Helping taxpayers in trouble is a mainstay of our practice. Our tax attorneys represent taxpayers through every facet of civil and criminal tax litigation with the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Justice, state departments of revenue and local taxing authorities. The legal team at Anderson & Jahde comprises strong, veteran tax advocates with extensive experience before the United States Tax Court, U.S. District Court, Federal Courts of Appeals, state courts and state and federal agencies.
Our attorneys include former IRS Trial Attorneys, Special Assistant United States Attorneys, tax law professors, and leading tax litigators who have represented taxpayers of every shape and size from every walk of life and business, even including municipal governments and the Internal Revenue Service, itself. No client is too large or too small, be they an individual or large corporation. Because tax litigation involves unique, very specialized procedures and issues, many attorneys and accountants contact us to assist and advise their clients through the labyrinth of tax procedures. We are pros at what we do.
Criminal Tax Defense Attorneys
The IRS and the U.S. Department of Justice report the highest success rate for criminal tax prosecutions of any prosecutorial body in the land – annually above 92%. These successes are based on the government’s selection process, its expertise and, when they can obtain one, the initial interview with the taxpayer. If you are contacted by an IRS Criminal Investigator, you have an immediate need for a criminal tax attorney like the experienced tax professionals at Anderson & Jahde. Some members of our legal team are even former IRS lawyers. Criminal tax cases can have long lives and be very expensive to defend. Once they are completed, they are followed by a civil tax case against the same taxpayer. The IRS is very good at prosecuting criminal tax cases. Often, during the IRS’ criminal investigation stage of the case can the best time to resolve a criminal tax case, before it gets to indictment. The questions the investigators will ask are crafted to improve the government’s case. Criminal tax cases are very serious, and can have devastating consequences. Targets of criminal tax investigations need the protection of an experienced criminal tax lawyers of Anderson & Jahde.
We protect the rights of taxpayers through all phases of criminal investigation and trials, including:
- Administrative investigation
- Grand jury investigations
- Plea negotiations
- Criminal tax trials
- Sentencing
- Appeals
IRS Special Agents conduct criminal tax investigations. If you are contacted by IRS Special Agents, you are well advised not to talk with them without first talking with a criminal tax lawyer experienced in Federal tax prosecutions. You have protected constitutional rights. IRS agents are well trained to be disarming, non-threatening, and at developing critically important evidence from taxpayer admissions during the initial interview and other interviews throughout their investigation. Special Agents know their first contact with the target may be a one-time opportunity. They are very good at getting you to talk. They typically work in pairs, with at least two Special Agents present—one asking questions, while the other takes copious notes of what the taxpayer says. These admissions will be used against you in the criminal investigation and prosecution.
Don’t be fooled—Special Agents are not there to help or befriend you. Questioning during the initial interview is designed obtain admissions of facts you may not even think are significant or incriminating. The IRS might not otherwise be able to obtain these admissions and information. Special Agents are not there to collect taxes. Their job is to develop successful criminal tax prosecutions that end with a conviction and jail time.
IRS Special Agents investigate many types of Federal crimes, some of the more familiar of which include bankruptcy fraud, money laundering, concealment of foreign assets, tax evasion and tax related crimes.
The target of a criminal tax investigation needs the guidance and counsel of an experienced criminal tax lawyer. This is a specialized, highly technical area of practice not for the inexperienced.
Unfortunately, as laypersons, taxpayers often make fatal and irreversible mistakes in deciding on their own how to handle the initial contact from a Special Agent. Fearing that if they appear unwilling to talk, they might give the IRS the impression they have something to hide. Hence, taxpayers decide, on their own, to talk with the Special Agents. Do not make this mistake! Taxpayers are frequently surprised by the IRS’s techniques. This is not the time to win your case! But it can be a time to land yourself in jail.
From the first minute you have an immediate need for, and right to, a criminal tax attorney. And while companies claim to specialize in helping you – most are not attorneys. Anderson & Jahde comprises tax attorneys with decades of experience in representing taxpayers in these investigations. With your future and livelihood, you’ll want an attorney with the obligation of providing the best defense. You’ll want an ally protected under attorney-client privilege. You have no such protection with non-lawyers. Don’t talk with your CPA if IRS Special Agents have shown up. Some of the finest criminal defense lawyers recognize that criminal tax cases require a special expertise, for which they contact Anderson & Jahde, P.C. to assist them in representing their clients.
If you think you may be the subject of a criminal tax issue (be it Federal, State or Municipal), contact us immediately to start your defense.