Annapolis Tax Attorney
Frost Law in Annapolis, MD serves clients throughout the area with a team that includes tax, business, and estate attorneys, as well as accountants and other professionals. Below, you can read more about some of the practice areas handled here, including tax controversy, tax credits, estates and trusts, bankruptcy, and business tax matters. Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to schedule a confidential consultation.
Tax Controversy
An IRS or Comptroller of Maryland audit often starts with a fairly routine request for documents, but it can escalate quickly with complicated issues or if the response is incomplete. A Maryland tax attorney can review and explain what the government is asking for, and build a response designed to resolve the matter before it grows into something larger. If the audit still doesn't go your way, we'll assist you throughout the appeals process.
If your tax issues have progressed beyond an audit and into collections, you may be looking at liens or levies. A lien attaches to property and can follow a person for years, complicating a future sale or refinance long after the original debt is resolved. A levy goes a step further, reaching directly into a bank account or paycheck, sometimes with little warning. We can work to address them before they're filed, or try to release one that has already been filed.
One way to resolve these tax debt issues is through an Offer in Compromise, which lets you settle for less than the full amount owed. This may sound appealing, but it comes with real limitations. The IRS approves these offers only after a close look at income, assets, and expenses, and it rejects a large share of the applications it receives. A tax attorney in Maryland can assess whether or not you may qualify, and if so, prepare the specific financial disclosures the IRS expects to see.
State and local tax rules add their own layer of complexity, and Maryland has a few that catch people off guard. The Maryland Recordation Tax applies when certain real estate transactions are recorded, and buyers and sellers who didn't plan for it can find themselves facing an unexpected bill at closing.
Tax Credits
Frost Law also advises clients on ways to reduce their tax burden through tax credits and other incentives. For example, Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credits exist to reward businesses for qualifying innovation. Plenty of eligible companies never file for them simply because they assume their work doesn't count as research, or they're concerned that the criteria and submission requirements are too difficult. An Annapolis tax lawyer familiar with how the IRS defines qualifying activity can review your business's actual work against their standards.
Opportunity Zone Tax Benefits work on a different premise entirely, rewarding investment in designated communities rather than a specific type of business activity. Capital gains reinvested into a Qualified Opportunity Fund can be deferred, and in some cases reduced further, but only if the investment satisfies specific holding periods and reinvestment rules.
The Employee Retention Credit drew enormous attention when it launched, and years later, many businesses that filed claims are still waiting on IRS review or dealing with amounts the IRS has disallowed. A tax credit attorney in Maryland can look at whether an original claim was properly supported, and whether the IRS has flagged or denied it. We can work with you to determine the strongest path forward, whether that means an appeal or a fresh look at the underlying documentation.
Beyond these, a wide range of federal, state, and local credits exist that businesses often qualify for without realizing it, from energy efficiency incentives to credits tied to hiring in certain areas. The risk with these lesser-known credits usually isn't eligibility so much as documentation, since a credit claimed without the paperwork to back it up can turn tax savings into a tax audit.
Estates and Trusts
A last will and testament is usually the first document clients prepare once they start thinking seriously about what happens to their property and their family after they're gone. It's easy to underestimate how much can go wrong if that will is drafted without attention to Maryland's specific probate requirements. An estate attorney in Maryland can make sure the will actually reflects a person's wishes and is built to hold up if it's ever challenged.
Trusts and powers of attorney often get set up alongside a will, but they solve different problems and shouldn't be treated as interchangeable. A trust can control how and when assets reach beneficiaries, sometimes for years after someone has passed. A power of attorney lets a trusted person step in and make financial or medical decisions the moment someone becomes unable to make them personally. Without these documents in place, a family can end up needing court approval just to act on a loved one's behalf.
Avoiding probate and other court processes is another common goal. This is particularly true in Maryland, where probate can be slow and can expose the details of an estate to public record. Asset protection and estate administration round out this area of practice. Some clients want to shield assets from future liability while they're still alive. Others are stepping into the role of executor or trustee after a loved one has passed, a job that carries real deadlines and real personal liability if it's handled incorrectly. A Maryland estate attorney can walk you through all of these concerns, saving you considerable time and expense.
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is rarely anyone's first choice, but for people or businesses carrying debt they cannot repay, it can offer a real path back to solid ground. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is often the option people consider first, since it can discharge many types of unsecured debt fairly quickly through the liquidation of non-exempt assets.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy suits individuals with steady income who need to hold onto certain assets, such as a home or a vehicle, rather than see them liquidated. It sets up a repayment plan over several years, giving a filer room to catch up on missed payments while keeping the property that might otherwise be at risk under Chapter 7.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy tends to suit businesses carrying larger, more complicated debt, allowing a company to keep operating while it reorganizes under a plan the court has to approve. That process can be expensive and slow for a smaller business, which is exactly the gap Subchapter V of Chapter 11 was designed to close.
Subchapter V cuts down on some of the cost and procedural steps that made traditional Chapter 11 filings impractical for smaller companies. A bankruptcy attorney in Maryland can help determine which chapter actually fits a given person or business, since filing under the wrong one can waste months of time and a meaningful amount of money.
Business Tax Help
Running a business comes with a steady stream of tax obligations, and even well-run companies can fall behind on something as basic as payroll tax deposits or sales tax filings. A Maryland tax lawyer can sort out where things went wrong, negotiate directly with the IRS or state tax agencies, and help put safeguards in place so the same issue doesn't resurface.
We can also help with your business reorganizations, including mergers with another business, changes to its entity structure, or winding down operations entirely. We'll review any tax implications before a reorganization happens, rather than after, and prevent surprises that are far more expensive to fix in hindsight.
For businesses still carrying SBA loan debt from pandemic-era EIDL or PPP funding, the path forward isn't always straightforward, particularly now that the Treasury Department has taken a more active role in referring defaulted EIDL loans for collection. Once a loan reaches that stage, some options that were available earlier, such as negotiating directly with the SBA, may no longer be on the table. We'll help you choose the option, whether that means restructuring the debt, pursuing a settlement, or exploring other relief.
