specifics of your unique situation and say exactly what needs to be said in order to get the IRS to leave you alone. That doesn't mean that the problem will go away, of course, but a tax attorney can at least get the IRS to stop assessing penalties against you.

So whether you're trying to steer clear of future run-ins with the IRS or already find yourself in a predicament, you simply can't afford not to hire a tax attorney to work on your behalf. You don't have time to amass the vast amount of knowledge already retained by a tax attorney, and even if you did, you wouldn't have the experience and expertise to use it to its potential on your own behalf. So let a tax attorney work for you and rest easy.