INFORMATION REGARDING THE CIRCULAR 230 DISCLAIMER
What is Circular 230?
The Treasury Department's Circular 230 ("Circular 230") is a regulation that governs practice before the Internal Revenue Service. Circular 230 applies to attorneys, accountants, and other tax professionals. On
December 20, 2004, the Department of the Treasury published final regulations on Circular 230 which became effective
June 20, 2005. These final regulations changed the way that attorneys and other professionals are allowed to give tax advice to clients, including specific requirements for the content of various types of written advice.
In particular, the final Circular 230 regulations set forth and define specific types of written advice that constitute ?covered opinions.? Including a disclaimer in the writing you received allows us to provide written advice without it becoming a ?covered opinion? under the final Circular 230 regulations.
What does this disclaimer mean?
Under the rules of Circular 230, if we provide you with tax advice on which you can rely for purposes of avoiding tax penalties, we are required to prepare a formal opinion that satisfies rigorous factual and legal diligence standards. Failure to satisfy those requirements will subject us to potential penalties. Any advice that fails to comply with the formal opinion requirements mentioned above must include a disclaimer along the following lines:
"IRS Circular 230 Disclaimer: Unless we have specifically stated to the contrary in writing, any discussion of federal tax issues or submissions in this communication (including any attachments) is neither written nor intended to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (1) avoiding penalties under the United States federal tax laws or (2) promoting, marketing, or recommending to anyone any transaction or matter addressed herein."
This disclaimer is included in order for Mark A. D'Amico, CPA to comply with Circular 230, which governs our practice before the Internal Revenue Service. The effect of the disclaimer is that the letter, e-mail, or other writing that includes the disclaimer may not be relied upon by a taxpayer to establish the reasonable cause and good faith defense to the accuracy-related penalties that may be imposed on that taxpayer by the Internal Revenue Service. The disclaimer is not intended to otherwise qualify or alter any of the advice or provisions in the applicable documents.
In the past, we have provided you with tax advice in forms that were appropriate for your inquiry and your needs. These have covered the entire range of a quick reaction, a cold review, an analysis limited to principal legal authorities and formal opinions for your situation. Through our course of dealings with you, we have earned your trust and you have been able to rely on our advice in whatever form delivered. We will continue to serve you to the best of our ability and provide advice that is cost-effective and consistent with your needs. The required disclaimer does not denigrate the logic of our analysis or the force of the relevant legal authorities. But the IRS will no longer permit you to rely on that if it is not formal advice for purposes of avoiding tax penalties.
We encourage you to discuss with us the situations where you might need formal opinions and analyses for purposes of avoiding penalties. However, we believe in most situations you will not need such formal opinions. Therefore, you can expect to see the above disclaimer in some of our written communications, unless you specifically ask us for a formal opinion that satisfies the requirements of Circular 230.
Please do not hesitate to call any of our professionals if you have questions about this matter.
