So I get an email recently from an attorney who, as far as I know is a general litigator, and doesn’t specialize in tax matters. This boilerplate addition, which apparently gets automatically added to all outbound emails, is a stroke of genius:
IRS Circular 230 Notice: To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, please be informed that any federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.
Oh yeah, now we’re doing some serious lawyering. Adding a rote IRS notice in every firm email you send out is not something that most lawyers would think of doing.
I’m going to set up an automated legal research alert so that I can get notified as soon as there is some litigation involving a lawyer who gets penalized for not putting in a rote tax circular notice in all of their outbound emails. And I’m making a note to myself to quit practicing law as soon as that happens.
P.S. If you want a practice optimized for remote work & virtual collaboration, get this 24-page guide.
My firm has a similar disclosure in addition to the general email disclosure.:IRS Circular 230 Legend: Any advice contained herein was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of avoiding U.S. federal, state, or local tax penalties. Unless otherwise specifically indicated above, you should assume that any statement in this email relating to any U.S. federal, state, or local tax matter was written in connection with the promotion or marketing by other parties of the transaction(s) or matter(s) addressed in this email. Each taxpayer should seek advice based on the taxpayer’s particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor.
Indeed, although haven’t most of us,many times over, found sufficient reason to find other things to do?
I’ll quit too. And note to public: don’thire a lawyer who spends so much timeunnecessarily covering their own ass becausethey are not going to have the time(or, probably, the talent) to cover yours.