Re: Transferring Funds Earned Overseas Into the United States
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Taxing Matters
There is is no need to necessarily have a tax lawyer who is also a CPA. I refer clients to CPAs for return prep when they need it (it’s less expensive than if I do them) and the CPAs then work with me on any difficult tax issues that may come up in preparing returns. If the concern is the need for the attorney client privilege to apply, it will apply to professionals like CPAs that the attorney retains to provide assistance in advising the client and resolving the legal issues that they have. This is significant when, for example, possible criminal issues may exist (either the client was involved in criminal activity that generated the taxable income or the client engaged in tax evasion or other tax crimes).
In this situation, depending on the exact facts, a well experienced CPA or EA may do just as well as an attorney on the return filing and FBAR/Form 8938 issues. It may not be necessary to have an attorney involved at all for that. If the father has been advised he’s under criminal investigation by the IRS or there is something else that indicates criminal activity, then absolutely a tax attorney should be the professional contacted. If later on it appears that there will be a controversy with the IRS that might go to litigation, then a tax attorney should be consulted there, too.
But so far, I’m not seeing anything that suggests that a tax attorney is a must in this situation. And I say that as a tax attorney myself, so it’s not like I’m trying to push business to my profession. :D A tax attorney may be a good idea if the issues turn out to be legally complex, but again so far there is no indication of that in the facts we have so far.
There is a specific CPA firm that our firm refers clients to who have messes like these, and we do so because they have someone on board who specializes in this area. She is not a tax attorney (although the firm has a couple), but she is specialized. I know that some tax attorneys in the area also refer clients to her, because I found her through a tax attorney I know. She is a CPA, but she is not a specialist in this area because she is a CPA. She is a specialist because she opted to focus her continuing ed in this area.
We opt not to handle clients who have foreign asset reporting requirements because we would not have enough of that type of client to justify the cost of someone specializing.