Lawyer's workpapers are discoverable.* A taxpayer, who was both a lawyer and an accountant, provided legal representation to and prepared the individual and business tax returns for Randolph and Karin Lenz. The IRS An abbreviation for the Internal Revenue Service, a federal agency charged with the responsibility of administering and enforcing internal revenue laws. began investigating the Lenzes and their company. It issued summonses directing the couple to hand over hundreds of documents, including workpapers used in preparing their tax returns. The Lenzes refused, claiming the documents were protected by either attorney-client or work-product privilege, or both. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that neither attorney-client nor work-product privilege protects documents a lawyer/CPA creates while preparing tax returns for clients. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the court, dual-purpose documents (that is, documents used both in preparing tax returns and in litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. ) are not protected. Thus, the court held that the workpapers of a lawyer providing both legal representation and accounting services are not privileged (Fredrick v. United States (7th Cir., 2/15/99)). --Michael Lynch, CPA (Computer Press Association, Landing, NJ) An earlier membership organization founded in 1983 that promoted excellence in computer journalism. Its annual awards honored outstanding examples in print, broadcast and electronic media. The CPA disbanded in 2000. , Esq., professor of tax accounting at Bryant College, Smithfield, Rhode Island Smithfield is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. It includes the historic villages of Esmond, Georgiaville, Mountaindale, Hanton City and Greenville. The population was 20,613 at the 2000 census. . |
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