People often get tax advice in the same leisurely fashion in which they get free stock tips from friends and family members. However, a person can generally get out of a poor decision made from a bad stock tip without too many scratches by simply selling the stock. Unfortunately, getting bad tax advice has a much more dramatic and lasting impact. It is usually not as easy or quick to undo an IRS mess like it can be to dump a stock because of a bad stock tip. Therefore, it can really pay huge dividends to seek professional help when getting guidance in this type of area. If the issue is that important that a person needs to seek guidance on it, then the issue is that important for a person to pay a professional for the correct information.
Tax advice is topic driven and very broad in nature. It can be as simple as getting guidance about what filing status a person needs to use when filing their federal return to a more complex topic such as how to establish and structure a family trust. Regardless of the topic for which a person needs guidance, it is important to hire a professional and pay for the guidance. Although paying for professional guidance doesn’t always guarantee that the information a person receives will be the right information, it does increase the likelihood that the recommendation that a person gets will be good. Getting free guidance can end up costing a person a lot of money in the long run because a professional’s time is valuable, so when a recommendation is dispensed for free, it usually lacks the substance it needs to have much value. Professionals value their time and charge accordingly.
Typically, tax relief and resolution companies don’t generally dispense tax advice to clients. The primary reason for this is because IRS relief and resolution companies focus on resolving IRS problems rather than providing recommendations on planning and strategies. Traditionally, CPA’s or attorneys are the most sought after people for dispensing tax advice to people. However, even though IRS relief and resolution companies don’t focus on providing recommendations on planning and strategies as their core business, they can be some of the best professionals to seek out when needing advice. This is especially true if the company provides audit defense for clients and is experienced in the IRS audit area.
A professional who does a lot of IRS audit defense work is a good resource for giving quality recommendations because a big key to winning an IRS audit is done by people who know and understand the IRS codes and regulations. Professionals who have strength and experience in the IRS audit area give a firsthand level of experience in how the IRS interprets the federal codes and regulations. Thus, they can generally give better recommendations about a topic because they have seen up close how the IRS views certain topics. Ultimately, when the Internal Revenue Service challenges something on a federal return, it is done through the IRS audit process. Therefore, an audit defense professional generally has a lot of experience dissecting and interpreting IRS codes and regulations.