If you have already made a decision to hire a tax attorney, you need to carry out a careful vetting process before selecting the right person to represent you and your interests. Knowing what questions to ask your tax lawyer during the initial consultation can weed out people who might not be the appropriate fit for your individual needs.

Despite the fact that most tax attorneys have extensive experience in the field, this in and of itself is not enough to warrant hiring a lawyer you are meeting for the first time. You need to do your own due diligence and ensure that he or she is committed to representing your best interests. The following questions can be asked when you are on the hunt for reputable tax attorney.

• Who will be working on my case?
• Is it an executive assistant, a paralegal, another attorney or a CPA?
• How much of your law firm’s practice is devoted to solving tax problems?
• How do you bill for your services? On a flat fee or hourly basis and do you require an initial retainer upfront?
• How will I be kept informed about the status of my case? Will phone calls and emails be used to keep me up to date so that I can make decisions about how to proceed?
• Why do you work in this particular area of the law?

These questions might not seem as though they would help to differentiate attorneys from one another, but the way that the person responds can tell you a lot about their practice and their overall approach to representing people in need of tax support. Talk to an attorney you can count on and ask these questions to verify that this person is the right fit.

These questions will help you narrow down the search for the right tax lawyer.