Why Buffalo Punches Above Its Weight in Tax Law
Buffalo's tax bar has a reputation that extends well beyond Western New York. Two factors created it. First, New York State's aggressive tax enforcement — particularly residency audits targeting people who claim to have left the state — generated a large volume of high-stakes controversy work, and firms here developed nationally recognized expertise defending it. Second, the Canadian border made cross-border tax planning a routine local practice rather than an exotic specialty.
The result is that clients from across the country and from Canada retain Buffalo tax attorneys for matters that have nothing to do with the local economy. For businesses and individuals actually located in the region, that depth is readily accessible.
Tax Attorneys Versus Accountants
The distinction matters. Certified public accountants prepare returns, perform tax compliance work, conduct planning, and can represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service. Tax attorneys do planning and representation as well but bring two things accountants cannot: attorney-client privilege that protects communications from disclosure, and the ability to litigate in Tax Court, federal district court, and state tribunals.
Privilege becomes critical when a matter involves potential penalties, allegations of fraud, or criminal exposure. Communications with an accountant about a questionable position may be discoverable; communications with an attorney generally are not. When there is any possibility a civil audit could turn criminal, engaging counsel first — who may then retain the accountant under a Kovel arrangement — protects the client.
In practice, the best outcomes usually come from attorneys and accountants working together, with clear allocation of who does what and awareness of where privilege applies.
New York Residency Audits
This is the signature practice area. New York taxes residents on worldwide income, and the state aggressively audits taxpayers who claim to have changed domicile — typically to Florida, Texas, or elsewhere without state income tax. Auditors examine where the taxpayer spends time, where family lives, where business interests are located, the size and use of homes, where valuables are kept, voter and license registration, and the pattern of life generally.
The statutory residency test operates separately: maintaining a permanent place of abode in New York and spending more than 183 days in the state creates residency regardless of domicile. Day counting is examined with granular scrutiny, and taxpayers frequently lose on recordkeeping failures rather than substantive law.
Buffalo firms have built substantial practices defending these audits, and the expertise is genuinely specialized. Taxpayers contemplating a residency change should get advice before the move rather than after receiving an audit notice.
Cross-Border Tax Practice
The Canada-United States tax relationship generates constant work. Individuals face treaty interpretation, foreign tax credit calculations, reporting obligations for foreign accounts and assets, and the complications of dual residency. Businesses navigate permanent establishment analysis, transfer pricing documentation, withholding obligations, branch versus subsidiary structuring, and GST and HST considerations.
Canadians owning United States real property — common in Western New York given cross-border second-home ownership — face estate tax exposure, FIRPTA withholding on sales, and reporting obligations that surprise many owners. Americans with Canadian retirement accounts or business interests face parallel complications. This is an area where generalist advice frequently produces expensive errors.
Controversy and Litigation
Tax controversy work covers IRS examinations, appeals within the agency, Tax Court petitions, collection matters including liens and levies, offers in compromise, installment agreements, penalty abatement requests, and trust fund recovery penalty defense for unpaid employment taxes.
State-level controversy includes New York sales tax audits — particularly demanding given detailed nexus and exemption rules — corporate franchise tax disputes, and proceedings before the New York State Division of Tax Appeals and Tax Appeals Tribunal.
Criminal tax defense addresses investigations by IRS Criminal Investigation involving alleged evasion, false returns, or failure to file. These matters require immediate specialized counsel, and voluntary disclosure programs sometimes provide a path to resolution before charges.
Planning Practice Areas
Business tax planning covers entity selection, reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions structuring, partnership allocations, S corporation issues, and the qualified small business stock exclusion. Real estate tax planning includes like-kind exchanges, cost segregation coordination, opportunity zone investments, and historic rehabilitation credit structuring — all highly relevant in Buffalo's development market.
Estate and gift tax planning addresses New York's estate tax, which has a lower exemption than the federal threshold and a notorious cliff provision that can produce dramatic results for estates slightly above the exemption. Trust planning, generation-skipping considerations, charitable structures, and business succession all fall within this practice.
Nonprofit tax practice serves the region's substantial charitable sector with exemption applications, unrelated business income analysis, private inurement and excess benefit issues, and governance compliance.
Firms and Practitioners in the Region
Hodgson Russ LLP is the most nationally prominent name in Buffalo tax practice, with a state and local tax group widely recognized for New York residency and sales tax controversy work, alongside federal and cross-border capability. Phillips Lytle LLP maintains a substantial tax practice covering corporate, real estate, and controversy matters with cross-border capacity through its Canadian presence.
Harter Secrest & Emery, Bond, Schoeneck & King, and Lippes Mathias handle tax planning and controversy for regional business clients. Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel and Woods Oviatt Gilman serve closely held businesses and individuals with tax and estate planning.
On the accounting side, Tronconi Segarra & Associates is particularly recognized for state and local tax and cross-border services, and Freed Maxick, The Bonadio Group, Lumsden McCormick, Dopkins & Company, and Brock Schechter & Polakoff all maintain tax practices serving Western New York. Attorneys and accountants in the region collaborate frequently, and the combination is often what clients actually need.
When to Engage a Tax Attorney
Retain counsel when you receive notice of an audit involving significant amounts or potential penalties, when contemplating a transaction with material tax consequences, when changing residency from New York, when facing collection action, when there is any question of criminal exposure, when structuring cross-border operations, or when your estate approaches New York's estate tax threshold.
Look for credentials indicating specialization: an LL.M. in taxation, prior government experience at the IRS or New York Department of Taxation and Finance, or dual CPA and attorney qualification. Ask about specific experience with your issue type and jurisdiction. Discuss fees clearly, since controversy work can extend over years.
Practical Guidance
Documentation determines outcomes in tax disputes far more than legal argument. Contemporaneous records — calendars, receipts, travel logs, board minutes, valuation reports — win cases that reconstructed evidence loses. Whatever your situation, build the record before you need it, and involve counsel early enough that planning is still possible rather than only defense.