Boston Massachusetts IRS Tax Attorney

MA Tax Landscape

Massachusetts taxes wage income and long-term capital gains at a flat 5%, while short-term capital gains are taxed at a steep 12% - one of the highest short-term rates in the nation and a frequent trap for active traders and crypto investors who fail to plan around holding periods. On top of that, the 2022 "Millionaires Tax" (Article 44 of the state constitution) imposes an additional 4% surtax on annual taxable income exceeding $1 million, indexed annually, pushing the top marginal rate to 9% on the dollar that matters most to Boston's high earners. Enforcement runs through the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR), which assesses, audits, and litigates entirely independently of the IRS - a Boston taxpayer can clear a federal exam and still face a separate DOR Notice of Assessment, with its own appeals track before the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board. The DOR aggressively pursues residency and domicile disputes, particularly against taxpayers who claim a move to New Hampshire or Florida while keeping Boston ties, and it data-matches federal returns to surface unreported pass-through income. Boston's economy concentrates exactly the income types federal and state auditors target. The Kendall Square and Seaport biotech and life-sciences corridor generates dense equity compensation - ISOs, NSOs, RSUs, and ESPP shares - where AMT, Section 83(b) elections, and the timing of vesting events routinely trigger IRS notices and DOR follow-on assessments. The Financial District's hedge funds, private equity, and venture firms produce carried interest, partnership K-1s, and complex basis questions that sit squarely within IRS Large Business & International (LB&I) campaign priorities, including the partnership and high-wealth examination initiatives. The city's universities and teaching hospitals add a third layer: foreign-national researchers and physicians with treaty positions, dual-status returns, and FBAR/Form 8938 foreign-account exposure - an area where the IRS imposes severe willfulness-based penalties. Because IRS practice is federal, Segal, Cohen & Landis represents Boston clients before the IRS, the Office of Appeals, and the U.S. Tax Court from its Beverly Hills base without any need for a local office - the same nationwide federal jurisdiction that lets the firm coordinate IRS resolution while clients manage parallel DOR matters. For Boston biotech employees, fund principals, and academics facing audits, back taxes, equity-comp disputes, or offshore-account penalties, the firm brings 33 years of focused IRS controversy experience to the table.