William C. Bomar of Bomar Law Firm LLC
L et’s face it, no one opens their mailbox hoping to see a love letter from the IRS, how they’d love to audit your business, love to collect extra taxes on your estate or they’d love to watch you prove that you don’t owe them as much as they say you do, but it happens. Every day, businesses are blindsided by requests for audits. Individuals fall behind on filing their 1040s, and popular tax software can generate errors that result in serious repercussions.
Resolving issues with the IRS isn’t for the faint-hearted either. No one knows this more than William C. Bomar, of Bomar Law Firm LLC. As a former IRS attorney, now working for the people, he has encountered many individuals who’ve gone up against the Goliath of revenue services with inefficient strategies, only coming to him when they’re on the verge of raising the white flag.
Bomar, who goes by Calvin, is an Alabama native, husband, and father. He began his career in 2001 working in the Chief Counsel’s Office for the IRS. The experience he acquired while litigating on behalf of the IRS proved to be his most valuable asset when he broke away to start Bomar Law Firm LLC.
“It’s much easier to beat them [the IRS] when you know how they think,” he says.
Common Mistakes that Benefit the IRS
During Vinings Lifestyle’s interview with Calvin, he emphasized three common mistakes people make when receiving an IRS notice.
1. Handling the Case Alone
“People who don’t have a tax attorney are low hanging fruit to the IRS,” Bomar says.
The IRS knows that the general population doesn’t have a degree in law. Furthermore, they know that the amount of time anyone is willing to put into tax law self-education won’t be enough to win against the agency in court, but there’s more. Even tax attorneys, with all of their knowledge and expertise, steer clear of handling their own tax cases. According to Calvin, if a self-represented taxpayer makes a statement that turns out to be wrong down the road, the IRS can allege that the taxpayer attempted to commit fraud. The agency can then seek felony charges on top of all other matters. However, if an attorney speaks on behalf of the taxpayer, and makes a statement that turns out to be incorrect later on, it is not considered fraudulent. The attorney is simply wrong, and corrections are made.
2. Getting Help from Predatory Services
Worse than no help is getting the wrong kind of help. Predatory “tax businesses” prey on scared individuals, promising fast relief and charging more than attorneys would for their services. They do bare minimum work, and the results are no better than zero representation.
3. Waiting until the Last Minute to Get Help
When a notice to comply goes off the rails, the tax attorney still has a high chance of saving a client by working through the intricacies of the situation, but Calvin points to the many formal relationships that are negatively impacted by waiting until matters get out of hand. Often, the relationship between the taxpayer and their employer is negatively impacted when wages are garnished, or the relationship with their bank sours after a bank account levy.
Calvin suspects most people assume they cannot afford a tax attorney and choose to hold out for as long as they can before hiring one.
“For a decade, we have consistently maintained the lowest fees in Georgia, and we’ve done that by design,” he says.
His firm boasts free initial consultations and flat fees. No sticker shock. No stopwatches to time calls made to the office. His primary goal has always been to protect the client, from beginning to end.
16 Years, 40,000 hours of experience and more than 2,000 victories
“For me, it’s just steps one, two, three, four, five. I frequently know at the beginning of the case that I’m going to win it,” says Bomar, who was the Birmingham City Chess Champion for 2005, 2006 and the Alabama Chess Champion 2006.
He has taken the time to build a diverse team of attorneys who specialize in all key areas of IRS litigation, and his team often collaborates in planning winning strategies for every case they take on.
“Once we start someone moving in the right direction, it’s a very smooth process,” he says.
Beyond the world of taxes, paperwork and courtrooms, Calvin practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu, perfects his chess game and enjoys Disney cruises with his family.