Tax Relief Lawyers in Washington County

"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 Washington County, Pennsylvania, or anywhere else.

When a government official or politician talks about "tax relief," they are normally talking about a tax cut, which is a reduction in a specific 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 hard or impossible to pay back. These companies claim to have some exceptional 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 Washington County, Pennsylvania

It is pretty common for scammers in Washington County, Pennsylvania to claim that, for a comparatively small fee, they will help you get out of paying all of your taxes.

In the majority of cases, however, tax relief scammers in Washington County, Pennsylvania have no actual capacity to reduce your legal liability to pay your taxes. However, these scams also have numerous common factors which tend to be dead giveaways of their fraudulent nature, making them fairly easy to avoid if you are extremely vigilant.

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 Washington County, Pennsylvania taxpayers aren't qualified to participate in them.

Additionally, you need to know that anyone demanding payment before they execute any services in Washington County probably doesn't have your interests in mind. If you pay a scammer up front, they'll likely just run off with your money, and you'll never hear from them again.

How Can a Tax Relief Attorney in Washington County, 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 Washington County, Pennsylvania tax lawyer.

Your tax lawyer in Washington County, Pennsylvania will be able to give you real, useful advice about your tax situation. Just be ready: your tax attorney will give you honest advice, whether or not that's what you want to hear. Additionally, in the unlikely event that a licensed tax attorney defrauds you (or attempts to defraud you), you will have considerable legal recourse against that attorney through your state bar association.