Law Firm Overview

Our practice focuses on resolving tax problems of all kinds. This includes tax fraud and failure to file investigations, civil audits and tax collection matters, tax litigation, and tax planning.

In the tax collection area, we assist clients in resolving unmanageable tax debts. This can include structuring an offer in compromise or an installment agreement, convincing the IRS to post the account "currently not collectible," asserting the bar of the statute of limitations, seeking the abatement of penalties, defending against the assertion of the "trust fund recovery penalty," and seeking to protect clients through application of the innocent spouse rules. We also make extensive use of bankruptcy in appropriate circumstances as a means of resolving, indeed eliminating, overwhelming federal and state tax debts. Mr. Haynes writes on these subjects for professional publications, including The Freestate Accountant (published by the Maryland Society of Accountants) and The Tax Advisor (published by the AICPA). He also lectures to legal and accounting groups on various aspects of dealing with the Internal Revenue Service. He has even been asked by the IRS itself to present training seminars for IRS examiners and to appear as a panelist on an IRS webcast educational program "Tax Talk Today." Many of Mr. Haynes' journal articles are posted on the firm website at www.bjhaynes.com.

As a former IRS Special Agent, Mr. Haynes is often called upon to assist other attorneys in white collar criminal defense matters, including IRS criminal investigations, money laundering cases, bank fraud matters, corporate internal investigations of fraud and embezzlement, and other kinds of financial litigation. He has provided these services to some of the top white collar defense firms in the country, and has testified as an expert witness in all phases of federal criminal matters.

Areas of Practice

• Tax law (audits, appeals, criminal investigations, and tax litigation
• Tax collection matters (liens, levies, innocent spouse, offers in compromise)
• Bankruptcy law (tax aspects of bankrupty / using bankruptcy to discharge taxes)
• Criminal law (tax and financial fraud)
• White collar crime (tax, money laundering, fraud, etc.)
• Litigation (tax and financial litigation)
• Litigation (tax and financial litigation)

Honors and Awards

• Criminal Investigator of the Year (Association of Federal Investigators)

Published Works

• Tax Fraud Investigations -- A Procedural Roadmap, Corporate Criminal Liability Reporter
• Negotiating Installment Agreements, The Freestate Accountant (Maryland Society of Accountants)
• Negotiating Offers in Compromise, The Freestate Accountant (Maryland Society of Accountants)
• The Statute of Limitations on Collection, The Freestate Accountant (Maryland Society of Accountants)
• Representing Nonfilers -- Healing Self-Inflicted Wounds, The Freestate Accountant (Maryland Society of Accountants)
• Discharging Taxes in Bankruptcy, The Freestate Accountant (Maryland Society of Accountants)
• Expanded Opportunities to Appeal IRS Collection Actions, The Freestate Accountant (Maryland Society of Accountants)
• The New "Innocent Spouse" Rules -- Tara Revisited, The Freestate Accountant (Maryland Society of Accountants)
• The Craft and Drye Decisions -- The Expanding Reach of the Federal Tax Collector, The Freestate Accountant (Maryland Society of Accountants)
• Treatment of Pension and Retirement Assets, The Freestate Accountant (Maryland Society of Accountants)
• The Innocent Spouse Rules -- An Update on "Equitable Relief", The Freestate Accountant (Maryland Society of Accountants)
• Federal Tax Liens -- Parts I and II, The Freestate Accountant (Maryland Society of Accountants)
• Negotiating Installment Agreements with the IRS Collection Division, The Tax Advisor (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants)

Classes and Seminars

• Intermediate Accounting (Assoc. Professor -- adjunct faculty), University of Maryland -- UMBC and College Park campuses
• Income Taxation (Assoc. Professor -- adjunct faculty), University of Maryland -- College Park, MD
• Intermediate Accounting (Assoc. Professor -- adjunct faculty), Townson State University -- Towson, MD
• New Directions in IRS Audits, IRS -- Tax Talk Today (webcast TV program)
• Dealing with the IRS Collection Division, Maryland Society of Accountants
• Dealing with the IRS Collection Division, Fairfax Bar Association / Virginia Society of CPAs
• Handling IRS Audits, Virginia Society of CPAs
• Dealing with the IRS After the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998

Pro Bono Activities

• Project Children (Northern Ireland reconciliation program)
• National Women's Political Caucus
• Sydenstricker United Methodist Church

Ancillary Businesses

• Financial investigations and litigation support.

West Practice Categories

Bankruptcy Law, Criminal Law, White Collar Crimes, Taxation Law