Tax Relief Lawyers in Bakersfield
"Tax relief" in Bakersfield, California can refer to a wide range of subjects. However, it almost always refers to lowering the tax liability, either of an individual, or a group of people.
When a government official or politician talks about "tax relief," they are typically talking about a tax cut, which is a reduction in a particular tax rate.
Increasingly, however, the general public is being inundated with advertisements on the Internet, the radio, and in print, from companies offering "tax relief" to consumers who owe back taxes in amounts that will be challenging or impossible to pay back. These companies claim to have some special technique that can get California residents out of paying their taxes, or at least negotiate their final tax bill down to a smaller amount. Some of these companies are legitimate, but many of them are total frauds.
Tax Relief Scams in Bakersfield, California
Some con-artists in Bakersfield, California say that they have some special technique that permits you to reduce the amount of taxes you're legally obliged to pay, or that they can erase any tax debt that you have incurred.
In the majority of cases, however, tax relief scammers in Bakersfield, California have no actual ability to reduce your legal liability to pay your taxes. However, these scams also have several common factors which tend to be dead giveaways of their fraudulent nature, making them fairly easy to avoid if you are extremely vigilant.
Probably the strongest indication that a tax relief organization is a scam is a guarantee that they can deliver a specific result. If anyone makes an indisputable promise that they can absolve your tax debt, they are lying to you, plain and simple. This is because it is impossible to honestly make such a pledge. The fact is, most people are not suitable for any IRS programs that let some taxpayers reduce their tax liability. This goes for most people in Bakersfield, California, as well.
Another red flag to look for is a demand of a large up-front payment. Many tax relief scammers in Bakersfield will not even pretend to try and advise you. Alternatively, they simply take the money and disappear, sometimes after making additional, and unapproved, charges to your credit card or withdrawals from your bank account.
How Can a Tax Relief Attorney in Bakersfield, California Help?
If you are having trouble paying the taxes that you owe in Bakersfield, California, and are seeking tax relief, you should speak with a qualified local tax attorney before you pay anyone else to help you.
If you hire a knowledgeable Bakersfield, California tax lawyer, your attorney will be able to provide you with honest advice about your legal situations vis-à-vis your taxes. Fair warning: honest legal advice sometimes doesn't involve telling you what you want to hear. However, the advice of an attorney will be far more useful than anything most "tax relief" companies tell you. Plus, in the very rare event that your attorney tries to defraud you, you have much more legal recourse against them than you would have against some fly-by-night "tax relief" company.