For those of you concerned about the IRS and your risk factors, please take a look at the Attorneys Audit Technique Guide on the IRS website.
For those of you who are deeply concerned about confidentiality and how far the IRS can go in digging into your life, look particularly at the area on attorney-client privilege. It isn’t pretty.
Generally:
There is more. Read it.
This is not new stuff. But there are plenty of people out there who have serious problems and need to protect themselves.
In many cases, the question of attorney-client privilege is one of academic interest, not of real practical value to the client. Too many third party disclosures have already been made and the cat, so to speak, is out of the bag.
If you are deeply concerned about this and think you need as much protection as possible, it is in your best interests to (1) not accidentally waive the attorney-client privilege; and (2) go into tinfoil hat mode. In tinfoil hat mode we do not talk to the client on the phone except to set a meeting. We do not email each other, not even PGP-encrypted email. We meet in person in neutral, secure places outside the United States. Tinfoil hat mode is expensive.
Hat tip to Jim Counts, CPA for triggering this blog post.