Tax Relief Lawyers in Columbia

"Tax relief" is a term largely used to discuss a few different concepts. It generally refers to any action that would reduce the tax rates, either for everyone, or for some groups of people in Columbia, Pennsylvania, or anywhere else.

When a politician or government official uses the term "tax relief," they are normally referring to tax cuts, which are simply a reduction in the tax rate for everybody, or certain people.

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 hard or impossible to pay back. These companies claim to have some special technique that can get Pennsylvania 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 Columbia, Pennsylvania

Many scammers in Columbia, Pennsylvania claim that they can completely absolve you of your requirement to pay your taxes - for a fee, of course.

But buyer beware: these scammers in Columbia, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, cannot possibly deliver on their promises, and they know it. Fortunately, most tax relief scams have a few common factors that can give them away to vigilant consumers.

There is one warning sign that virtually guarantees that the tax relief company you're dealing with intends to defraud you: if they make an absolute guarantee that they can lower your tax bill. While there are some legal ways to try and reduce your tax requirement, including negotiating with the IRS, there is no guarantee that they will prevail. And although the IRS does have programs to help people who are absolutely unable to pay for their taxes, they are only available to very small subset of the population, and most Columbia, Pennsylvania taxpayers aren't qualified to participate in them.

Another red flag to look for is a demand of a large up-front payment. Many tax relief scammers in Columbia will not even pretend to try and assist you. Rather, they simply take the money and disappear, sometimes after making further, and illegal, charges to your credit card or withdrawals from your bank account.

How Can a Tax Relief Attorney in Columbia, Pennsylvania Help?

If you find that you are unable to pay your taxes, through no fault of your own, you may be tempted to answer an advertisement for a "tax relief" company. Before that, you should talk with a Columbia, Pennsylvania tax lawyer.

A good Columbia, Pennsylvania tax attorney can give you honest, unbiased legal advice that will be useful in handling any problem you have with your taxes. Of course, as you probably know, honest advice is, more often than not, the opposite of what one wants to hear, even if it is more useful than whatever puffery you'll hear from a scammer. Plus, in the extremely unlikely event that your tax attorney defrauds you, it will be much easier to seek legal action against a licensed attorney than against some scammer who likely doesn't use his or her real name.