How One Pro Bono Attorney’s Dedication Transformed a Client’s Tax Battle

For many low-income taxpayers, the IRS looms large as a source of anxiety every year, as any issue with a tax return can often result in a ruinously costly expense. “Carmen” is one such taxpayer: a young, single, working immigrant mother of five children, there was no room for errors with her budget stretched thin. Despite always filing her tax returns correctly to her knowledge, Carmen was shocked to learn she was being audited by the IRS for her 2020 return. When she was asked to return her $6,000 refund, Carmen panicked – she had already spent the desperately needed money on her family. As a Spanish-speaker with no English who was new to the US tax system, she was deeply frightened of dealing directly with the IRS, and approached Houston Volunteer Lawyers for help. HVL’s Low Income Tax Credit Clinic helped Carmen file a petition in tax court as a pro se litigant, but discovered in the process of preparing it that someone else was using Carmen’s Social Security Number to work. As a result of the identity theft, the IRS subsequently mailed a notice asking Carmen to pay $11,000 in taxes related to the employment-related identity theft wages.

With the work and complexity of Carmen’s cases quickly ballooning, HVL reached out to Nour Haikal, an associate at Bracewell LLP, who was uniquely suited to help Carmen navigate her issue. Nour has a long history of commitment to the immigrant and wider Houston community. While still an undergraduate, she co-founded an initiative to provide at-home one-on-one ESL tutoring to the incoming adult refugee community in Houston. Before attending law school, Nour served as HVL’s Assistant Pro Bono Coordinator, and was a later a law clerk with HVL before joining Bracewell. Keenly aware of the struggles HVL’s clients already face, and deeply knowledgeable about the complexities that immigrants face, Nour was a perfect fit for the job.

Working to handle Carmen’s issues in collaboration with Emma Bykerk, Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Pro Bono Fellow, Nour represented Carmen in the tax court case for her 2020 audit, and gathered the evidence that let Carmen prove she earned income from her office cleaning job even though the company she worked for refused to provide pay stubs or any documentation of the income. Nour successfully negotiated with the IRS and presented evidence to support the client’s eligibility for the credits associated with her children, and the IRS agreed that Carmen could keep her $6,000 refund. As a result, Carmen was able to provide for her family without the looming threat of insolvency.

Thank you Nour for all the work you do for our community!

To join Nour and the thousands of pro bono attorneys bridging the legal gap, visit https://ow.ly/rho550SX2z4