Peter Pappas, proprietor of the Tax Lawyer’s Blog, reminded me that I have forgotten to include him on my blogroll. Well, that’s an error I was happy to correct. Mr. Pappas’ blog is excellent, and we share annoyance over an issue.
One of his clients sent him an email last week. I’ll quote from it:
Well he came and went. He told me that I shouldn’t have hired an attorney and wanted to know how much I paid Mr. Pappas.
He then began interrogating me and asking me detailed questions about my intentions, my finances and how I came to own the business.
I repeatedly told him that I was represented by an attorney and he continued to say that I didn’t need one and that I should not have hired one….
Now, Mr. Pappas is an attorney and I’m an Enrolled Agent, but we both represent taxpayers. When I’m representing someone the IRS is supposed to talk to me, not them. I’ve seen some pretty ugly things, but the story Mr. Pappas tells is bad. Unfortunately, I don’t expect anything to change—I guess I’m just too cynical. Read the story, and realize what the IRS agent did was, bluntly, wrong.