Most tax problems in Corsicana need a CPA, not a tax attorney. A certified public accountant has the same unlimited right to represent you before the IRS that an attorney has — on an audit, an appeal or a collection matter. You need a lawyer when the matter turns criminal, goes to court, or requires attorney-client privilege. This guide, written September 30, 2026 for Texas taxpayers, shows where that line falls.
Key takeaways
- Access to the IRS is not the difference. The IRS grants unlimited representation rights to enrolled agents, CPAs and attorneys alike. All three can handle audits, appeals and collection.
- Privilege is the difference. The confidentiality a CPA can offer under 26 U.S. Code § 7525 stops at the criminal line. Attorney-client privilege does not.
- The clock on your notice decides the urgency. Thirty days to request a collection hearing, 90 days to petition the Tax Court. Those windows do not extend.
- In Texas there is a second tax authority, not a second lawyer. The Comptroller handles franchise and sales tax, and that is accounting work.
Both a CPA and an attorney can represent you before the IRS
This is the part most people get wrong, and it is the reason the search for a tax attorney often starts in the wrong place.
The IRS divides paid preparers into two groups. In its own words, read September 30, 2026: “Enrolled agents, certified public accountants, and attorneys have unlimited representation rights before the IRS.” Unlimited means what it sounds like. They can represent any taxpayer on any matter, including audits, payment and collection issues, and appeals — whether or not they prepared the return in question.
Everyone else has limited rights. An Annual Filing Season Program participant or a preparer holding only a PTIN “may only represent clients whose returns they prepared and signed, but only before revenue agents, customer service representatives, and similar IRS employees.” They cannot take your case to Appeals and they cannot work a collection matter, even on a return they signed.
So if you have an IRS letter on the kitchen table in Corsicana, choosing between a CPA and a tax attorney is not a choice about whether someone can speak for you. Both can. It is a choice about what kind of problem you have.
The credential line matters more than the profession line. Our guide to choosing a CPA in Corsicana covers what the Texas license actually requires.
When a tax attorney is the right first call
Four situations, and they are narrower than the advertising suggests.
- Criminal exposure. Contact from IRS Criminal Investigation, a grand jury subpoena, or income you know was left off a return deliberately. Stop and call a lawyer before you explain anything to anyone, including your accountant.
- Litigation. A petition to the United States Tax Court, or a refund suit in federal district court. There is a narrow exception worth knowing: under Tax Court Rule 200 a non-attorney can be admitted to practice before the court by written examination, so a small number of CPAs are admitted. Most are not.
- Legal documents. A will, a trust, a partnership agreement, a buy-sell agreement, the formation documents for a new entity. A Texas CPA does not draft those. Your accountant should be in the room for the tax consequences, but the drafting is legal work.
- Anything you need kept confidential if it later turns criminal. That is the next section, and it is the real dividing line.
Federal clocks
Four numbers that decide how fast you have to move
These windows run whether or not you have hired anyone. Missing one usually costs more than the disagreement itself.
30 days
to request a Collection Due Process hearing after the IRS sends notice of intent to levy, on Form 12153
90 days
to petition the U.S. Tax Court after a notice of deficiency is mailed — 150 days if it is addressed to you outside the United States
3 years
the general window for the IRS to assess tax after a return is filed; 6 years if more than 25% of gross income was omitted, and no limit at all for a fraudulent return or a return never filed
5%
failure-to-file penalty for each month or partial month a return is late, accruing to a 25% maximum — separate from the failure-to-pay penalty
The one real difference is privilege
Conversations with your attorney are protected by attorney-client privilege. Conversations with your accountant are protected too, but only partly, and the limit is the thing to understand before you pick up the phone.
Under 26 U.S. Code § 7525, read September 30, 2026, “the same common law protections of confidentiality which apply to a communication between a taxpayer and an attorney shall also apply to a communication between a taxpayer and any federally authorized tax practitioner” regarding tax advice. A CPA is a federally authorized tax practitioner. So far the two look the same.
Then the statute narrows it. The privilege applies only in “(A) any noncriminal tax matter before the Internal Revenue Service; and (B) any noncriminal tax proceeding in Federal court brought by or against the United States.” It does not reach criminal matters. It also does not cover written communications made in connection with promoting a tax shelter.
Read that plainly: if the matter is a disagreement about a number, your CPA’s advice is protected. If the matter becomes a criminal investigation, it is not. That is why the sequence matters. When there is any real chance of criminal exposure, the lawyer comes first and the accounting work follows under that engagement. When there is not — which is the ordinary case — a CPA is the faster, more direct route.
What a CPA in Corsicana handles without any lawyer
The great majority of tax trouble is arithmetic and documentation, not law. A CPA firm handles all of the following:
- Preparing the return, and amending one that was filed wrong.
- Answering an automated underreporter notice or a math-error notice, usually by producing the document the IRS did not have.
- An examination of your books and records, including the part most people dread — assembling what the examiner asked for in a form they can actually use.
- Requesting penalty relief, and making the reasonable-cause argument in writing.
- Setting up a payment arrangement when the balance is real and you cannot pay it at once.
- Fixing the underlying bookkeeping so the disputed figure becomes the correct figure. This resolves more notices than argument does.
That is ordinary tax services work. If you want the fuller picture of what a local firm does across the year, see our guide to tax services in Corsicana and the 2026 filing guide.
Texas adds a second tax authority, not a second lawyer
Texas has no personal income tax. An individual in Corsicana with a tax problem almost always has a federal one, which is why everything above is written around IRS rules.
A business has a state layer as well, and it is administered by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts rather than by a court. Two obligations produce most of the disputes. The franchise tax report is due May 15 each year, moving to the next business day when it falls on a weekend, and the no-tax-due threshold is $2,650,000 in total revenue for the 2026 and 2027 report years — Texas Comptroller, read September 30, 2026. Entities below the threshold still file a report. Separately, a business selling taxable goods or services in Corsicana collects sales and use tax at a combined 8.25 percent: 6.25 percent state, 1.50 percent city and 0.50 percent county, read September 29, 2026.
A Comptroller assessment or audit result follows the agency’s own hearings process, and the window to contest it is printed on the notice. It is short. Read the notice the day it arrives rather than the week it expires. The work itself — reconstructing exemption certificates, sorting taxable from non-taxable sales, proving what was already remitted — is accounting, not advocacy.
Our guides to business tax deadlines in Corsicana and payroll and bookkeeping cover the filings that generate these notices in the first place.
How to decide, in one pass
- A notice disputing a number. CPA.
- An examination of your books. CPA.
- A balance you cannot pay. CPA.
- A Texas franchise or sales tax assessment. CPA.
- Contact from IRS Criminal Investigation, a grand jury subpoena, or income deliberately omitted. Attorney, first, before you discuss it with anyone else.
- A petition to Tax Court. Attorney, unless your CPA is admitted under Rule 200.
- A will, a trust, an entity formation, a partnership agreement. Attorney to draft; your CPA alongside for the tax effect.
- A lender, bonding company or grantor asking for assured financial statements. Neither — that is a compilation, review or audit engagement, not a dispute. See audit and review services and our guide to which accounting services you need.
Frequently asked questions
Can a CPA represent me in an IRS audit, or do I need an attorney?
A CPA can. The IRS grants enrolled agents, CPAs and attorneys identical unlimited representation rights, covering audits, appeals and collection matters. An attorney becomes necessary when the matter is criminal or goes to court.
Is a tax attorney more expensive than a CPA?
Neither profession has a standard rate, and we do not publish one. The more useful comparison is scope. A tax attorney is usually engaged for a defined dispute. A CPA firm is usually engaged for the return and the year around it, and the dispute work sits inside a relationship that already has your records in it.
Are my conversations with my CPA confidential?
Partly. 26 U.S. Code § 7525 extends the same common-law confidentiality protections to a federally authorized tax practitioner, but only in noncriminal tax matters before the IRS and in noncriminal federal tax proceedings. Attorney-client privilege has no such limit.
I got an IRS letter at my Corsicana address. Who do I call first?
Your CPA, in almost every case, and quickly — the response window on the notice is the binding constraint. Call a lawyer first only if the letter comes from Criminal Investigation, if you have received a subpoena, or if you know something was deliberately left off the return.
Talk to a Corsicana CPA firm
Anderson, Marx & Bohl PC has worked from 119 N Main St in Corsicana since 1972, serving Navarro County and beyond, with office hours Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The firm provides tax preparation and planning, payroll and bookkeeping, and audits and reviews for businesses, government entities and nonprofit organizations.
If you are holding a notice and are not sure which kind of problem it is, bring it in. Contact our Corsicana office to schedule a consultation, or read more about the firm and its team.
This article is general information about federal and Texas tax administration, current as of September 30, 2026. It is not legal advice, and Anderson, Marx & Bohl PC is a CPA firm rather than a law firm. Deadlines printed on your own IRS or Texas Comptroller notice govern your situation.
