Community Discussions
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Accountant had me sign power of attorney document - is this normal?
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Hello! I have signed up with a new accountant who has asked me to sign a power of attorney document from the IRS. Just wanted to confirm that this is normal. I have done all of my taxes up until now myself and am just a little hesitant since the last accountant I hired wanted passwords to all of my online banking accounts, which really freaked me out. TIA!
Top Comment: I’ve worked at firms where it was standard to get a POA when onboarding a client so we didn’t have to prepare one when they inevitably got a notice.
Finding an English-speaking French tax attorney?
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Bonjour! I have no idea this if this is the right place for this.
We're trying to set up a branch for our (UK-based) company in France in order to pay one of our directors who lives in France. The problem is neither I or him or anyone else involved speaks French, so I figured we better find a tax attorney/advisor in France that can handle the French bureaucracy for us.
I'm sure there are plenty of English-speaking French tax attorneys, but I feel like the ones that "specialise" in that type of thing would be overpriced, so I was wondering if anyone can recommend a site or service (preferably available in English) where I can get the emails for some French tax attorneys, maybe even ones listed to speak English well?
Thanks
Top Comment:
You can use the "Find a lawyer" tool on the European e-Justice Portal: https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_find_a_lawyer-334-en.do
How is the work life balance of tax attorneys? Any regrets in becoming one?
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Tax attorney wlb?
Can any tax attorneys share how the work life balance is? Is it more stressful than other areas of law? Do you regret becoming one? Is being a tax attorney like a 40 hr workweek with a salary of 200k? In the U.S. do you have time for family?
Top Comment: I work in-house and earn around 250k TC, so I can’t really complain. It’s 40 hours a week with three in-person days. Back when I was working at a small tax law firm, I was working more hours and was more stressed.
Tax attorney salary
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Can anyone comment their salary as a tax attorney? If it’s worth being one. Does having a accounting undergrad and cpa before law school make one an ideal candidate?
Top Comment: I make regular Biglaw scale. Tax pay is a bit better than many corporate colleagues going in house. Roles are more restricted though. You don’t need a tax LLM. You also don’t need a CPA/Accounting background. Both are nice but not must have.
How is a tax lawyer different from a CPA?
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What do they do that a CPA does not do, or vice versa?
Top Comment: We get paid more for doing the same work
Tax Attorneys
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(Also posted on r/law firm)
Hey everyone,
Any tax attorneys here? How is the field? Would you recommend a new attorney coming out of law school to go into it? On that note, what is your experience with the value of an LLM degree in taxation?
Non tax-lawyers feel free to comment your knowledge as well! Thank you!
Top Comment: I've been in biglaw tax almost 6 years. Tax is lit. You get paid the same as everyone else, but the hours are way better. If you like tax at all, you'd be a fool to do anything else. Most people go right into out of law school into tax. The LLM is for three types of people 1) practicing tax lawyers whose firm pays for it while they're working, 2) people who struck out in law school and want another shot at interviews, 3) practicing lawyers who want to switch practices. The goal should be to just get a job in tax right out of law school though.
Interested in tax law. Could anyone so kindly share their experiences, how they got there, what they do, and what they like and dislike about their profession? Also, any tips for becoming a tax lawyer?
Main Post: Interested in tax law. Could anyone so kindly share their experiences, how they got there, what they do, and what they like and dislike about their profession? Also, any tips for becoming a tax lawyer?
Top Comment: I'm a 6th year in tax. I do mostly debt stuff. Finance, securitization, and restructurings. It's pretty awesome. The hours are generally better than the corporate groups, you get substantive work from day 1, lots of research. Most of my time spent marking up the tax parts of corporate docs, but there are always issues that pop up that require research. Easiest way to become a tax lawyer in biglaw: get a 2L summer job, take tax assignments, pick tax group at the end of the summer.
How viable of a career is tax law?
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Hi, so I’m still an undergrad who has been recently volunteering at a VITA tax preparer site. I wasn’t really interested in pursuing tax law at first but learning and applying various policies to reduce a client’s overall taxes with credits and deductions has honestly been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, and I really want to learn more and be able to do more than I am currently able to do.
The only thing is that I heard that the tax law field is pretty hard to break into, and I’m also pretty leery of getting a LLM, considering it’s essentially an extra year of tuition. So overall, would going into tax law fulfill my desire to learn more about the tax field policy-wise and help people with more comprehensive tax issues? And is getting a LLM worth the extra year it would cost?
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Tax law is one of the only areas of law in which having an LLM is a leg up.
If your interest in tax law is more toward policy, you should look at opportunities in DC, either with the IRS or a Congressional staffer.
Day to day life of tax attorney vs tax focused CPA.
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Hello,
I am a fourth year non credentialed tax pro looking to move up. Both the attorney and CPA routes would require significant schooling which is fine but id like to know your thoughts about what their day to day work life is like.
Top Comment: Tax attorney here and it's a lot of random stuff. Financial analyses, audit representations, balance & compliance checks, submitting financials, determining if the tax debt was even valid (usually just looking at W&Is), OIC appeals conferences, TFRP interviews, random RO conferences, tax court to appeal stuff, RCPAs, etc. And of course...client calls and emails lol. I have no idea what an EA does but I am pretty sure they basically do the exact same thing, right? If you're wondering what the hours are like, it's 9-5 and I have stayed 5 minutes total past 5pm in the last year. 0 seconds worked on the weekends. I actually love my job and am super glad I found this field.
Tax Lawyer
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I’m in Wilmington NC and I was wanting to know what everyone’s suggestions on a tax lawyer. I’m over 12 k in debt and got the ‘levy letter’ can anyone guide me where to go and what to do please! Thank you in advance!
Top Comment:
You don't need a tax lawyer. However, you likely do want a credentialed tax professional (CPA, Enrolled Agent, or attorney).
You can get help several ways:
- IRS Directory of Credentialed Preparers
- National Association of Enrolled Agents
- Your state bar association
- Your state board of accountancy
- A website like TaxCure that matches taxpayers who have tax problems with tax pros working in that space
- A Low Income Tax Clinic
CPAs are accounting specialists who sometimes work in tax, and are some of the most well-rounded financial pros out there. They tend to work with business owners and high earners.
Attorneys deal with the law, and few work in tax. Those that do are usually working in estates or trusts and with high net worth individuals.
EAs are tax specialists who sometimes work in accounting. Some come from a legal or accounting background, some from bookkeeping, some from financial planning/advisor fields. Their focus is tax and tax law.
All of the above can represent you in front of the IRS.
Pricing from low to high usually goes EA => CPA -> Attorney.