A buyer's guide to my own profession.

I am Darrin T. Mish, a tax attorney in Tampa, Florida. I wrote this guide because the market for tax help is crowded with sales floors, and an uninformed buyer is the easiest customer in the world to sell. People come to my office after paying someone else for work that was never diagnosed and never done. None of them were foolish. They just did not know what to check.

So this site gives the checks away. Who is legally allowed to represent you. What the government has said about tax relief companies. Which fee structures deserve a hard look. How to confirm, in your own IRS account, that your representative actually filed the paperwork. Run every check in this guide on anyone you are thinking about hiring. Run them on me.

Credentials you can verify

• The Florida Bar, Bar No. 986641, admitted 1993.
• Also admitted in Colorado and Texas.
• Admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court and the Supreme Court of the United States.
• Law Offices of Darrin T. Mish, P.A., 15421 N. Florida Ave., Tampa, FL 33613.

IRS representation is federal, so the firm works with taxpayers across the country. I am not a CPA, and this site will tell you when a CPA or an enrolled agent is the better buy.

Nothing here is a promise of any result. Every case turns on its own facts, and anyone who promises an outcome before reading your transcripts is selling, not advising.