Tax Audit Lawyers in Lakewood
A "tax audit" is a procedure in Lakewood, Washington where a taxpayer's tax return is investigated in detail, to ensure that everything on it is accurate. There are many different reasons why you might be audited, but it's typically because there is something suspicious about your tax return. This doesn't necessarily mean that you did anything wrong; it just means that the tax authorities aren't clear about what is going on with your financial situation, and want to investigate further to clear things up, and ensure that nothing illegal has happened.
In Lakewood, Washington the procedure of being audited is relatively simple. If you are chosen to be audited, you will receive a letter in the mail telling you as much. It's important to verify the authenticity of this letter, because sometimes con-artists will pose as tax authorities, and conduct fake audits of unsuspecting taxpayers, then claim that they owe the government more money. If the victim pays, the scammer takes the money and runs. To verify that a letter is authentic, you should contact the nearest branch of the relevant tax authority. Do not simply call the number provided to you in the letter, since it will probably lead to the scammer. Use a phonebook or the Internet to find the actual number you should call.
Once you have made sure that your audit is indeed real, you can do a few things to get ready for it. Most vitally, you should gather all of the documents that the auditor has asked for, as well as any additional documents and evidence that you think might help clear up any confusion about your tax return. You should bring these to the meeting with the auditor, and truthfully (to the best of your knowledge) answer all of the questions that the auditor asks.
Reasons For a Tax Audit in Lakewood, Washington
There are plenty of reasons why Washington's government, or the federal government, might conduct a tax audit.
A taxpayer can be chosen for an audit at random, even if the tax authorities don't suspect any wrongdoing. The idea behind these random audits is to keep taxpayers on their toes. So, if you are audited for this reason, and know that you've done everything properly in filing your taxes, you will probably be fine.
On the other hand, there are also particular reasons why the tax authorities in Lakewood, Washington might want to conduct a tax audit. The most prevalent reason for a tax audit is suspicion that a taxpayer has not reported all of the income they earned in a given year. This suspicion often arises when a taxpayer buys a considerable number of expensive luxury items, but only claims a small amount of income on their tax return. Obviously, the tax man will be quite interested in learning where someone who is claiming a minimum-wage level income on their taxes got the money to buy a sports car.
Claiming an unusually-high number of deductions is another prevalent reason for tax audits in Lakewood, Washington. A tax deduction is some expenditure that you can subtract from your taxable income, thereby reducing your tax liability. If you claim such a massive number of deductions that your tax liability has been reduced to almost nothing, the IRS will probably want to make sure that all of these deductions are valid.
How Can A Lakewood, Washington Tax Lawyer Help?
If you end up being tax audited, and you believe that you have not engaged in any wrongdoing, it's likely that you've been chosen randomly for an audit in Lakewood, Washington. If this is the case, you shouldn't be worried. If you are found to have made a mistake on a past tax return, and paid less than you owed, you'll probably just be made to pay the balance due, plus a slight bit of interest, without incurring any additional penalties.
But, in more confusing cases, chances are you would be well-served by a tax lawyer in Lakewood, Washington, to ensure that your tax audit goes smoothly.
There is none better than Joel. He is intelligent and sensitive when it comes to highly personal matters. Let him fight your battle!
He is the kind of lawyer who would sit down and explain things on how things works in legal matter but he is still fighting for me hard and he is very patient and very understanding with me being deaf and we have not got the results yet but he is trying very hard during week and weekends on getting results real fast and he don't take no bull from other companies and I would advice people to use him as your lawyer
Joel is very professional and I would recommend him for anyone.
This lawyer shows real commentment to his cases
This guy is awesome. The best of the best.
Mr. C. has been responsive, he's explained everything clearly and has asked questions that I had not thought of. He's not like the typical laywer profile - he's courteous and very patient with me. I would easily recommend him. I'm going to assume his service is a good value for my money although we're not at that stage yet.
Mr.C. is a excellent lawyer he always kept us well informed on the case, I am very satisfied with the work that he has done and I am sure that anyother person who were to hire him will be too. Also he took the time and patience to talk to me personally after all the work he had. I would strongly recommend him. Very very good.
I had a great experience with this lawyer. I highly recommend him to anyone. Emails and phone calls were returned promptly. My questions were answered with a clear understanding. If he did not know the answer he would research it and get back to me quickly. I believe he worked very hard to gather the information we needed for the case. If i ever need another lawyer in the future, i will definitely hire him again.
Joel kept in constant contact with me. I really liked that about him. Most lawyers dont even talk to you, they have their secretary take a message. Joel did not once do that. Joel believed in me and my case. I would recommend him to anyone and use him again if I ever have to do this again. He cares about the situation and had my best interest at heart.
Joel had excellent response time, he spent time with me on the telephone discussing possibility's of my case. I highly recommend Joel, he was very easy to talk to and spoke to me in layman's terms so I could understand what was going on, he sent me numerous e-mails in regards to my case. He was willing to go the extra mile for me and that was something very special.
He was great and very easy to work with. I would definately use and/or refer him again.
I was very pleased with the Mr. C.'s response. As much as I deeply appreciated the time he took in looking over the information, I decided it was best not to pursue the issue. He was very kind and I will most defintely keep his name should I ever need assistance in the future.