Tax Compliance for Small Businesses Lawyers Helping You Avoid Noncompliance

Running a small business involves many moving parts. From hiring employees to turning a profit, paying taxes is probably one of the last things on your mind. But making mistakes on your taxes or failing to pay them at all can devastate you and your business, even leading to a loss of your business license in extreme cases.

Fortunately, with a tax compliance lawyer on your side, you won’t have to worry about defaulting on your taxes or missing important deadlines. Our team at The Law Firm of Lance R. Drury, P.C. is dedicated to assisting your small business with its tax needs so you can focus on your business plan and profits. For a free consultation and to see how we can help you, call one of our offices today: Ste. Genevieve, (573)-883-3056; St. Louis, (314)-260-6120; Nashville, (615)-733-8168; and San Antonio, (726)-202-1300.

What Do Tax Compliance Lawyers Do?

A tax compliance lawyer helps small businesses with tax planning and tax representation. Our team can help your small business prepare for tax day and ensure compliance so there are no surprise expenses at the end of the fiscal year. Plus, our attorneys always stay current on changes made within the IRS or your state government so that you will stay caught up on any new taxes or expenses required for your business.

Tax lawyers can also help defend small business owners against any tax-related litigation if the need arises. Our team can represent you and your business if you are ever audited by the IRS or the State Department of Revenue. We can also negotiate with government agencies and reduce or even remove fines and penalties that may accrue due to late or unpaid taxes.

What Tax Problems Do Small Businesses Often Face?

Small businesses have many different components. If you are not experienced in tax law, it’s understandable that some of your taxes may fall through the cracks or have mistakes. Because of this, it’s essential to consult a tax compliance lawyer for your small business to ensure everything is above board.

Below are some of the common issues that small business owners often face:

Underpaying Taxes

Underpayment of taxes means that your business collected a tax but did not pass it on to the state or federal government. In some cases, this is intentional, but in many cases, it is not deliberate. Many small business owners underestimate their taxes or do not fully understand the complexity of the tax codes and accidentally underpay.

Classifying Employees as Independent Contractors

Many small businesses utilize independent contractors because they are cheaper to employ than full-time employees. However, just because your business classified them as independent contractors does not mean the IRS sees them that way. If the federal government views your independent contractors as employees, you could accidentally end up underpaying employment taxes.

Switching Accounting Methods

Whether you choose a cash or an accrual accounting method affects how you file your tax return. Once you pick a method, you typically cannot switch methods unless the IRS approves the change. If you switch back and forth between cash and accrual accounting, you may not be keeping the proper records for your business.

Choosing the Wrong Structure

There are multiple business structures to choose from when establishing a business, including sole proprietorship, limited liability company (LLC), S-corporations, limited partnerships (LP), and more. Choosing the wrong structure can cause your business to pay more taxes than it should. A qualified tax attorney from our team can help you pick the proper structure for your business to reduce your tax liability.

How Can a Tax Compliance Lawyer Help With an IRS Issue?

There may come a time when your small business has to deal with the IRS. Whether it’s because of an audit or a simple tax discrepancy, our team can represent your business when dealing with the federal government.

If the IRS believes they have evidence of noncompliance on your tax return, they may order an audit of your business. In that case, our team can assist in compiling records and communicating with the IRS agent to wrap the audit up quickly and prove compliance. And, if the IRS does find evidence of noncompliance and enforces fines or penalties, we can negotiate with them to reduce or even remove the penalties on your business.

Other tax litigation issues our office can help with include:

• Unlawful tax avoidance
• Federal tax liens
• Late or unfiled taxes
• Tax fund recovery penalties
• Underpayment of taxes
• Poor record keeping
• Appeals
• Penalty abatements
• Overpayment and refund claims

And more. No matter what your small business needs assistance with, our team is here to help. Contact us today for a free case evaluation and to learn more about what we can do for you.

Do I Need to Hire a Tax Compliance Lawyer for My Small Business?

Owning your own business comes with many hurdles, some of which are bound to take up a lot of your time. The last thing you want to do as a business owner is deal with tax discrepancies or noncompliance because of late or missing taxes. By hiring a tax compliance lawyer for your small business, you can rest assured that your taxes will be filed correctly and on time.

At The Law Firm of Lance R. Drury, P.C., we are dedicated to assisting you with whatever unique tax situation you may be in. We can help with tax preparation and planning, tax litigation, or even tax representation. Let us help make your job a little bit easier by taking care of your taxes for you. For a free consultation, call one of our offices today: Ste. Genevieve, (573)-883-3056; St. Louis, (314)-260-6120; Nashville, (615)-733-8168; and San Antonio, (726)-202-1300.