Circular 230
May 29, 2010 by RickBryan
For your reading pleasure is the infamous IRS Circular 230, which governs the conduct of practitioners in IRS matters. It applies to lawyers, CPAs, Enrolled Agents, Actuaries, Retirement Plan Agents and Appraisers. As a general matter, the rules of Circular 230 are intended to ‘raise the bar’ as to professional responsibility (conduct and ethics) among professionals representing clients in IRS matters. Circular230. This all sounds well and good, but part of the impact of Circular 230 is (to some extent) deprive people of the level of ‘zealous representation’ by their attorneys which is protected by the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. While lying and making false or unsupported legal arguments is and was never a part of a person’s Constitutional rights vis-a-vis being represented by counsel, Circular 230 has the impact of, for example, playing poker with the IRS and being forced to turn all of your cards over for your opponent to see. Obviously if you’re playing poker and your cards are all face up while your opponent gets to hold their cards close to the vest, your odds of winning are decreased fairly significantly. Perhaps an overstatement; nevertheless Circular 230 is part of a ten year offensive by the IRS to stack the deck in their favor on matters of reasonable disagreements as to the interpretation of federal income tax laws. Even more significantly than the provisions of Circular 230 are the recent (10+ years) offensive by the Treasury Department to trim the boundaries of the attorney-client privilege. People have the general understanding that when they are speaking with an attorney, and revealing and disclosing their most personal and confidential matters, that those secrets and confidences will be kept confidential. Not only is that correct as a matter of New York state law, but more fundamentally it stems from the Bill of Rights. However the IRS takes the position, in various forms and formats, that when it comes to federal tax law, the attorney-client privilege is not as broad as in other areas of the law. This is significant not only as to the implications of the federal government whittling away constitutional protections by administrative regulation, which of course won’t stop with the Internal Revenue laws, but more significant in this area because the taxpayer simply cannot be represented adequately by lawyers alone. Lawyers need accountants and actuaries to ‘run the numbers’ and prepare various spreadsheets and perform mathematical computations. The lawyer then uses this information to develop a theory of the case and represent the client. If those accountants’ workpapers are placed face up on the table for the IRS to see, the direct result is a situation where the client is not receiving the same level of Constitutionally protected zealous representation in the area of federal tax law, as the client might receive in other areas of the law. The long range implications of the government’s position in this area should be troubling to citizens who believe that ours is a government ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people.’ When the government can make the rules of conduct as between attorney-client, AND can, at the end of the day, enforce those rules with a Glock 10mm Auto, we’re in real trouble.
June 16, 2010 Financial Planning Allied Professionals Networking Event
May 5, 2010 by RickBryan
FPAFlyerJune
Mark your calendars for 6 PM until 8 PM on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 for our next Financial Planning Association of New York Allied Professionals Networking event. The event is intended to bring together like-minded professionals from the fields of law and accounting and banking and real estate and a variety of other disciplines. Any professional whose practice is tangentially related to financial planning is welcome to attend, and *should* attend to network with dozens of members of the New York financial planning community, and those of other professions who are coming to the networking event. The Public House, which is at 140 East 41st Street (on the South side of 41st Street, just off the corner of Lexington Avenue), is just a few blocks from Grand Central, and a really great venue for our event. We’ll be in the upstairs section partying hard, and networking like crazy! This is definitely as much of a social gathering as a business event, but make no mistake: financial professionals work hard and are serious about their business, and serving their clients to the best of their abilities. Financial planners frequently need to call upon related professionals to work on a client matter, and this event provides the attorney and CPA and event promoter and professionals from all occupations with the opportunity to introduce yourself, in a casual and informal atmosphere, to financial planners who might one day need your services. The event is offered at no cost, and light food will be served all evening. If you’d like a glass of wine or beer or other, you can pay $20 for one hour of open bar (6 PM to 7 PM), or $30 for two hours 6 PM to 8 PM. If you’re just having a single glass of wine or beer, just buy it at the downstairs bar.
RSVP’s to Marie.Eckert@Earthlink.net are appreciated, but not required. CC me on your rsvp, please: RBryan@RickBryan.com
See you there!