You may be able to recover your reasonable litigation and administrative costs if you are the prevailing party, and if you meet the other requirements including the requirement that the taxpayer exhaust their administrative remedies within the IRS.
Exhaustion of administrative remedies is defined as participating in an Appeals Office conference before filing a Tax Court petition or civil action for refund and extending the statute of limitations to provide the Appeals Office with reasonable time to consider the case. Additionally the taxpayer must not unreasonably delay the administrative or court proceedings.
Administrative costs include costs incurred on or after the date you receive the Appeals decision letter, the date of the first letter of proposed deficiency, or the date of the notice of deficiency, whichever is earliest. Attorney fees that generally do not exceed $125 per hour, indexed for a cost of living adjustment, are generally recoverable. Reasonable expenses of expert witnesses, costs of studies, analyses, tests, or engineering reports that are necessary to prepare your case also may be recoverable.
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