Why Legal Planning Matters

Legal planning involves creating documents and structures that clearly outline your intentions and protect your assets. This includes drafting wills, establishing trusts, and creating powers of attorney. A well-thought-out legal plan provides clarity about how your assets should be managed and distributed while minimizing potential disputes or conflicts among family members.

Aligning legal planning with your broader financial strategy can also help reduce taxes and preserve wealth for your beneficiaries. Properly structured legal documents ensure that your financial goals are carried out effectively, whether that means providing for children, supporting charitable causes, or planning for retirement. According to Investor.gov, combining legal and financial planning allows your wealth to work in harmony with your objectives, providing both security and efficiency.

Integrating Financial Goals Into Your Legal Plan

Your legal strategy should reflect your broader financial priorities. For example, retirement planning, college savings for children, and charitable giving all benefit from coordinated legal planning. Establishing a trust can protect your assets while allowing you to control how and when they are distributed to beneficiaries. A trust can also provide tax advantages and reduce the risk of probate delays, ensuring your intentions are followed precisely.

Additionally, coordinating your legal planning with financial decisions helps mitigate risks. For instance, if you own significant investments or a business, properly drafted legal documents can prevent unintended tax consequences, protect against creditors, and provide a smooth succession plan. France Law Firm collaborates with clients to ensure that legal documents complement their financial strategies, aligning their estate plan with both short-term needs and long-term objectives.

Reviewing Your Plan Regularly

Life is dynamic, and legal planning is not a one-time task. Major life events, such as marriage, divorce, the birth of children, or the acquisition of significant assets, can significantly impact your financial and legal plans. Regular reviews ensure that your estate plan, trusts, and other legal documents continue to reflect your current circumstances and objectives.

Periodic updates help avoid gaps in protection, reduce the risk of disputes, and ensure that tax strategies remain effective. France Law Firm provides guidance to help clients review and update their legal plans, ensuring that each document accurately reflects their current intentions and financial situation.

Additional Benefits of Coordinated Planning

Aligning legal and financial planning also provides peace of mind. Knowing that your assets are protected and your family’s future is secure reduces stress for both you and your loved ones. Clear instructions regarding guardianship, healthcare, charitable giving, and asset distribution help prevent confusion and conflict, allowing your family to focus on supporting one another rather than resolving legal or financial disputes.

By integrating financial goals into your estate and legal planning, you can also make strategic decisions about investments, insurance, and gifting strategies, all of which contribute to a comprehensive approach to wealth management.

Take Action Today

Legal planning is a proactive step to protect your assets and secure your future. Coordinating your legal documents with your financial goals provides clarity and stability for yourself and your family, ensuring that your intentions are honored and your loved ones are cared for. France Law Firm specializes in wills, trusts, and estate planning strategies designed to align legal structures with financial objectives.

To begin creating a plan that protects your wealth and supports your long-term goals, schedule a consultation with France Law Firm today. Planning ahead ensures that your assets work as intended, your family is protected, and your financial and legal strategies operate in harmony.

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An experienced business attorney can help you keep more of your income, protect your assets, and prepare for personal and business growth. At France Law Firm, our tax attorneys and business law attorneys help Florida businesses and families create proactive strategies that deliver lasting financial benefits.

What Early Tax Planning Really Means for Tallahassee Businesses and Families

Everyone knows to gather receipts in February and March and hire a tax accountant in the spring. It’s something you should do year-round so you understand how legal, financial and personal decisions will affect your tax position before it’s too late to make changes. This also means retaining an experienced tax attorney who can advise you on the best tax strategy for your situation.

Tax preparation focuses on compliance, including filing accurate tax returns and meeting deadlines, while early tax planning focuses on strategy. It anticipates how you should legally reduce your tax burden to position yourself for stability and growth.

Working with a business tax attorney ensures your plan integrates with your overall legal structure. It can mean restructuring your entity, deferring income, optimizing asset depreciation or aligning business budgeting with long-term financial goals. When you plan your taxes early, you have time to change factors that could decrease your tax bill.

How Early Tax Planning Benefits Tallahassee Businesses

Business owners face unique tax challenges, including managing operating expenses and meeting federal and state obligations. The earlier you plan, the more flexibility you have in reducing taxable income and maximizing deductions.

Many tax-saving strategies have a deadline of December 31, including purchasing new equipment, pre-paying certain expenses, and contributing to employee retirement plans. A business tax attorney can help you identify industry-specific deductions and credits.

Additional strategies may include:

• Proactive planning to avoid penalties and cash flow issues
• Ensuring you have the correct entity structure, e.g., corporation, LLC, non-profit, S-Corp, as they are taxed differently
• Strategically planning for employee compensation, e.g, coordinating financial and legal strategies for compensation packages

How Early Tax Planning Protects Families

Tax planning isn’t only for business owners. It’s also crucial for families. Without careful planning, your interconnected business and personal finances can create unexpected tax burdens. An experienced business tax attorney can help:

• Coordinate personal and business income
• Reduce estate and inheritance taxes
• Optimize retirement and education savings
• Protect family assets through legal structuring

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Even well-intentioned business owners and families can make preventable errors that could cost thousands of dollars every year. Some of the most costly mistakes include:

• Waiting until filing season, as most savings opportunities have expired
• Ignoring life changes such as marriage, divorce, new children, children going out on their own, real estate purchases, and adding business partners
• Failing to seek professional help, as do-it-yourself tax software often does not identify complex savings related to business ownership, estates, and trust considerations

The best time to start tax planning is before the year’s last quarter, though working with an experienced tax attorney year-round allows you enough time to make strategic investments or change your tax structure and capitalize on credits.

We work with accountants and financial advisors, and we use our attorney’s estate planning experience to deliver the best strategies to reduce your tax liability. Whether you operate a family-run company or a growing enterprise, we can help you navigate Florida’s complex tax landscape.

Don’t Wait Until Tax Season—Secure Your Business and Family’s Financial Future Today!

Instead of letting another tax season catch you by surprise, contact France Law Firm at 850-224-1040 or by filling out our online contact form to implement a proactive tax plan that protects your business and your family’s financial future.

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The Tax Benefits of Charitable Giving

When you donate to qualified charitable organizations, you can reduce your overall tax liability. This type of deduction is valuable to those earning a high income, helping them minimize their tax burden while supporting worthy causes at the same time.

To maximize tax deductions, you should consider several factors, including:

• Choose the Right Charitable Vehicle: Common options for charitable giving include charitable remainder trusts, donor-advised funds, cash donations, and private foundations. Each type has its benefits, including control over funds and tax efficiency. Your estate planning attorney and tax attorneys can help you choose the best charitable vehicle for your situation.
• Leverage Appreciated Assets: By donating appreciated assets, such as artwork or real estate, you can support your favorite charity and maximize your tax deductions. In many cases, if you held the asset for over a year, you can deduct the asset’s fair market value when you donate. In addition to minimizing your tax burden, you could avoid paying capital gains tax. Other assets may include restricted stock, publicly traded securities, private equity fund interests, post-IPO stock, cryptocurrency, equity compensation awards, and privately held business interests.
• Qualified Charitable Distributions: If you are 70.5 years or older and required to take minimum distributions from your retirement accounts, you can transfer funds from your IRA to a charity without realizing taxable income from the distribution.
• Use Bunching Strategies and Optimize Timing: If you can bunch more than a year’s worth of charitable deductions and optimize the timing, for example, by coordinating charitable donations with significant financial events, you could increase your tax savings. Bunching may benefit those who can now take the much higher standard deduction. For example, if you donate for two years in one year, you can itemize in 2023 and then take the standard deduction in 2024.

Charitable Giving and Estate Planning

Charitable giving can also affect the amount of taxes your estate pays. Strategic charitable giving can maximize wealth transfer to your heirs by using various vehicles. Your tax attorneys and estate planning attorneys at France Law Firm can help you structure your charitable giving to minimize not only your yearly tax obligation but also your estate tax obligation.

Obligations for Charitable Giving: Documentation and Record-Keeping

To take advantage of charitable giving, you must document your donations and keep the documentation to prove your donations to the Internal Revenue Service. When you submit your receipts to your tax attorney at France Law Firm, your attorney can include the donations as long as they are to qualified charitable organizations.

Documents may include receipts, appraisals for non-cash assets you donated, and letters of acknowledgment from charitable organizations. Your attorney can use this documentation to file the required tax forms to receive a tax deduction without incurring potential penalties if you exceed certain thresholds.

Contact France Law Firm

Charitable giving and tax planning are complex aspects of your finances. A tax attorney can help you claim charitable giving on your taxes and estate to maximize tax deductions. Your tax and estate planning attorney can help you choose the right philanthropic vehicle and leverage appreciated assets to maximize your tax deductions.

Contact a tax and estate planning attorney at France Law Firm for a consultation by calling 850-224-1040.

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Taxes for 2023 and 2024

You may not think the upcoming changes for 2024 are important right now since you will be filing for 2023. However, those changes may affect your long-term tax plans, whether for your estate or your business. France Law Firm has an estate planning attorney who is also a business tax attorney who can help ensure your estate plan, business plan, and tax plan all work together to benefit you now.

Taxes for 2024 apply to the tax returns you file in 2025, while taxes for 2023 apply to the tax returns you file in 2024 (current year).

Per-Barrel Oil Tax

The Inflation Reduction Act reinstated the Hazardous Substance Superfund, which adds yet another tax to each barrel of oil. This tax affects anyone who itemizes and claims fuel for their businesses, as the oil companies are going to pass that tax onto businesses and individuals. While the tax is new in 2023, it is retroactive to Dec. 31, 2016.

Standard Deduction

The standard deduction is changing for 2024. In 2023, it is $27,700 for a couple married filing jointly. For 2024 (taxes filed in 2025), you will have an increase of $1,500 for a standard deduction of $29,200. Rates for other filing statuses are:

• Single People and Those Married Filing Separately: $13,850 for 2023 and $14,600 for 2024
• Heads of Households: $20,800 for 2023 and $21,900 for 2024

Marginal Rates

The tax brackets are remaining the same as the 2023 tax brackets. For 2023 and 2024, the top rate is 37 percent for individuals making over $609,350 and for married couples filing jointly making over $731,200. The additional brackets are as follows:

• 35 percent for individuals making over $243,725 and married couples filing jointly making $487,450
• 32 percent for individuals making over $191,950 and married couples filing jointly making over 383,900
• 24 percent for individuals making over $100,525 and married couples filing jointly making over $201,050
• 22 percent for individuals making over $47,150 and married couples filing jointly making over 94,300
• 12 percent for individuals making over $11,600 and married couples filing joint making over $23,200
• 10 percent for individuals making $11,600 or less or married couples filing jointly making $23,200 or less

Alternative Minimum Tax

The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) limits deductions. If an individual or married couple itemizing has too many deductions, the AMT kicks in, so you can’t lower your tax responsibility too much. In 2023, the AMT exemption is $81,300 and starts to phase out at $578,150 for individuals and 126,500, phasing out at $1,156,300 for couples filing jointly.

For 2024, the AMT kicks in at $85,700 for individuals and starts to phase out at $1,156,300.

Earned Income Tax Credit

Qualifying taxpayers who have at least three qualifying children can receive an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) of $7,830 in 2024 and $7,430 in 2023.

Estate and Gift Taxes

The basic exclusion for estate taxes (commonly known as the Federal Death Tax) for those who died in 2023 is $12,920,00, and in 2024, $13,610,000.

The annual gift tax exclusion is $17,000 for 2023 and $18,000 for 2024.

Contact France Law Firm

These are just a few of the taxes that will affect the average person or couple filing jointly. Several other changes include the limitation for the qualified transportation fringe benefit, employee salary deductions for contributions to health flexible spending accounts, self-only coverage in Medicare Savings Accounts, foreign earned income, and the maximum credit allowed for adoptions.

When it’s time to start your taxes for 2023 and if you need to make changes to your estate plan based on tax changes for this year and next year, contact a tax attorney and estate planning attorney at France Law Firm for a consultation.

The post Understanding the New Tax Laws: What You Need to Know for the Upcoming Year appeared first on France Law Firm.

The saying “The only things certain in life are death and taxes” holds true, but individuals can exercise control over their financial destinies by adopting smart financial decisions for optimal tax outcomes. Year-round tax planning offers a proactive approach, allowing individuals to make informed choices that can lead to significant savings during tax season. Seeking guidance from a business attorney with expertise in estate planning is invaluable in navigating factors such as retirement accounts and staying abreast of tax law changes.

Components of Year-Round Tax Planning

To effectively engage in year-round tax planning, continuous analysis of one’s financial situation is imperative. Regular scrutiny enables informed decision-making to minimize tax liability, presenting numerous opportunities throughout the year to achieve this goal. Key components include:

Review Your Financial Situation

Regularly assess investments, income, and expenses. Major life events, such as marriage, childbirth, career changes, and the loss of a loved one, should be carefully considered as they impact tax situations.

Check Withholding and Deductions

Ensure that withholding allowances are appropriately set to prevent overpayment or underpayment. This practice ensures that the IRS doesn’t hold onto your money without interest.

Investing

Understand the tax consequences of investments, particularly distinguishing between short-term and long-term capital gains, with the former usually subject to higher tax rates.

Tax-Advantaged Accounts

Contribute to tax-advantaged accounts like 401(k)s, Health Savings Accounts, and IRAs. Such contributions not only reduce taxable income for the year but also provide long-term financial benefits.

Stay Informed of Tax Law Changes

Tax laws are subject to constant change, impacting tax liability. Collaborating with Florida tax attorneys can help stay informed and make well-informed financial decisions.

Charitable Giving

Seek opportunities for tax-deductible donations to qualified charities and maintain detailed records of charitable contributions.

Retirement Planning

Leverage strategic financial planning for retirement, taking advantage of tax breaks and employing tax-efficient withdrawal strategies from retirement accounts.

Estate Planning

Utilize estate planning to minimize tax burdens, protect assets during incapacitation, and secure financial interests for future generations.

How Estate Planning Eases Current Tax Burden

Contrary to common misconceptions, estate planning is not exclusive to the wealthy. Anyone with assets, including a car and a bank account, benefits from an estate plan. Estate planning serves various purposes, such as:

• Protecting assets during unexpected incapacitation.
• Addressing capital gains, estate taxes, and probate costs.
• Tackling current taxes through gifting, charitable giving, and trusts.
• Reducing the taxable value of the estate.
• Safeguarding assets for future generations.
• Preventing excessive IRS deductions.

Implementing year-round tax planning and crafting an estate plan empowers individuals to minimize tax burdens through strategic donations and wise investment decisions. It facilitates informed decision-making during significant life changes like marriage, parenthood, relocation, or home building.

Consult the Tax Attorneys at France Law Firm

For personalized tax planning and guidance on creating a year-round tax plan, individuals can turn to the tax attorneys at France Law Firm. Schedule a tax planning consultation to embark on the journey of comprehensive year-round tax planning that aligns with your financial goals and minimizes tax liabilities.

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Inheritance and Wealth: A young person may receive an inheritance from a loved one that has substantial value. Decisions about that inheritance or other accumulated wealth are left to the courts without a will.

Personal Property: Although not everything you own has substantial monetary value, the sentimental value can be priceless. What happens to personal belongings such as jewelry, automobiles, photographs and even social media accounts matters to those you leave behind.
One of the ideas that tends be missed by young adults is that a will is an act of kindness. It allows your loved ones to understand your wishes and demonstrates how you felt about them.

Parents Have Long-Term Responsibilities
There’s no arguing the fact that becoming a parent inextricably changes your life. After the birth of a child, you come to realize a powerful sense of responsibility for another human being. That duty extends beyond your lifetime as well. These are the reasons why parents need a will.

Put A Guardian In Place: If something unfortunate were to happen to you and the child’s other parent, decisions would revert to the courts. Although judges focus on the child’s best interest, they cannot know your values or the depth of relationships you have with others. Who you view as the best person to raise a child may not be the same as the courts.

Business Management: The financial resources you leave behind are likely to require some level of oversight. If you own a business, your heirs may not be old enough or have the expertise to continue its operations. Unless you are satisfied that your life’s work could be sold off, it’s imperative that a professional handle the operations going forward so your children can benefit from the revenue.

Personal Wealth Management: One of the more favorable ways that parents care for children after they’ve gone is to create a trust that portions out money to support minor and adult children. Minors will likely require a trustee to help manage affairs until they are able. In some cases, it may be your parental decision to parcel out money even after they are adults. You know your children and a will can extend your parental love.

Seniors Have Substantial Need For A Will

Unlike young immortals, elders tend to consider creating a will more seriously. Still, many of our valued elders continue to kick that can down the road. This type of procrastination about creating a living will can prove detrimental for a number of reasons.

Medical Care: A living will directs loved ones and medical professionals about the type and level of care you desire. It provides doctors with written, authorized advice about how to proceed should you become incapacitated.

Puts The Right Person In Charge: A living will gives a person of your choosing the legal authorization to help manage your health care or financial affairs in the event you are unable. It puts you in charge of who is in charge.

Peace Of Mind: A will can resolve potential family disagreements before they occur. The document can offer detailed information on a wide range of health, business and wealth distribution subjects. Knowing that family, friends and loved ones are fully aware of your wishes allows them to celebrate your life to the fullest.

There is no wrong age to create a will because that day has already passed. Regardless of age or station in life, a will is an act of kindness to the people in your life. If you would like to create a will or update an existing document, contact the compassionate attorneys at France Law.

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As a business, it’s important that you check if your accounting records reflect what you’ve been doing the whole year. They should be balancing to avoid any issues with the ‘’tax man”. Legal activities should be involved as you do this.

What’s the Focus for December?

December is recorded with slow business operations. This is because people are looking forward to the New Year with new plans that will push them to the end of the following year.

It’s important that you do a thorough review of the years financial records. They are essential in decision making for the coming year. Many companies find this challenging due to improper record-keeping and some unusual activities.

In case the business is not in the position to successfully wrap up the accounting year, problems are likely to arise. The owners are not able to read the failures or successes of the business. The problem is rolled over to inaccurate assumptions on tax filling processes. More costs are incurred if the business has to do the same for annual Government auditing.

Hiring a Lawyer

In case a taxation crisis erupts when closing the year, a lawyer may help. Although the problem may not go to this extent as many companies take the issue of taxation very serious. However, if there is an imbalance in the auditing process, you are likely to arrive here.

Working with a tax lawyer will not only help you evade the problem but it’s also less expensive than when you take the matters into your hands.

A tax lawyer will help in the following ways:

• A medium sized company is not complete with only an accountant. The tax lawyer chips in to assist in strategies for tax planning and accounting practices. Some companies opt to employ the lawyers as employees of the company.
• Corporate tax law. In fact, many of the attorneys have specialized in this and can really come in handy in such a crisis. They are mainly essential in big companies as they oversee the legal relationships with business structures. Their workload is during the taxation season.
• Some companies operate overseas. The fact that they operate away does not mean that they can evade taxes. This is a vice that is not tolerated in any country. However, it’s important to be aware that you should still meet your tax obligations no matter the crisis. The law attorneys have the knowledge and they can advise you accordingly in this complex area of taxation.

What about the Back Taxes?

Back taxes are the taxes that you are unable to pay when the year comes to a close. In case you find yourself in this situation, be prepared to pay extra penalties and interests. Asking for an extension makes no change.

According to attorneys, it is reasonable to pay back the back taxes as soon as possible. You can never get away with the back taxes. In addition, the revenue collectors will ensure that they do whatever it takes to get it.

These include placing levies on banks, accounts and garnishing your wages. In some cases, they can come and possess the business or sell it to clear the tax. However, this is not likely to happen as there are laws that govern the tax collection. It is advisable that you find a way of clearing up the back taxes before it is too late.

Bottom Line

Closing the year is not only important for taxation purpose but also for the general performance of the business. To ensure that you have a smooth ending of the year, ensure that you have kept proper accounting records right from the beginning of the year.It is advisable that you hire an attorney that will work in conjunction with the financial department for a smooth running of the business.

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Before dubbing the IRS the “Scrooge” of gift giving, keep in mind that without some standard many transactions could be recorded as gifts. But the federal government also recognizes that things such as land, homes, stock investments and other assets can be gifts in the truest sense, even though they may have high dollar values. That’s why there are certain short- and long-term tax exemptions in place.

What Qualifies as a Gift?

The IRS takes a similar approach to define a “gift” as the common birthday present. It was purchased by one person and transferred to another with no strings attached. In other words, the recipient is under no obligation to pay the donor back or perform a duty.

Like the birthday gift, the recipient takes immediate possession and control. That’s important to understand in terms of more complex asset transfers. The federal government would generally not allow something to be considered tax-exempt if it involved a future transfer. In other words, you wouldn’t be able to gift a home and portion out the value at $15,000 annually to stay under the limit. But there are avenues you can utilize to gift wealth over time and stay under the annual cap.

Gifts and Trusts

There are a variety of trusts that can be established to provide annual benefits under the annual $15,000 limit. For example, a minor’s trust can have a single beneficiary and provide that person with an annual tax-exempt amount under the gift exclusion. Although this type of irrevocable trust generally gives the beneficiary full control over the assets at age 21, its value tends to be that sums exceeding the annual limit can be easily moved and doled out over time.

Gifts that May Enjoy Unlimited Tax Exemption

In the IRS’ eyes, any gift can be counted. That might seem unreasonable in terms of modest birthday and holiday gifts. Fortunately, the federal government is pragmatic about excluding certain ones. These types may enjoy an unlimited annual exemption.

• Tuition and other educational expenses paid on another person’s behalf.
• Medical expenses for another person.
• Gifts made to a spouse.

Gifts made to charitable organizations.

The federal government sets an annual limit before taxes on many others. The threshold for 2014-2017 was $14,000 and that number increased to $15,000 in 2018. Married couples may also give away items they co-own and the limit doubles. Jointly owned gifts for 2014-2017 would enjoy a limit of $28,000 and $30,000 for 2018.

In addition to these annual limits, the IRS provides a lifetime maximum. That figure was set at $5.45 million in 2016 and $5.49 million in 2017. The recent Tax Cuts and Jobs Act boosted the lifetime limit to $11.18 million in 2018 and $11.4 million in 2019.

It’s important to keep in mind that gifts you make above the annual limit may simply be deducted from your lifetime exemption. If you are uncertain about how gifts made over the course of your life have impacted your ability to make non-taxable asset transfers, speak with an experienced tax and estate planning attorney.

Gifts between Spouses have a Wrinkle

It generally holds true that gifts between spouses are exempt under the federal guidelines. The importance of married couples ability to move property to each other is widely known as unlimited because couples share the wealth.

But the federal government does place a high limit on gifts made to spouses who are not U.S. citizens. Gifts made to non-citizen spouses enjoy a special annual exemption of $152,000 for 2018. Anything above that would be subject to taxation or deduction from your lifetime limit.

If you are thinking about making a substantial gift, it’s important to work with an experienced tax and estate planning law firm. Contact the France Law Firm.

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Infrastructure

Infrastructure is a word we’ve heard in the news recently as our government considers spending money to refurbish roads, bridges and federal buildings. These construction projects promise to provide jobs for our citizens and circulate money throughout local economies. However, without the Federal Income Tax (FICA), corporate taxes and tariffs, there would be no way that our roads and bridges could remain operable. No private entity, even a group of them, would be able to fund large-scale federal infrastructure spending. Without taxes, you may not have a road to drive to work on.

Subsidies

Speaking of driving, part of the expense to build the car you’re driving may well have been subsidized by the federal government or revenue collected by your state government. From manufacturing to research and development to corporate tax breaks, these government forces combine to allow companies to build and sell relatively cheap cars and to distribute relatively cheap fuel. Subsidies help a range of local industries from agriculture to education.

Education

College will be one of the most expensive endeavors for most families that send kids to get a higher education. Student loans will likely eat up a substantive chunk of the salaries of those college graduates. Yet, without some help from federal, state and local government revenues, some families may not even be able to send their kids to high school if their families had to pay. Our tax dollars collectively pay for secondary school education for the vast majority of kids in the United States. And when they graduate and attend college, federal programs help fund college courses, offer grants for those who wouldn’t be able to afford college and provide loan subsidies to bridge the gap of some expenditures. There are even federal programs that help to mitigate the expense of student loans. Many from prior generations used a federally funded program known as the G.I. Bill to help former members of the armed services pay for college.

Military

Our military protects us at home and advances our interests abroad. We spend about $500 billion on our military (the approximate amount capped by legislation in 2011). That’s 15% of the federal budget. We can disagree on whether we should spend that much; however, few believe that we don’t need a military, and we all fund that through taxes.

Protective and Emergency Services

Our taxes also fund other organizations that aim to benefit the public good. Taxes primarily fund police forces and fire departments. Taxes subsidize emergency health care through deductions and, under the Affordable Care Act, insurance subsidies. Taxes fund the prisons we use to house criminals as they rehabilitate or pay their debt to society. At a local level, the things we take for granted in our everyday lives are funded or subsidized by tax revenue.

In the farewell address of our first President, George Washington, the “father of our country” told his audience “. . . that to have revenue there must be taxes,” and “that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant . . .” It’s never fun to pay taxes. Yet, for us to be able to fulfill the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we all have to chip in. If you have, for some reason, fallen behind in keeping your obligation to pay income taxes, a seasoned tax attorney can help. A lawyer can help you negotiate with the IRS to get caught up or take more direct action if your situation is direr.

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