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Silly Tax Disclaimers in All Attorney E-mails Explained

By Eric Lipman

Anyone who's ever sent or received an e-mail from a decent-sized law firm has probably seen (note, I did not say "read") that text blurb that magically appears at the bottom, mentioning something about the Internal Revenue Service and "Circular 230." When I was working at a firm, I knew that I sure wasn't giving any tax advice, but the little note telling recipients of my e-mail, "not to use the contents thereof to avoid paying taxes," showed up anyway. The other members of my fantasy baseball league surely appreciated the warning. This morning, Tax Girl gives a little background on these disclaimers, and informs us that the IRS is currently in the process of amending the infamous Circular 230 to, among other things, allow all admitted attorneys to become registered tax preparers without taking the exam that will be required of other "unenrolled" individuals wishing to charge people to do their taxes. Since I, like most lawyers/people, "d[o]n?t understand the rule[s] and [am] scared of the IRS," that's all I'll say on the topic. But if this is the sort of thing that floats your boat (which you may be able to declare your second home, thereby entitling you...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on August 23, 2010 (boomark / email).