Tax Relief Lawyers in Manassas

The term "tax relief" can mean a few different things. Sometimes, it's used to refer to action that lowers the amount of taxes that people or businesses are obligated to pay in Manassas, Virginia, or elsewhere.

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 everyone, or some people.

However, many people associate the phrase "tax relief" with individuals, corporations, or law firms that offer services claiming to reduce or eliminate one's tax liability - getting them out of their obligation to pay the taxes. Most of the time, they'll say that they have skilled negotiators on their staff who can negotiate with the tax collectors in Virginia or the IRS, to lower your tax bill. Some of these businesses are straightforward, and have the best interests of their customers in mind. However, many of them are scams.

Tax Relief Scams in Manassas, Virginia

Scammers in Manassas, Virginia often claim that they can employ some special method enabling you pay the IRS less than you really owe, or even erase your tax debt.

In the majority of cases, however, tax relief scammers in Manassas, Virginia have no actual ability to reduce your legal liability to pay your taxes. However, these scams also have many 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 unequivocal guarantee that they can lower your tax bill. While there are some legal ways to try and reduce your tax obligation, including negotiating with the IRS, there is no guarantee that they will succeed. 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 Manassas, Virginia 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 Manassas will not even pretend to try and assist you. Rather, they simply take the money and disappear, sometimes after making additional, and unauthorized, charges to your credit card or withdrawals from your bank account.

How Can a Tax Relief Attorney in Manassas, Virginia 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 speak with a Manassas, Virginia tax lawyer.

A good Manassas, Virginia 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 probably doesn't use his or her real name.