Taxation
Our attorneys include a former Certified Public Accountant who worked at the Appeals Office of the Internal Revenue Service during law school, and spent the early years of his legal career representing taxpayers before state and federal taxing authorities. With experience handling tax matters that spans over 30 years, we have successfully assisted clients in navigating the shifting landscape of taxation going back to the Reagan administration tax cuts. This background lends itself well to virtually any tax issue or dispute.
Tax Controversy
In these times of a very complicated tax laws and difficult economic circumstances, many businesses and individuals find themselves at odds with a government taxing authority. We have many years of experience counseling, representing and assisting clients with these matters.
Our approach to resolution of tax controversies is consistent with our general litigation philosophy. We are always mindful of cost; we do our best to estimate costs and recommend practical solutions that can achieve settlements to avoid litigation. If a dispute must be litigated, we have experience in virtually all Indiana state and federal forums in which tax disputes are heard.
We frequently represent and have experience in the following areas of tax:
- Federal Income Tax
- State Income Tax
- Federal Estate Tax
- Indiana Inheritance Tax
- Indiana Sales and Use Tax
- Indiana Property Tax
- Federal and State Payroll (Withholding) Tax
- Indiana Unemployment Tax
Tax Planning
Any discussion of how to effectively handle a “tax controversy” highlights, and perhaps emphasizes, the need for sound tax planning. Timely and effective tax planning will avoid tax controversies. We find that clients that we assist with tax planning are better able to avoid tax controversies and end up more satisfied in the long run.
We discuss estate planning elsewhere on this site, but estate planning is often times another form of tax planning. The same can be said for choosing the type of entity in which to operate your business – that decision is in many ways strongly influenced by tax considerations. Many other issues arise in all types of businesses that call for sound tax planning.
An increasing area of tax planning concerns retirement planning and, sometimes even more importantly, the rules governing the mandatory distribution of the funds that the client worked so hard and so long to save in a qualified retirement plan (IRA, 401(k), 403(b), etc.). In addition, the tax treatment of those funds in qualified retirement plans at death has become a major concern to many who have successfully saved funds in that fashion and did not spend it all while living.