Lance R. Drury – Lead Tax Attorney

Location: Ste. Genevieve, MO

Tax Attorney Lance Drury, founder of the Law Firm of Lance R. Drury, has been practicing law since 1984 and began representing individuals and businesses in disputes with the Internal Revenue Service in 2006. With offices located in St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve in Missouri and Nashville in Tennessee, Drury has positioned himself as a leading attorney for IRS tax resolution issues. He is able to evaluate every client’s unique situation and provide them with honest answers and a specific plan to best resolve their tax problems.

Drury is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor degree in Political Science with a minor in Economics. He received his Juris Doctor from the Southern Illinois University, School of Law-Carbondale, and his Masters in Business Administration from Washington University- St. Louis. He began working as a private practice attorney in 1994 and now specializes in federal tax resolution. He is a member of the Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, Missouri Bar Association, and the United States Tax Court.

Drury has developed a multi-step process to help his clients resolve their tax problems. He begins with a personal interview to thoroughly understand the issue the client faces. The interview provides the background needed to develop an appropriate strategy to resolve the issue. The client will be asked to sign a Power of Attorney to allow Drury to act on their behalf. When this document is signed, all future telephone calls from the IRS will then be directed to Drury’s office rather than the client being plagued with the calls. With the Power of Attorney, Drury is also able to obtain all transcripts of the client’s tax accounts. By reviewing the tax transcripts, he will be able to determine the perspective the IRS has regarding the client’s tax situation.

Drury gives his clients an easy-to-follow checklist to guide them in gathering information they will need to provide to him. After receiving the client’s information, he compares the tax transcripts with the client’s actual situation. With all the information at hand, he is able to determine the most appropriate strategy to help the client resolve their tax problem. Since preparing IRS tax forms is often complicated, he will prepare all the necessary documentation to submit to the IRS. Drury has streamlined the process of information collection to make it as easy as possible for his clients. After all the forms are prepared, Drury will go over them with his client to make sure all the information is accurate. After the verification process, the client will sign the documents, and Drury will take care of the submission process and communicate directly with the IRS on behalf of the client.

Drury then negotiates with the IRS to obtain the lowest possible settlement allowed by law. Since Drury is acting as Power of Attorney on behalf of his client, the client does not have to be involved in any direct communication with the IRS. All negotiating is done by Drury. Once a settlement agreement is reached, Drury discusses the settlement with his clients and answers any and all of their questions. His goal is to make sure his client is completely satisfied with the settlement he was able to negotiate on their behalf.

Drury says there are many large national firms that specialize in tax resolution issues. However, many of them are experiencing problems. Unfortunately, a number of people that have used some of the nationally advertised tax resolution firms have come to Drury reporting to him the disastrous results of their first-hand experience. This is not to say all nationally advertised tax resolution services are bad, but there have been a number that have experienced problems and are no longer in business today. These individuals have been very pleased to find an experienced attorney, such as Drury, within their own state who can help them resolve their tax issues and who will follow through on his commitment. There are also a number of firms in larger urban areas that are involved in this segment of the law, but there are not many rural attorneys, such as Drury, that practice this type of law. With his tax resolution practice, he covers nearly half of the state of Missouri.

Drury has a genuine desire to help people resolve their tax issues. He relates, “I had an individual in my office not too long ago that was crying by the end of the process because he had been living with a tax problem for years. He was paying about a thousand dollars a month on his tax bill and I was able to negotiate his monthly payment down to about three-hundred dollars which was an amount much more manageable for him.” He continues, “I have many clients who have been very satisfied because they have had liens lifted, smaller than expected monthly payments, and reduced tax bills.”

Working with a tax attorney can greatly benefit a person with a tax issue. Drury has found that he is able to develop a trusting relationship with many of the revenue officers with which he works. When the revenue officer knows Drury is working with a particular client, they can have confidence he will be doing everything within the law to help his client resolve their tax problem, and he finds the relationship is almost always a cooperative one. On the other hand, when people try to deal with the IRS on their own, they sometimes create an antagonistic relationship, which makes his job more difficult. One example Drury mentions is a client who had been dealing with the IRS for fourteen years and basically got on the wrong side of the IRS for probably many reasons. The result was that the IRS was not cooperative and became very stringent on any resolution terms. Drury states, “Unfortunately people often wait until the IRS is breathing down their neck and begin putting a levy on their bank account or garnish their wages or put a tax lien on their property. That’s generally when the IRS gets their attention. Then the client wants to do something about it at that point.” His recommendation is to not wait until it gets to that point but to contact a tax resolution attorney, such as Drury, to negotiate the best possible settlement with the IRS as early as possible before things get out of control and end up costing the taxpayer more money.

There are a plethora of success stories from the archives of the cases Drury has been able to resolve for his clients. One appreciative client said, “I first met with Lance Drury in May 2009 regarding my tax situation. I tried to work with the IRS on my own, even hired another tax professional to help but kept getting settlement offers that were not possible for me to meet. Mr. Drury got started right away and, in a few months, negotiated an installment plan that I knew I would be able to afford. Mr. Drury was there whenever I had a question or concern (there were several) and never acted like my questions or concerns were not important. I could never have made it through without the professional and caring help from Lance Drury.” Another very satisfied client said, “I really like what Lance was able to do for me. I could never achieve these results myself. I went from being up nights worrying when the other shoe would drop to being confident that my situation was in capable hands. Not only did Lance relieve my stress and solve problems, but I now understand how I got in the situation in the first place and how to avoid it in the future.”

Drury plans to open more offices in Missouri to be more available to his clients. He also plans to add another attorney in the near future. Drury has joined a select group of America’s leading attorneys to co-write the forthcoming book Protect and Defend: Proven Strategies from America’s Leading Attorneys to Help You Protect and Defend Your Business, Family, and Wealth. He also was featured on the television program America’s PremierExperts® as well as America’s PremierExperts® radio program. Because of his contribution to his industry and his outstanding business success, he has been featured as one of the country’s Legal Elite in USA Today.

“The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.”
Lance

Areas Of Practice

Federal Tax Resolution

Bar Admissions

Missouri, 1984
U.S. District Court Eastern District of Missouri, 1996

Education

Southern Illinois University School of Law, Carbondale, Illinois
- Juris Doctor – 1983
University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
- B.A., Bachelor of Arts – 1975
- Major: Political Science
- Minor: Economics
Washington University- St. Louis
- M.B.A., Master of Business Administration

Published Works

Co-writer, Protect and Defend: Proven Strategies from America’s Leading Attorneys to Help You Protect and Defend Your Business, Family and Wealth

Honors and Awards

Legal Elite in USA Today

Professional Associations and Memberships

Ste Genevieve County Bar Association, President, 1991 to 1992
Planning and Zoning Commission, 1991
Missouri Bar Association, Member
United States Tax Court, Member

Pro Bono Activities

Rotary, St. Joseph, Missouri, 1988 – 1989
Better Business Bureau, Member
Chamber of Commerce, Member