Murrieta Tax Attorney

Trusted Tax Lawyer in Murrieta

An IRS letter showed up in your mailbox, and your stomach has not settled since. You keep running the numbers in your head. Wondering if this touches your savings, your house, or the business you spent years building. Will this audit, notice of back taxes, or lien be what ruins you financially?

You need advice about what to do next.

Evan L. Smith began his career as a tax specialist at a Big Eight accounting firm, so he reads an IRS file the way an accountant reads a balance sheet. As an Business Lawyer, he brings both financial insight and legal experience to complex business matters. Martindale-Hubbell has rated him AV Preeminent, its highest peer rating, every year since 1989.

Contact us and tell us what the IRS sent you. We will tell you plainly what it means and what happens next.

How a Murrieta Tax Attorney Helps With IRS Audits and Back Taxes

Tax problems rarely show up one at a time. A Murrieta tax attorney may handle the full range of federal and California tax disputes facing residents and business owners, including:

• IRS audits, from correspondence audits to full field examinations
• Back taxes and unfiled returns going back multiple years
• Federal tax liens and Notices of Intent to Levy
• Offers in compromise and installment agreements with the IRS
• Trust fund recovery penalty assessments against business owners and officers
• California Franchise Tax Board disputes that run alongside a federal case

These tax problems can move quickly, and it’s important to stay in control of the situation before the government makes costly decisions for you.

What an IRS Lien or Levy Can Cost You

Murrieta‘s median household income runs well above the national average, and a large share of that income comes from people who own a business rather than draw a single paycheck. Both facts can increase the odds of IRS attention when a return looks unusual.

Once the IRS assesses a tax debt, a federal lien attaches to essentially everything you own, including your home equity and property you acquire later (26 U.S.C. § 6321). If the debt goes unresolved, the IRS can move to a levy, seizing funds directly from your bank account or garnishing your wages.

What That IRS Notice Actually Means

Not every IRS letter means the same thing, and the deadline attached to it can be the difference between having options and having none. For example:

CP2000 Notice

A CP2000 notice usually means the IRS found a mismatch between your return and what an employer or bank reported, and it gives you a window to respond before the balance is assessed. If you miss that window, the IRS’s proposed changes become final and the balance moves straight to collections.

Notice of Deficiency

A Notice of Deficiency, sometimes called a 90-day letter, starts a strict 90-day clock to petition the U.S. Tax Court before the IRS can assess the tax (26 U.S.C. § 6213). Miss that clock, and the tax gets assessed automatically, closing off the option to dispute it in Tax Court before paying.

Final Notice of Intent to Levy

A Final Notice of Intent to Levy gives 30 days before the IRS can take money directly from your bank account or paycheck. Requesting a Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing inside that 30-day window pauses the levy while your case is reviewed.

Reading the notice correctly, and responding inside the deadline it sets, matters significantly in a tax dispute.

Frequently Asked Questions About Tax Audits and Back Taxes

How much does it cost to hire a tax attorney for an IRS audit in Murrieta?

Cost usually depends on how complex your audit or back tax matter is and how many years are involved. Before you hire an attorney, understand whether the lawyer charges by the hour or sets a flat fee. Additionally, it’s important to understand the tax fees, penalties, and interest you could have to pay if your tax dispute is unsuccessful.

How long does an IRS audit or tax dispute take to resolve?

A correspondence audit over a single issue may be resolved in a few months. A field audit, an unfiled-returns matter, or a dispute that reaches Tax Court can take a year or more. The timeline may move faster once an attorney is handling communication with the IRS instead of you.

Can my CPA handle this instead of a tax attorney?

A CPA can prepare returns and represent you in many routine audits, but only an attorney can represent you in U.S. Tax Court, negotiate under attorney-client privilege, and take over communication with IRS collections once a case becomes adversarial. Many clients use both, with the attorney directing strategy.

What happens if I ignore an IRS notice or a federal tax lien?

Ignoring a notice does not stop the deadline attached to it from running. Once that window closes, the IRS gains more leverage. A lien can attach to property you own now or acquire later, and a levy can reach your bank accounts or paycheck directly.

What happens after I contact a Murrieta tax attorney about my case?

We review the notice or lien you received, confirm exactly what deadline you are working against, and outline the realistic options for your situation, whether that is an audit response, an offer in compromise, or a Tax Court petition. You do not have to translate IRS language on your own before that conversation happens.

If your question is not answered here, ask us directly. The contact form below leads to a real conversation, not an automatic reply..

Talk to a Murrieta Tax Attorney Today

If your notice has a deadline printed on it, that deadline does not pause while you decide what to do next. Contact Evan L. Smith, Attorney at Law, and tell us what the IRS sent you. We will give you a plain answer about what it means and what your realistic options are, starting with a consultation.