Home › Tri-Cities
Tri-Cities tax attorney
The Tri-Cities economy produces tax questions that rarely come up elsewhere in Washington. Two of them — contractor per diem and farm reporting — account for a large share of the examinations here.
Rice Tax Law PLLC represents taxpayers in Kennewick, Pasco and Richland in federal tax disputes: examinations, CP2000 notices, collection matters, and litigation before the United States Tax Court. Representation can be handled entirely remotely, so a dispute does not cost a day of work or a drive across the state — though in-person meetings are available when needed.
Where Tri-Cities tax problems actually come from
Per diem and travel pay
Payments under an accountable plan are generally excluded from income, but the treatment turns on whether the work location is a temporary assignment or has become indefinite. Once an assignment is realistically expected to last more than a year, reimbursements previously treated as tax-free can become wages. Workers on long-running contract positions are the ones most often surprised.
Agricultural reporting
Schedule F, equipment depreciation and expensing elections, deferral of crop insurance proceeds, and income averaging — all of which draw examination attention, particularly where records were kept informally.
Seasonal payroll
Farms and orchards using seasonal labor carry employment tax and information reporting obligations that are easy to fall behind on and expensive to correct afterwards.
Trades and food processing
Worker classification and payroll deposit exposure across construction, trucking and processing operations.
The one-year rule catches people. A temporary assignment that keeps getting extended is not temporary forever, and the tax treatment changes at the point where the expectation changes — not at the point where someone notices.
Also common here
- Unreimbursed expense claims that no longer survive under current law
- Equipment purchases timed for a deduction that did not land as expected
- Family operations passing to the next generation, where the tax questions were left until the transfer was underway
- Collection matters arising from a bad season rather than from anything irregular
How the firm works with Tri-Cities clients
Primarily remotely, across Benton and Franklin Counties — Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, West Richland, Prosser and the surrounding agricultural communities — with in-person meetings available when that is a better fit. The attorney handling your matter spent more than thirteen years inside the IRS.
What to do now
Find the notice number in the upper right corner and the date printed on it. If the examination concerns per diem or travel pay, gather the assignment documentation before responding — the dates and the expectations recorded at the time are what the analysis turns on. The notice tool will tell you which deadline governs.
Per diem under examination?
These turn on assignment dates and what was expected at the time. Send the letter and the years involved. No charge for the first conversation.
If your notice has a date on it, start now.
Send a general description of your situation. Please do not include Social Security numbers, account numbers, or documents in a first message.