Pre-Bankruptcy Legal and Tax Representation

Because our bankruptcy clients are filing tax motivated cases (a “tax-motivated” bankruptcy filing is one where the principal claim in the case is a substantial tax claim [income, sales, employment, and excise taxes] along with related penalties and interest, and the debtor seeks to eliminate it or otherwise reduce it to the greatest extent possible), a delay in the filing is often recommended in order to achieve the greatest benefit from the bankruptcy case discharge order provided by the bankruptcy court.

In the event we advise you to delay the bankruptcy filing to achieve a greater discharge of your tax claims, then we provide pre-bankruptcy legal representation so you can live your life free from the daily stress of worrying about the taxing agencies or your other creditors. Many times, we can convince a threatening creditor to “stand down” because we have been retained for a future bankruptcy and it would be a wasteful expenditure of resources to initiate or continue litigation or pursue collection of their claim.

In addition to providing civil claim defense representation aimed at preventing enforced collection pre-bankruptcy, we are experts at representing our clients before the Examination, Appeals and the Collection Divisions of the Internal Revenue Service and before the United States Tax Court. Similarly, we will also represent our clients before the state taxing agencies, administrative appeals sections, and the state courts, if necessary.

We are intimately familiar with the IRS and state taxing agency collection procedures and very effective at deploying defensive measures to protect our client’s rights. We will correspond and negotiate with the IRS and state taxing agencies, secure and review documents, complete the appropriate collection forms aimed at accomplishing different strategies, arrange for payment plans, and reduce penalties.

Finally, we offer appropriate pre-bankruptcy planning advise in anticipation of each bankruptcy filing which may include reducing non-exempt assets or converting non-exempt assets into exempt assets (assets protected by either state or federal exemption statute that excludes it from administration by a bankruptcy trustee and allows the debtor to retain the exempt asset), protection of the cash surrender value of a whole life insurance policy, converting an owned vehicle with equity into a new leased vehicle with no equity, relocating to a state with more favorable exemption laws and counseling clients with respect to the timing of discontinuing payments to creditors whose claims are likely to be discharged in bankruptcy.

Importantly, we counsel our clients to ensure that any pre-bankruptcy planning does not run afoul of federal and state fraudulent transfer laws and that prebankruptcy conduct does not result in a denial of discharge by the bankruptcy court acts which might constitute “badges of fraud.”

Our tax-bankruptcy attorneys will ensure that you strategically time your bankruptcy filing just right, protect your assets to the greatest extent possible and discharge more debt.