Tax Attorney in Coral Springs, FL

No. Federal IRS practice is governed by 31 CFR Part 10 (Treasury Circular 230). Any attorney admitted to practice in any U.S. jurisdiction may represent any taxpayer before the IRS in any state, including Coral Springs, through a Form 2848 Power of Attorney. The U.S. Tax Court admits attorneys on a national basis and holds Florida trial sessions in Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Tallahassee. Florida-Bar admission is required for Florida state-court litigation, which is uncommon in tax-resolution work because most federal tax cases never reach Florida state court — and where it is required, we refer to local Florida counsel.

No personal income tax. Florida is one of nine states with no state-level personal income tax, and the Florida Constitution prohibits a state income tax on natural persons. Florida does impose a 5.5% corporate income tax under Chapter 220 on most C corporations doing business in the state, a 6% state sales-and-use tax under Chapter 212 (plus the 1% Broward County discretionary surtax, for a 7% effective rate in Coral Springs), and Documentary Stamp Tax under Chapter 201 on deeds and mortgages. Coral Springs individuals deal with federal IRS issues; Coral Springs businesses deal with both federal IRS and Florida DOR exposure.

Statutory residency. Under N.Y. Tax Law §605(b)(1)(B), New York treats any individual who maintains a permanent place of abode in New York and spends more than 183 days in the state during the tax year as a New York resident regardless of domicile. The Department of Taxation and Finance routinely audits relocators going back three to six years. Triggers include kept-on apartments, family members still in-state, business interests in New York, drivers licenses, voter registration, professional licenses, and credit-card geolocation data. New Jersey applies a similar test under N.J.S.A. §54A:1-2, Illinois under 35 ILCS 5/1501, and Massachusetts under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 62 §1(f). We coordinate with prior-state counsel on the state-side defense while handling the federal-side cleanup: W-4 realignment, RSU sourcing, and IRS interest and penalty mitigation tied to the residency mismatch.

If aggregate foreign account balances exceed $10,000 at any point during the calendar year, yes. FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) is required under 31 USC §5314 for U.S. citizens, green-card holders, and U.S. residents with financial interest in or signature authority over foreign accounts when the aggregate balance crosses $10,000 in a single day. The $10,000 is aggregate across all foreign accounts, not per-account. Form 8938 under IRC §6038D adds a parallel reporting regime at higher thresholds (generally $50,000 single / $100,000 joint for taxpayers living in the U.S., higher for taxpayers abroad). For Coral Springs households with Jamaican, Trinidadian, Bahamian, Haitian, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Brazilian, Venezuelan, or Colombian family accounts that were never disclosed, the Streamlined Domestic Offshore procedures can clean up past omissions without civil FBAR penalties where the non-disclosure was non-willful. We have filed dozens of these for Broward households.

Miami. The U.S. Tax Court holds no permanent Coral Springs session, so Broward petitioners typically designate Miami as the place of trial under Tax Court Rule 140. Miami sessions are held at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse, 400 N. Miami Avenue, Miami, FL 33128 — roughly 35 miles south of Coral Springs via I-95 or the Florida Turnpike. The Court also holds sessions in Tampa, Jacksonville, and Tallahassee for petitioners closer to those metros. Session dates appear on the Court's published calendar at ustaxcourt.gov.

A 1099 physician earning above the Social Security wage base ($168,600 for 2024, indexed) materially benefits from an S-corp election — self-employment tax under IRC §1401 (15.3% combined) applies to all Schedule C net earnings, while only the reasonable W-2 salary portion of an S-corp distribution is subject to FICA. The Medicare portion still applies on the wage piece, but the Social Security portion caps. Reasonable-compensation analysis under Rev. Rul. 59-221 and the IRS audit guidelines must support the W-2 wage chosen — physicians are a known IRS audit profile. Solo-401(k) and SEP-IRA elections also work differently between the two structures. We model the actual numbers as part of the consultation for hospitalists at Broward Health Coral Springs Medical Center, anesthesiologists at Northwest Medical Center in Margate, surgeons at Westside Regional in Plantation, and physicians across the wider Broward Health system.

It depends on what the settlement compensates for. Under IRC §104(a)(2), damages received on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness are excluded from gross income. Damages for emotional distress are excluded only to the extent they are attributable to physical injury or sickness, or to the extent of medical expenses. Punitive damages are generally taxable, as are interest components and attorneys' fee allocations under the gross-income rule. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Memorial Fund and various related settlements (Broward County School Board, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission settlements, civil-litigation recoveries) involved a mix of these categories. The federal tax treatment depends on the specific settlement-document language allocating recovery among categories — not on a single global rule. We handle these cases with full discretion, often working from the settlement agreement and counsel's allocation letter to determine which portions are excludable and which require Form 1099-MISC reporting on the recipient's federal return.

Yes. IRC §7345 authorizes the IRS to certify "seriously delinquent" tax debt — currently around $62,000 for 2026, indexed for inflation — to the U.S. State Department, which may then deny passport renewal or revoke an active passport. The certification reverses when the debt is paid, an Installment Agreement is in place, an accepted Offer in Compromise is in force, an active CDP hearing is pending, or Innocent Spouse Relief is in process. For Coral Springs households traveling to Kingston, Port-au-Prince, Nassau, Port of Spain, San Juan, Havana, Sao Paulo, Caracas, or Bogota for family, business, or inheritance reasons, decertification is often the most urgent step in the engagement.

Probably yes, for the federal trust-fund portion. IRC §6672 assesses a Trust Fund Recovery Penalty against any "responsible person" who "willfully" failed to pay over withheld taxes — the FICA and federal income-tax withholding portion of Form 941, not the employer's matching share. The IRS conducts a Form 4180 interview to identify responsible persons. Anyone with check-signing authority, payroll-decision authority, or knowledge of the unpaid taxes can be assessed personally. On the state side, Florida sales-tax responsible-person liability under Fla. Stat. §213.29 operates under similar principles for entities that collected sales tax in trust and failed to remit — with a penalty equal to 200% of the unpaid tax.

Yes. Personal-use casualty losses are deductible under IRC §165(h) only when attributable to a federally declared disaster. Hurricane Wilma (FEMA-1609-DR-FL in 2005), Hurricane Ian (FEMA-4673-DR-FL in 2022), Hurricane Helene (FEMA-4828-DR-FL in 2024), and Hurricane Milton (FEMA-4834-DR-FL in 2024) all qualify for affected Florida counties — Broward was included in several of these declarations. The deduction is the lesser of basis or fair-market-value decline, reduced by insurance and other recoveries, then by the $100 per casualty floor and the 10% of AGI floor. IRC §1033 involuntary-conversion treatment defers gain on replacement of damaged Coral Springs real estate. Some Broward filers can still amend prior-year returns under IRC §165(i) to claim the loss in the disaster year.

Maybe. IRC §121 excludes up to $250,000 of gain ($500,000 joint) from the sale of a principal residence if the taxpayer owned and used the property as a principal residence for at least two of the five years before the sale. The Coral Springs and broader northwest Broward run-up from 2020 through 2024 produced gains that frequently exceed the joint exclusion on long-held homes in Westchase, Cypress Run, Eagle Trace, Coral Creek, the Coral Ridge Country Club Estates corridor, and Heron Bay. Above the exclusion, the gain is taxed at long-term capital-gains rates (0%, 15%, or 20% depending on income) plus 3.8% net investment income tax under IRC §1411 for high-income filers. Basis-improvement documentation (additions, renovations, hurricane-shutter installations, roof replacement, pool installation, kitchen remodels) reduces the gain directly. We work through the basis reconstruction as part of the consultation.

Federal tax-resolution fees vary by matter complexity. A straightforward Installment Agreement typically falls between $1,500 and $3,500. A full Offer in Compromise with Form 433 financial analysis runs $4,000 to $7,500. A Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures submission depends on the number of accounts and years involved, generally $5,000 to $12,000. Audit defense depends on the audit type and number of issues. A U.S. Tax Court petition with case workup and trial preparation generally starts at $6,000 and rises with complexity. NY/NJ/IL departing-resident audits coordinated with prior-state counsel are scoped separately. We provide a written fee quote after the free consultation. Cal Bar Rule 7.1 prohibits price comparisons unless backed by verifiable substantiation, so we do not market on price — we market on the work product and the case files behind it.

Yes. Communications between you and a licensed attorney for the purpose of seeking legal advice are protected by federal common-law attorney-client privilege, subject to the usual exceptions (crime-fraud, waiver, etc.). The narrower federally-authorized tax practitioner privilege under IRC §7525 applies to non-attorney CPAs and EAs but does not extend to criminal-tax matters. An attorney handling your Coral Springs tax case retains the broader privilege that survives criminal investigation — a meaningful difference if an FBAR audit or offshore-account exam develops willfulness indicators.

For administrative protests within the Florida DOR and informal conferences, taxpayers may represent themselves or be represented by an attorney, a CPA, or another authorized representative. For formal proceedings at the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings under Fla. Stat. Chapter 120, the same flexibility generally applies and VTL can appear under Form DR-835 (Florida Power of Attorney). For judicial review proceeding in Florida circuit court, an attorney admitted in Florida is required — that is the point at which we refer to local Florida counsel and remain engaged on the federal posture. Most DOR disputes resolve at the administrative-protest or DOAH stage without ever reaching circuit court.

Yes, generally. IRC §6331(k)(1) suspends levy action while a processable Offer is pending and for 30 days after a rejection, and during any timely-filed Appeals review of a rejection. The IRS will not levy your Coral Springs bank account or wages while the Offer is being evaluated. However, the IRS may still file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien during the OIC pendency to protect its position in your Broward real estate or other assets. The CSED is also tolled during the pendency. A poorly-prepared OIC that gets returned (not rejected) does not provide the same protection — processability is the key threshold.