Tax Attorney Salary

A tax attorney salary can come from varied sources which include having a private practice, providing consultation to different organizations regarding tax issues and working for a business or organization for a regular salary. As the tax attorney gains experience a better salary can be expected. Taking time out to be trained and continue studies for upgrading the expertise in a specific taxation area can also help in improving the salary.

Tax attorney

Median Tax Attorney Salaries

The median annual salary of all lawyers (both wage and salaried) was about $102,470 in 2006. The deciding factors for the salary of an established attorney include the type, size as well as location of the client. Tax attorneys who are partners of law firms earn considerably more than tax attorneys who are working for an organization, the government or are self employed. A tax lawyer planning to set up their own practice tends to work in other places part time for financial security until the private practice is earning on its own.

New Graduates and their Salaries

In 2005, the National Association of Law Placement announced the median salaries of tax lawyers who were working 9 months following their graduation from law schools based on the different types of work available :

• All graduates $60,000
• Private practice $85,000
• Government $46,158
• Business $60,000
• Academic/judicial clerkships $45,000

Benefits: Tax Attorney

In the United States, a Tax Attorney Level IV can expect a median salary of $157,644. This figure came from a survey of many human resources departments of various companies of different sizes and locations. The benefits enjoyed by tax attorneys working with law firms, along with the salary, are health and life insurance as well as equal contribution towards retirement plans. Tax attorneys who are self employed need to make arrangements for these benefits individually to make ensure they have a secure financial future as well as health care.

The salary is also dependent on the size of law firm as well as their clients’ enterprises and legal needs. In 2006 in the United States of America graduates wanting to work in small firms that employed 2 to 10 attorneys, the median salary was about $50,000 per year. When comparing to large firms that employed about 500 attorneys, that figure rises to about 135,000 per year. Larger firms tend to have higher profile, and higher earning, clients who have greater tax issues than the individual taxpayer who would visit a smaller firm.

The private practicing tax attorney salary comes from the clients that come to the business. This tax attorney is usually working solo and is the main component of earnings for the practice. Charges for a private practice attorney’s services may be as follows :

• Most services are paid for on an hourly basis which is the more viable for the tax attorney as well as the client. It is easier to keep track of the hours as records of time spent working and easier for the client to see how long these proceedings take to process.
• Tax attorneys who are working with a client for a long term or a definite amount of time (e.g. on a single case or filing a particular set of tax documents) may charge a predefined, non-refundable retainer fee.
• Some tax lawyers will charge a contingency fee of about 25% to 40% of the settlement amount to be collected by the client from a case the tax attorney has handled. If the case goes to trail or negotiation the attorney may charge about 50% of a judgment because he case can go on for an undetermined amount of time.