The Alexander Law Firm, LLC

Focus and practice areas

Tax law is the whole of what this firm does. Its work is built on disputes with the IRS and state tax authorities, and its clients are individuals and businesses who owe, or are said to owe, taxes. Those matters split between defending against collection and fixing what has already been filed.

The range the firm names is concrete. It handles unfiled and amended returns, audits, liens, levies, wage garnishments, penalty abatements, installment agreements, offers in compromise and appeals. The firm also helps small business owners make S Corporation elections. Its attorneys are licensed to practice before the United States Tax Court, so the firm can represent a client at the litigation stage without sending the case to outside counsel.

In my opinion that mix tells a reader something useful. It covers the collection side of a tax problem, where the government moves to secure or take money, and the filing side, where a return needs correcting or a business needs to set its tax status.

How IRS and state disputes tend to move

Readers who have not dealt with the IRS may not know how the matters on the firm's list actually proceed. The general shape of each one puts the firm's work in context.

Collection matters

A lien records the government's legal claim against a taxpayer's property, and the IRS files it through a Notice of Federal Tax Lien. A levy is the step past that, the actual seizure of wages, bank funds or other assets. Wage garnishment is one common form of levy, where an employer sends part of each paycheck to the IRS. Work on these matters usually turns on releasing the collection action and setting up a route to clear the balance so the pressure comes off.

Ways to resolve a balance

An installment agreement sets a monthly payment schedule for a debt that cannot be cleared at once, and the IRS offers streamlined versions for smaller balances. An offer in compromise asks the IRS to accept less than the full amount, and the agency measures the offer against what it believes the taxpayer can pay through income and assets. That review leans on detailed financial disclosure, so the paperwork behind an offer carries as much weight as the number proposed. Penalty abatement asks the IRS to drop or cut penalties added to a balance, often on the grounds of reasonable cause. The firm's blog walks through the offer in compromise process in its own words.

Audits, appeals and the Tax Court

An audit is the IRS examination of a filed return, and it can arrive as a letter asking for documents or as a fuller look at the year's figures. It ends in one of three ways: no change, a refund or an added assessment. An appeal moves a disputed result to the IRS Office of Appeals, a separate arm that reviews the case before any court hears it. A case that reaches the United States Tax Court goes before a federal court set up for tax matters, and a taxpayer can bring a case there and hold off on paying the disputed amount until the court rules. Because the firm's attorneys hold Tax Court admission, they can carry a client through to that stage.

Who leads the firm

Alexander Curcuru is the managing partner. He handles the same tax disputes the firm names, among them audits, delinquent and amended returns, installment agreements, offers in compromise and appeals. A firm blog post dated December 5, 2017 records that he was named a Super Lawyers Rising Star for the third year in a row. As a reviewer I read a repeated Rising Star listing as a sign that a rating service and peers took notice of his early work.

How the firm takes on a case

The firm states that every case it accepts is handled by an attorney. In a field where a lot of tax resolution gets sold by high volume companies that route the work through non-lawyer case managers, an attorney-handled promise is a concrete statement about who does the work. Representation before the IRS can also come from enrolled agents and CPAs, so a firm that stakes its service on lawyer handling is drawing a line about the kind of help a client receives.

It works on a flat fee basis where the type of matter allows for one, and it gives the fee quote up front at the consultation. For tax collection work, where the scope often becomes clear once the notices and returns are laid out, a set fee gives a client a fixed number to weigh against the balance in dispute.

Help for small businesses

The firm's services reach past dispute work into how a small business is taxed. It assists owners with the S Corporation election, the step that lets a qualifying company pass its income through to its shareholders, who then report it on their own returns. Owners file that election with the IRS on a set form and within set deadlines, and a late or missed filing is a common reason a business calls a tax attorney. Getting the election right shapes how an owner reports income for years afterward, so the filing carries weight well beyond the day it is signed.

Reach and public writing

The firm's home page names two service areas: St. Louis, Missouri, where its office is based, and Boston, Massachusetts. Federal tax matters run under the same Internal Revenue Code in both states, which is one reason a firm centered on IRS work can serve clients in more than one place. The state portion of a dispute would follow Missouri or Massachusetts rules depending on where the tax is owed.

Beyond casework, the firm keeps a blog on tax topics and links to a Facebook page and a YouTube channel from its site. One post runs through the IRS offer in compromise process for readers weighing that route. The firm's legal name on file is The Alexander Law Firm, LLC, and its practice is based in St. Louis, Missouri.