Location

• Just as location, location, location is everything in real estate, it has a great deal to do with how much your tax attorney will charge you. Across all practice areas, attorneys in large, important urban areas tend to charge more than their counterparts in smaller towns. While this owes much to the generally higher cost of living in bigger cities, it also flows from clientele; tax attorneys and firms in bigger cities generally have greater access to wealthy clients with complex tax problems and the ability to pay to get them resolved.
  
  

The Lawyer and Firm

• In addition to location, the reputation and experience level of your tax attorney, along with his firm, will influence how much she charges you. Expect to pay more for a seasoned professional in a large firm than a young associate in a boutique firm in the same geographic area. Experience and reputation cost money, and large firms tend to have stables of well-moneyed corporate clients willing and able to pay the fees they're charging. Also expect to pay more if your tax lawyer has an LLM in taxation; an LLM is an advanced degree that some lawyers pursue after law school.
  
  

Complexity of the Problem

• Even after controlling for geographic, experience and law firm variables, your tax attorney's total fees will vary along with the complexity of your problem and the needs of your case. If you have several tax years over which you're battling the IRS, you can expect to pay your attorney significantly more than you would for a consultation or an analysis of your business practices. Additionally, expect to pay more if you're engaging your attorney for your business and not just your personal tax issues.
  
  

The Cost of Not Having a Tax Lawyer

• While a tax attorney's fees can run into the tens of thousands of dollars or more for one client, you should consider the expected fee in light of what you can expect to save by virtue of the attorney's assistance or advice. A few hundred dollars' in upfront advice and guidance could translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax savings over a period of years. Retaining an attorney or firm that remains on the cutting edge of recent developments in tax law as they occur could help ensure that your business is structured and operated in the most tax-efficient manner possible.