Mitchell Tax Law

Focus and practice areas

The firm handles tax controversy, the work that starts when the IRS questions a return or a balance owed. Its home page describes a firm led by a former IRS attorney. Representation covers IRS audits, appeals, collections, and litigation in the U.S. Tax Court. That last item counts, because a case in Tax Court needs a lawyer admitted to argue there.

Beyond audits, the firm lists several other tax problems it takes on. These include IRS penalty removal, payroll tax disputes, unpaid tax debts, and IRS whistleblower claims. It also handles Texas state and local tax matters and international tax reporting. In my opinion, that spread shows a firm that treats federal, state, and cross-border tax as one connected area of law.

Planning alongside disputes

There is planning work as well. The firm advises closely held businesses, real estate owners, and parties to mergers and acquisitions. It also works with high-net-worth individuals on tax planning. So the same office that argues an audit can help a client structure a deal before the tax question comes up.

Planning at this level runs on structure and timing. A closely held business owner may need advice on how a sale is taxed. A buyer in a merger checks the target's tax exposure before signing. The firm names these situations among its planning work, which puts tax counsel in the room before a return is ever filed.

How the team is built

Two attorneys carry the named work on the site. Kreig Mitchell is the founding attorney, and Erin Breaux practices alongside him. Both concentrate on tax. A firm this size can give a client direct access to the lawyer handling the file, and that counts in a dispute that runs for months.

Kreig Mitchell represents individuals and businesses in IRS and state audits, appeals, collections, and Tax Court cases. He has practiced since 2004, which the firm counts as more than twenty years in tax work. His focus is federal tax controversy.

Erin Breaux represents taxpayers in IRS audits, appeals, and collections, and in the U.S. Tax Court. She has about ten years of practice, all of it in tax controversy. Between the two of them, the firm states more than twenty-two years in tax practice.

Credentials the attorneys page lists

Kreig Mitchell holds an LL.M. in Taxation, a master's degree focused on tax law beyond the standard J.D. He also holds a J.D. and an M.S. in Personal Financial Planning. That mix of law and financial planning fits a firm that moves between disputes and planning.

His admissions are on the record too. He is admitted to the Texas and Colorado bars and to the U.S. Tax Court. Erin Breaux is admitted to the Texas bar and the U.S. Tax Court. Admission to the Tax Court is the credential that lets a lawyer file and argue a case there, so both attorneys can take a matter the whole way.

As a reviewer, I put weight on the former-IRS-attorney detail. A lawyer who once worked inside the agency has seen how audits and appeals run from the other side of the desk. The firm states that fact plainly, and it fits the controversy work it describes.

How an IRS dispute usually moves

Tax controversy follows a fairly set path, and knowing it helps explain what a firm like this does day to day. An audit opens when the IRS examines a return. The examiner asks for records, and the taxpayer or the lawyer answers in writing or in a meeting. If the taxpayer disagrees with the result, the next step is an appeal inside the agency.

When an appeal does not settle the bill, the matter can go two ways. The taxpayer can pay and sue for a refund, or petition the U.S. Tax Court before paying. A Tax Court petition lets a taxpayer challenge the amount without paying it first, which is one reason admission to that court matters.

Collections and the money already owed

Collections is a separate track. Here the IRS pursues tax it has already assessed, through liens, levies, or a payment plan. A taxpayer who cannot pay in full may ask for an installment agreement or seek relief from penalties. Mitchell Tax Law lists penalty removal, unpaid tax debts, and payroll tax disputes among the collection matters it handles.

The firm also names IRS whistleblower claims and international tax reporting. Whistleblower claims run through a dedicated IRS office that reviews information about underpaid tax. International reporting covers the forms U.S. taxpayers file for foreign accounts and income. Both sit inside federal tax practice, which is where this firm works.

Where the firm works and how it runs

The office is in Houston, close to the IRS's Houston offices. The firm works with clients in the city, across Texas, and nationwide on federal matters. Federal tax law is the same in every state, so a Houston firm can handle an IRS dispute for a client who lives far from Texas.

After the first meeting, the firm handles most contact by phone, email, and secure document exchange. That setup suits tax cases, which run largely on documents and records. In my opinion, what the site makes clearest is a firm that keeps to tax and staffs it with two attorneys admitted to the U.S. Tax Court.