Tax Attorney in Fort Lauderdale, 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 Fort Lauderdale, 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 Fort Lauderdale), and Documentary Stamp Tax under Chapter 201 on deeds and mortgages. Fort Lauderdale individuals deal with federal IRS issues; Fort Lauderdale businesses deal with both federal IRS and Florida DOR exposure.

Miami. The U.S. Tax Court holds no permanent Fort Lauderdale 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, a routine drive south on I-95. 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.

Usually, yes — if the foreign LLC holds a bank or financial account at a foreign institution and you are a U.S. owner or signatory. FBAR under 31 USC §5314 reaches the LLC's foreign account if you own more than 50% of the LLC or have signature authority. Foreign-flagged-yacht LLCs in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Marshall Islands, or Isle of Man typically open offshore corporate accounts for dockage, fuel, crew payroll, and provisioning. If the aggregate balance crosses $10,000 at any point during the calendar year, both the LLC and the U.S. owner file FBARs. Form 8938 under IRC §6038D may also apply, and Form 5471 controlled-foreign-corporation reporting attaches where the LLC elects corporate treatment. We have filed Streamlined Domestic Offshore submissions for Fort Lauderdale yacht-LLC owners who missed years of FBARs without willful intent.

Independent yacht brokers receive 1099-NEC commission income with no employer withholding. IRC §6654 requires individuals to pay at least 90% of current-year tax or 100% of prior-year tax (110% if prior-year AGI exceeded $150,000) through quarterly estimates by April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15. Brokers booking lumpy six-figure closings during Fort Lauderdale Boat Show season (late October) frequently fall short on the September 15 estimate, get hit with the §6654 underpayment penalty in April, and lose another bite to the IRS underpayment-of-estimated-tax penalty. Annualized-income installments under §6654(d)(2) can soften the impact when income is genuinely seasonal — we run that calculation as part of the engagement.

IRC §263A requires producers and certain resellers to capitalize indirect costs into inventory and self-constructed property — including the megayacht refit work that runs through the New River and Dania Cut-Off Canal yards. An IRS audit typically targets the absorption ratio, the treatment of warehousing and handling costs, the allocation of mixed-service costs to production, and the small-business exception under §263A(i) (the $30M gross-receipts threshold for tax years after 2017, indexed). We pull the prior three years of returns, run the inventory absorption schedule, and respond on Form 5701 IDRs before any RAR is issued. Method-change opportunities under §481(a) often soften the audit-period adjustment.

Three big ones. First, statutory residency: New York treats anyone who maintains a permanent place of abode and spends more than 183 days in the state as a resident regardless of domicile — the year you move, that audit can come back at you for the part-year period and beyond. New Jersey, Illinois, and Massachusetts apply similar but distinct rules. Second, source-of-income: wages, RSU vests, and stock-option exercises tied to work performed in the prior state may remain taxable there even after you become a Florida resident. Third, federal withholding alignment: your W-4 and quarterly estimates likely need to be retuned after the move — especially if your equity-comp grant uses prior-state withholding tables. We have done IRS resolution work for Broward relocators with five- and six-figure prior-state assessments still pending while the federal side spirals.

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.

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 Fort Lauderdale yacht crew running boats to the Bahamas, Port Everglades cruise officers, and Broward residents traveling to Port-au-Prince, Kingston, Nassau, or Bogota, decertification is often the most urgent step in the engagement.

Same-sex married couples in Wilton Manors and broader Fort Lauderdale file federal returns jointly under IRC §6013(a) post-Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), and qualify for the unlimited marital deduction under IRC §2056 and unified-credit portability under IRC §2010(c)(5). The federal estate-tax exemption is currently $13.61 million per individual (2024, indexed), scheduled to revert to roughly half that on January 1, 2026, absent congressional action. High-net-worth Wilton Manors and Coral Ridge couples use spousal lifetime-access trusts (SLATs), grantor-retained annuity trusts (GRATs), and charitable lead annuity trusts (CLATs) to use the exemption before any reversion. Each structure has its own federal reporting consequences. Florida has no state estate or inheritance tax, which removes one layer of complexity that New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Massachusetts filers cannot escape.

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 Ian (FEMA-4673-DR-FL in 2022), Hurricane Idalia (FEMA-4734-DR-FL in 2023), 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 waterfront real estate and dockage. Some Broward filers can still amend prior-year returns under IRC §165(i) to claim the loss in the disaster year.

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 — yacht-industry UNICAP and 1099 cases tend to carry the upper end of the audit-fee range. A U.S. Tax Court petition with case workup and trial preparation generally starts at $6,000 and rises with complexity. 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 Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale 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.