Having a lawyer is, of course, very convenient. Let's face it, if anyone without a law background tries to negotiate with the IRS it's very stressful, confusing and also time consuming. If you want to qualify for tax settlement programs then you need to give the IRS all of your financial details. You need to be able to prove to them that you are unable to pay for the essential daily living costs as well as paying the tax bill. It's not going to be easy to compile all of the needed financial data which will include correct expenses. As you can imagine this can be a nightmare for someone who isn't very comfortable with accountancy and the tax laws. It could take your weeks of hard work.
If, however, you plan on being placed on the Streamlined Installment Agreement, you don't need to provide financial disclosure. The debt therefore needs to be less than $25,000 and you should repay the total amount of tax you owe in no more than 5 years. So if you're planning on going ahead with this then negotiating by yourself is very much doable. A tax lawyer is advisable for Standard Installment Agreement as well as Offer in Compromise.
When dealing with a lawyer then the will handle all the communications with the IRS whereas if you are doing this by yourself then you will need to make all the phonecalls and write all the letters to the IRS yourself. It's a lot of work.
For folks who aren't used to dealing with this sort of thing on a daily basis, it's very easy to make mistakes. These mistakes could be both big and small but it's important that you avoid mistakes whenever possible. A lawyer shouldn't make these mistakes because they understand the system and are used to it.
Keywords: tax, debt, irs, lawyer, negotiate