The Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing
Call us today at (800) 681-1295, contact us online, or reach our San Francisco office directly at (415) 287-6568 for your reduced-rate initial tax consultation. We will keep your information confidential. Our appointment only San Francisco Office is conveniently located at the address given above.
San Francisco Tax Attorney and CPA
Tax situations can be challenging in the simplest situations. But if you are facing an unusual tax situation in San Francisco, you may be downright baffled as to how to proceed.
Both business and individual taxpayers may have uncommon tax situations in San Francisco. You may need help with income earned overseas, payroll taxes, or business succession planning with taxes in mind.
Or you may have an especially challenging tax situation, such as notification of a federal or state audit. Maybe you have seen your tax situation change significantly before, during or after a divorce.
Hiring a tax attorney who has the ability to understand tax laws and tax code at both the federal and state level can give you the peace of mind you need to handle whatever difficult tax situation you are facing. We even can help you with tax calculation if you are involved in cryptocurrency.
When you’re ready to discuss your tax situation, schedule a 10-minute call with an experienced Tax Attorney by contacting the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing today. We offer multiple tax services in San Francisco as dually licensed Tax Attorneys and CPAs.
One of The Best Tax Attorneys in San Francisco
The San Francisco Tax Lawyers and CPAs at the Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing combine over 20 years of legal experience assisting businesses and individual taxpayers with the full spectrum of state, federal, and international tax matters, ranging from employment and payroll tax to divorce tax issues to general tax planning and tax preparation to criminal defense in felony tax cases. Whether you need to defend your innocence, prepare for a tax audit, or simply get help making sound financial decisions for your family or your company, look to our full-service California tax firm for zealous professional support. To book a reduced-rate initial consultation, contact our San Francisco office at (415) 287-6568 or (800) 681-1295, or contact us online to book a consultation. Our federal and California state tax audit practice areas include (but not limited to) the following:
What Are the Benefits of Hiring a Dually Licensed Tax Attorney and CPA?
Tax issues, especially those involving businesses, can be extremely complicated. When faced with a tax problem, tax planning or when trying to file your taxes correctly, you may wonder whether it best fits your needs to hire a Tax Attorney or to hire a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). These two types of professionals offer very different, but often overlapping, services to the taxpayer. Your strongest possibility of successfully resolving your high stakes tax controversy or legally minimizing your tax liability is combining the best of both worlds by hiring a dually licensed Tax Attorney and CPA like the professionals at the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing, who can provide an unsurpassed comprehensive level of service due to our team’s extensive experience and focused backgrounds and in-depth education in both of these professional fields.
Services Provided by a CPA vs. a Tax Lawyer
A CPA is a professional trained in the field of accounting who is licensed through, among other things, having a required educational background, met an experience requirement and passed a rigorous course of exams. CPAs are considered one of the most trusted and versatile types of financial planners because of their extensive educational background, which includes training in auditing, taxation, bookkeeping, and business planning, business law and strategy. CPAs can assist you with year-round record-keeping as well as with tax preparation services. They can be useful in staving off potential issues with the IRS or state taxing authorities before they occur.
By way of comparison, a Tax Lawyer is broadly trained in the law, and specifically in the complex field of Tax Law. They must go through the rigors of law school and pass the bar exam before being licensed. While a CPA might focus more on managing your records and preparing the forms required for your returns, a Tax Lawyer’s focus will be more on long-term tax and business planning, compliance and short-term dispute resolution. For example, although CPAs are technically able to represent you in an audit, a Tax Lawyer will typically have much more power and skill via specialized training into your constitutional rights and rules of evidence and will be indispensable where it comes to advising you of what to say and not to say to protect your rights and legal interests from potential eggshell audit and their associated criminal tax ramifications.
One of the vastly advantageous benefits offered by a Tax Attorney that does not apply to a CPA is the attorney-client privilege. Under the robust attorney-client privilege that exists in the legal profession, attorneys are almost always barred from speaking about anything told to them by their clients during their representation of them without first obtaining their client’s permission. Sometimes, your attorney will also bring in a consulting accountant who can receive derivative attorney-client privilege through a Kovel letter, and who can help them with more accounting-specific issues that arise. A Kovel letter is unnecessary where an accountant, EA or CPA is directly employed by a Law Firm that is providing a legal service to a client.
Accountant-client privilege, meanwhile, is far weaker, and it is not unheard of for a CPA who realizes that they are in trouble to turn on their client and become a witness against them, especially where they prepared the tax returns that are at issue. If you are concerned about the potential for criminal tax liability, which can occur in cases where you willfully failed to report income, failed to file tax returns, claimed deductions or credits for which you were not eligible, or other forms of tax fraud, being represented by a Tax Attorney is tremendously more advantages than choosing a CPA, EA or CTEC certified tax professional, especially where they prepared the tax returns at issue.
How Do I Choose a Tax Lawyer or CPA in San Francisco?
Whether you are facing an IRS audit, upcoming civil or criminal tax charges against you or your small business or are simply concerned about the prospect of any of these unfortunate possibilities in your future, you can benefit from enlisting the help of a dual licensed attorney. However, not just any Tax Lawyer will do in every case. This is because tax issues have the potential to progress and affect other areas.
To address issues at every stage, you will want a dual licensed Tax Attorney & CPA who has experience and know-how in a variety of tax-related fields from the very beginning. This way, you can establish a direct partner that can assist with all of your needs, rather than having to go to different shops to address multiple issues.
The best way to guarantee that the firm you choose can handle all of your issues is to choose one that also provides diligent accounting services. The Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing boast Tax Attorneys that are also Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), giving us a well-rounded perspective on our clients’ tax circumstances. Using our interdisciplinary knowledge, we can both help you in forming useful and legal tax strategies that legally reduce your tax burden and represent you in situations where the government decides to institute enforcement actions against you to simultaneously protect your net worth and your very liberty.
Our dual-licensed San Francisco Tax Audit Attorneys+CPA are not only familiar with the various state and municipal tax regulations that may affect you, but they can also be by your side physically as you take on the California or federal governments.
A Dually Licensed Tax Lawyer and CPA Offers You the Best of Both Worlds
If given a choice between consulting with a CPA or a Tax Lawyer, it is usually best to go with the Tax Lawyer, as they offer you greater protection and more skill in the area of successfully resolving legal disputes with the IRS. However, Tax Lawyers can still lack many of the accounting skills most helpful to those filing complex returns and attempting to reconstruct tax records. As such, the best option is to retain an experienced dually licensed Tax Attorney and CPA like those at the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing. Our tax professionals have education, licensure, and experience in both practice areas. We can help you properly file your domestic or international taxes before any issues occur and also deal with any problems with the IRS or State Taxing Authorities that may already exist, including guiding you through a tax audit while minimizing or mitigating the potential for criminal tax liability, minimizing the assessment of additional tax penalties and interest being or helping you avoid an audit or criminal tax investigation by enrolling you in a domestic or offshore voluntary disclosure program.
IRS Audit Representation
The IRS is tasked with dealing with any issues related to federal taxes. Audits can be related to your federal income tax return or taxes paid on your business and quite often both simultaneously. IRS audits are rarely completely random, with most audits the results of your return being flagged for potential issues, such as underreporting of income, claiming unsubstantiated expenses, claiming excessive exemptions or credits you do not qualify for, or the IRS perceiving that you have failed to pay taxes that you owe (nonfliers). The IRS can usually go back three tax years when reviewing your records and returns, but this can be extended to six years in some cases. If fraud is detected the statute of limitations becomes open back to the dawn of time. Remember that 70% of communication is nonverbal and auditors are trained to read body language. Where possible, it is best to have your attorney appear on your behalf.
There are three different types of IRS audits that might occur: a correspondence audit, a field audit, and an office audit. These three variations range in terms of expected time of completion, seriousness, and invasiveness. Therefore, the first step that our dual-licensed San Francisco IRS Federal Tax Audit Attorney+CPA will take when evaluating your situation is identifying which type of audit you are facing. The reason for this is that you can tell a lot about what the federal or California government is after and how thorough they will be simply by identifying which type of audit they have decided to pursue.
Correspondence Audits
A correspondence audit (also sometimes referred to as a “mail audit”) will be conducted entirely through written communication, phone, and emails. This makes correspondence audits the least invasive or problematic forms of government tax noncompliance investigation possible. Typically, the auditor will be looking to verify or substantiate some sort of information on your taxes. If you have preserved your financial records, you may be able to satisfy this audit by simply supplying the IRS with the documents backing up the tax position they are challenging. Typically, if no issues exist, you can expect a correspondence audit to conclude within three to six months of your first response to the government’s requests. However, if you do not possess these documents, or you fudged the numbers under audit, you need the services of a tax lawyer to avoid incurring civil or criminal penalties. Our dual licensed San Francisco Tax Lawyers and CPAs can help you reconstruct the necessary records and mitigate any civil damages or criminal exposure for errors you made on the returns under audit. If no further issues are discovered, the IRS, FTB, CDTFA (formerly known as the EDD) will usually come to a resolution on a correspondence audit within three to six months.
Office Audits
An office audit will involve the taxpayer being called into an IRS office to work through any issues. An office audit implies a higher level of scrutiny than a correspondence audit, but if all issues are resolved appropriately, the process should not take much longer than the three to six months expected from a correspondence audit. You should have all your financial documents prepared to bring to the office audit, including receipts, bank statements, and personal and business tax returns. You should always have a tax lawyer appear alongside you for an office audit if you have serious concerns about what was claimed on the return under audit. Our dual-licensed San Francisco Tax Attorneys+CPAs are ready and able to physically accompany you to wherever you are called in for your office audit.
Field Audits
A field audit is the most serious type of audit and will involve the IRS coming to your home or place of business to examine the documents in question. This type of audit is usually reserved for situations where the government may suspect criminal tax activity, the income streams in question are complex, the suspected noncompliance lasted across several years, or where one or more business entities are concerned. If the target of a correspondence or office audit fails to substantially cooperate at the initial stages of their action, the government may subsequently pursue a field audit to get to the bottom of the issue. Field audits frequently may take more than a year to resolve. You should engage the services of a dual licensed Tax Attorney & CPA as soon as you learn a field audit is to occur.
California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) Audit Representation
The California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) enforces the state’s income tax laws. The FTB may conduct their own investigations regarding issues that are unique to California’s income tax laws or may bring a challenge based on their assessment on your level of compliance. For example, there may be issues if you recently moved to California regarding when you became a resident and when you started owing taxes to the state. The IRS and the California FTB have different rules, for example, regarding net operating losses. As such, you may sometimes owe large debts to the FTB even if you are not found to owe anything to the IRS. California tax audits are no less serious than federal audits because California also prosecutes tax crimes and will report the results of the audit to the IRS. You, therefore, will be forced to amend your federal returns to agree to the results of the California Audit.
An experienced tax attorney can work to resolve any issues associated with such an audit before they become problematic. They can also help negotiate an installment plan if you are in fact found to owe money to the FTB. Click on the following to learn more:
- FTB manual on audits, protests, and appeals
- California Tax Wage Garnishment
- How long the FTB has to collect a tax debt
Because the FTB is a tax agency, one might assume it is therefore authorized only to collect tax-related debts, such as debts incurred through failure to file taxes, failure to pay taxes, or failure to retain records in previous years. In reality, the FTB may collect a wide range of debts, including but not limited to debts arising from:
- Colleges and universities to which the taxpayer owes fees, tuition, or other unpaid obligations.
- Superior Court fines and fees.
- Unpaid payments owed to any state agency.
- Any of the following owed to a city or county in California:
- Bail
- Court-ordered payments
- Parking tickets/citations
- Property taxes
- Unpaid fines
As you can see from this non-exhaustive list, a wide range of debts can trigger the seizure of one’s state income tax refund – including debts which are not directly related to tax obligations. For more information on the subject of FTB debt collections, please review the following:
- How Many Years Does the FTB Have to Collect a Debt from a Disability Recipient?
- How Much Time Does the FTB Have to Collect on an Outstanding Tax Debt?
California Employment Development Department (EDD) Audit Representation
The California Employment Development Department (EDD) deals with issues related to the state payroll tax. Every employer is required to take payroll taxes out of their employees’ checks and hold the money in trust to eventually turn over to the appropriate state or federal agency. Payroll tax issues can come up in federal audits in addition to audits by the EDD. If you are not taking the appropriate amount out of your employees’ paychecks or failing to turn the money held in trust over as required, you could face civil or criminal penalties.
Most of the issues in these audits relate to disputes about whether an individual is an employee or an independent contractor. Payroll taxes are not required to be taken out of checks paid to independent contractors. There are a variety of ways that the California state calculates who is and is not an independent contractor. Our experienced San Francisco California State Tax Audit Attorney+CPA can help gather evidence to show the EDD you have properly classified workers as independent contractors. Note: with the recent passing of AB5, worker classification audits are on the rise.
The EDD actively investigates and prosecutes instances of payroll tax evasion and related fraudulent activities. Some specific examples of employer fraud that are criminally prosecutable by the EDD include:
- Assisting others in filing false Unemployment Insurance claims.
- Paying employees “under the table,” or failing to report their wages appropriately to the EDD.
- Neglecting to report the hiring of new employees and incorrectly reporting their start dates.
- Withholding taxes from employee wages but not reporting these wages or remitting the payroll taxes to the EDD and other relevant agencies.
- Demonstrating a pattern of opening and closing accounts with the EDD, leaving unpaid tax balances, often with each employer registration under different business and owner names.
- Making false statements to the State Compensation Insurance Fund to reduce Workers’ Compensation Insurance costs.
- Providing misleading information to disqualify current or former workers from benefits they are entitled to.
These actions reflect the EDD’s commitment to maintaining the integrity of its programs and ensuring compliance with the law. The department employs stringent measures to identify and penalize fraudulent activities, safeguarding the state’s employment-related resources and services. In this challenging environment, a San Francisco Employment Tax Lawyer can be your ally, helping you navigate the complexities of compliance and protecting your business from potential penalties and legal issues.
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) Audit Representation
The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) is tasked with auditing any issues related to the payment of state sales taxes. This can be an issue related to your business failing to charge a proper amount of sales tax or charging the sales tax and not properly remitting it to the state. If the CDTFA believes that your business is underpaying sales taxes, they will request to look at your books and other documents and compare the information in your business records to the amount of sales tax revenue remitted to the state. A California sales tax audit can become your worst nightmare if you have been underreporting cash sales.
An experienced sales tax attorney can help you collect the proper documents and communicate with the CDFTA on your behalf. Once the audit is complete, we can challenge any issue we see at the exit interview with the auditor and their supervisor. If the CDTFA closes the case and sends a Notice of Determination, you need to file a petition within 30 days to challenge it. If the petition is not filed in a timely manner, you will be required to pay whatever amount they have determined you owe, and your business could face severe collection related consequences.
Unfortunately, this process is seldom simple or straightforward. On the contrary, the appellate system poses many challenges for taxpayers who wish to dispute the results an FTB, CDTFA, EDD or IRS audit, making dependable, knowledgeable representation essential. If you think the results of an audit are incorrect and wish to dispute the findings, ask us about IRS appeals representation in San Francisco. We can walk you through the process for appealing an audit and act on your behalf throughout, ensuring you file the appropriate paperwork, meet all legal deadlines, and satisfy other criteria for making a robust appeal. We stand ready willing and able to litigate a Federal or California tax issue, where it becomes necessary, but in our experience most issues can be settled before an expensive trial. We can help you appeal IRS and California state tax audit decisions involving:
- Corporate Taxes
- Payroll Taxes
- Income Taxes
- Estate and Gift Taxes
- Failure to Respond to Notice of Deficiency within 90 Days
- Collection Appeals Program (CAP)
- Collection Due Process (CDP)
- Filing an Appeal vs. proceeding straight to Tax Court
- Sole Proprietorships
- The California Office of Tax Appeals (OTA)
- California sales and use taxes
- CDFTA Appeals
- Excise Taxes
- Property Taxes
- Small Case Request
- Appealing an IRS Collection
- Instalment Agreements
- Levies
- Liens
- Offers in Compromise
- Agreement with IRS Office of Appeals
- Updated Rules for Tax Appeals
- EDD Appeals
San Francisco, CA Audit Appeals and Tax Litigation Attorneys
In San Francisco, encountering incorrect audit outcomes due to administrative oversights or procedural missteps can lead to unnecessary tax liabilities, including steep penalties and interest. Frankly the taxing authorities get the facts and the law wrong quite often.
Such situations become particularly distressing when they arise from factual or legal mistakes made by the auditing agency. Nevertheless, taxpayers are entitled to contest these outcomes via the appeals process. This applies to audits conducted by the IRS, the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB), and other state-level tax authorities in California. Federal audit appeals are managed by the IRS’ Office of Appeals, whereas in California, the Office of Tax Appeals (OTA) serves a comparable function.
For initiating an appeal, San Francisco taxpayers must submit a comprehensive protest letter or an opening brief to the appropriate agency. This document should contain the taxpayer’s contact information, the specific audit issue in dispute (like an incorrect tax assessment), and the legal or factual grounds for the challenge, supported by relevant statutes or legal precedents.
In some cases, mediation can provide a faster, more informal solution, bypassing the need for a formal appeal. On the other hand, more complex disputes may require litigation in Federal or California Tax Courts. Our San Francisco, CA Audit Appeals and Litigation Attorneys excel in handling complex tax controversies. We adopt the most suitable strategy for your case, whether it involves vigorous litigation or advising against pursuing a case when the evidence and law are not in your favor.
The expertise of our dual-licensed San Francisco Tax Litigation Attorneys and CPAs is vital in preventing tax issues from escalating, which could lead to severe consequences. We specialize in navigating both IRS and California state tax disputes, adeptly managing sensitive audits (where you cheated on the tax returns under audit) to ensure a civil resolution and to avoid criminal tax prosecution.
Our clients benefit from our strategic and effective approach to dealing with issues like employment tax, estate and gift tax, unreported income, and civil tax fraud allegations. We carefully evaluate litigation risks, especially in cases with potential criminal tax implications, aiming for early resolution and utilizing our extensive knowledge of tax laws and procedures. Our track record is a testament to our success, consistently securing favorable results in tax court and taking on cases with a strong likelihood of success.
Our tax litigation team boasts wide-ranging experience in various federal and California state tax matters, representing clients in IRS audits, disputes with the CDTFA, EDD, and FTB, refund claims, tax collection defense, innocent spouse relief, and criminal tax defense. Our proficiency is invaluable in handling cases involving criminal tax exposure, civil tax audits, eggshell audits, reverse eggshell audits, and criminal tax investigations. As seasoned litigators, our team, led by David W. Klasing Esq. M.S.-Tax CPA, is prepared to represent you in Tax Court or before the California Office of Tax Appeals. Contact us at (415) 287-6568 or schedule a reduced-rate initial consultation at our San Francisco office or other convenient locations in Northern California. Our services include representing clients in the following:
- Tax Deficiency Disputes
- Tax Refund Litigation
- Recovering Administrative and Litigation Costs
- Expedited Appeals Process
- Normal Appeals Process
- CDFTA Disputes
- Franchise Tax Board (FTB) Disputes
- Filing a lawsuit in Tax Court
- International Tax Disputes and Offshore Account Compliance
- Employment and Payroll Tax Disputes
- Tax Litigation Involving Tax Assessments, Penalties, or Enforcement Actions
- California Income Tax Attorney
- Penalty and Interest Issues in California
- Alternative Dispute Resolution Options
- Audits and Negotiations with Federal Tax Agencies
- Litigation of Estate and Gift Tax Audits
- Collection Due Process Disputes
- Civil and Criminal Tax Litigation
- EDD Audits and Litigation
- Partnership Taxation
- Innocent Spouse Relief Litigation
- Tax Litigation Involving Tax Assessments, Penalties, or Enforcement Actions
- Civil and Criminal Tax Investigations and Litigation in California
- Partnership Taxation in California
- Collection Due Process Disputes in California
- Tax considerations for plaintiffs vs. defendants
Criminal Tax Defense Lawyer in San Francisco
Though tax crimes are nonviolent in nature, offenders are nonetheless subject to some of the nation’s harshest criminal penalties. Many tax offenses are felonies prosecuted in federal court, which typically hand down longer sentences and greater fines than courts which function at the state level. To provide an example, the federal statute for tax evasion establishes a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, in addition to fines as great as $100,000 for individuals. Moreover, criminal fines can be compounded by IRS restitution orders, which can cost thousands or even millions of dollars depending on the nature and severity of the offense. Finally, a tax-related conviction could saddle you with a permanent felony record, which may make it difficult or impossible to find employment, obtain loans, rent at certain properties, purchase or own a firearm, travel abroad, or take advantage of life’s other opportunities. The criminal tax defense attorneys at the Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing represent defendants charged with misdemeanor and felony tax crimes, including CPAs and tax preparers. Our tax evasion attorneys can protect your rights, prepare you for court hearings, manage your legal documentation, and fight to reduce your penalties if you have been charged with tax evasion, offshore tax evasion, willful failure to file a tax return, payroll tax fraud, making false statements, or other tax crimes.
When facing high risk tax audits from agencies like the IRS, CDTFA, EDD, or FTB, certain red flags, such as destroyed records, underreported income, badges of fraud, or unfiled returns, can intensify the examination, and may lead to high-risk eggshell and reverse eggshell tax audits. As such, residents and businesses must be aware of potential criminal tax violations and the signs indicating that they might be under a more rigorous investigation by the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID). This is especially so when the taxpayer has a history of blatantly cheating on their federal tax returns and is now under audit and thus fears criminal tax prosecution. Even international tax evasion schemes that utilize remote tax havens are easily detected by the IRS, which works with tax and law enforcement agencies around the globe and throughout the United States.
We will help your understanding of the stages of an audit, criminal tax investigation, tax crime indictment, and prosecution, as well as the red flags that may pique the interest of the IRS or the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB), California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) and the Employment Development Department (EDD) and trigger the entire sequence.
If you or your small business has been selected for a tax audit in San Francisco, and you are concerned about a criminal tax investigation resulting from or occurring alongside the audit, engaging our San Francisco Criminal Tax Audit Defense Attorney+CPA and San Francisco IRS Tax Fraud Defense Attorneys + CPA services at the onset of a high-risk audit / criminal tax investigation will maximize the possibility of a favorable outcome without escalating to criminal tax charges. We have never had a federal or California audit client criminally prosecuted for tax crimes. We are here to provide aggressive, informed representation in areas including:
- Eggshell Tax Audit Defense
- Reverse Eggshell Tax Audit
- Criminal Tax Investigation
- Intentional/Fraudulent Federal Tax Evasion
- Tax Crime Indictment and Prosecution
- Tax Fraud Whistleblower Defense
- Willful Failure to File Tax Returns
- Increased Tax Fraud Referrals to IRS-CI
- Maintaining inadequate records or destroying records
- Providing implausible or inconsistent explanations during civil examination
- Displaying belligerent, rude, or disrespectful behaviour to an IRS agent
- Claiming Fake Dependents
- Arranging affairs for the sole purpose of tax avoidance in a manner that lacks economic substance
- Dubious conservation easement deductions
- California State Tax Fraud Schemes Defense
- False Refund Claims in California
- California Underground Economy Tax Evasion
- CDFTA Sales and Use Tax Evasion:
- Failed to report a large portion of sales from a retail auto dealership.
- Collecting sales tax and failing to remit to the state of California
- Failure to file sales tax or use tax returns (online retailers)
- Misuse of resale certificate to evade tax
- Fraudulent Withholding or False Statements
- Handling IRS Criminal Investigation Division (CID) Inquiries
- Business and Employment Tax Fraud
- Representation in Cases of Alleged Tax Fraud Schemes
- Hobby Business and Taxes
- Tax Preparer Liability
- IRS Renewed Focus on Criminal Tax Defense
- Overstating deductions or claiming false deductions
- Hiding or transferring income with relatives or related entities
- Keeping false records of your income or “second set of books”
- Falsifying books or records “forgery”
- Prematurely destroying records
- California FTB Income Tax Fraud Investigations
- EDD Employment Tax Fraud Investigations
- CDTFA Tax Fraud Investigations:
- Cannabis Tax Evasion (Illegal Cannabis Retailers)
- Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Evasion
- Motor Vehicle, Diesel and Jet Fuel Tax Evasion
- Intentional destruction of records
- Registration of a vehicle, vessel, or aircraft outside of California for the purpose of evading tax
Get Back into Tax Compliance without Facing Criminal Tax Prosecution in San Francisco with our dual licensed Voluntary Disclosure Attorneys and CPAs
If you’re in San Francisco and realize that you could face criminal tax prosecution over a history of blatantly cheating on your tax returns if discovered, voluntarily disclosing this history by knocking on the IRS’s door before they bang down your door, is the most a crucial step towards resolution without facing criminal tax prosecution.
Taking the initiative to disclose any oversights or deliberate tax evasion before an audit or criminal investigation begins presents a nearly guaranteed method to rectify the situation and avoid criminal charges related to your history of criminal tax offenses. It’s vital to recognize that even an incomplete disclosure, if done proactively and promptly, can lead to favorable outcomes. Throughout this process, the guidance of experienced criminal tax defense counsel and our staff of specially trained accounting professionals is key to effectively managing these complex issues.
This approach provides a structured and secure way to amend your fraudulent tax returns while steering clear of criminal tax prosecution. Similar to the IRS, the State of California’s Franchise Tax Board (FTB) and the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) offer methods for non-compliant taxpayers to become compliant again by disclosing their non-compliance with state tax laws. The approach for voluntary disclosure to the FTB varies depending on whether you file taxes from within or outside the state.
Our San Francisco Domestic and International Tax Compliance & Preparation Attorneys+CPA specializes in navigating the intricacies of both federal and California state voluntary disclosures. This includes domestic and offshore disclosures, CDTFA and FTB voluntary disclosures, streamlined procedures, and procedures for delinquent FBAR and international information return submissions. Taxpayers in San Francisco who have willfully evaded taxes, including not filing foreign information returns and actively avoiding U.S. income tax on foreign income, can generally return to compliance and avoid criminal tax prosecution if they voluntarily disclose their federal tax non-compliance before the IRS initiates an audit or criminal tax investigation. In doing so, they not only avoid criminal charges but often benefit from reduced civil penalties. We deal with:
- Quiet Disclosure
- Noisy Disclosure
- Delinquent International Information Return Submission Procedures
- Department of Justice Tax Division’s Voluntary Disclosure Policy
- Undisclosed Foreign Accounts
- Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations
- FTB’s voluntary disclosure program
- Addressing Tax Obligations for Out-of-State Businesses in California
- Eligibility for Income or Corporate Tax Issues under California Voluntary Disclosure
- Delinquent FBAR
- Streamlined Disclosure
- Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures
- Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures
- VDP for Partnerships, Government Entities, and Unincorporated Associations
- Offshore Income-generating Assets
- California Voluntary Disclosure Program
- California Board of Equalization
- Compliance with California Taxes:
- Income Tax (FTB)
- Excise Tax (CDFTA)
- Sales Tax (CDFTA)
- Franchise Tax (FTB)
- Payroll Tax (EDD)
- Use Tax (CDFTA)
San Francisco, CA Tax Lawyers for Businesses and Individuals
There is no need to feel panicked or overwhelmed by the U.S. Tax Code, a notice from the government, or an IRS auditor. Instead of struggling to interpret complex statutes and IRS regulations – or worse, attempting to push a tax issue under the rug – allow the experienced, award-winning San Francisco Business Tax Attorneys+CPAs at the Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing to help you bring your tax matter to an efficient resolution. Our objective is to mitigate any criminal or civil penalties you may be facing while helping you make the most of the U.S. Tax Code with regard to estate planning, business planning, or financial planning for your future. No matter how complex or difficult the issue may be, our diligent attorneys are prepared to sit down and work with you to develop a strategy and achieve a solution. Tax services we provide in San Francisco include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Business entity selection
- Business transactions
- California sales tax audits
- Tax havens
- C corporations and S corporations
- Limited liability companies (LLCs
- Business succession planning
- California employment tax audits
- Employment tax
- Worker classification audits
- General partnerships and limited partnerships (LPs)
- Sole proprietorships
- Inbound International Taxation
International Tax Attorneys in San Francisco, CA
The United States is one of the only countries in the world to impose taxes based on citizenship instead of residency. Under this system of “citizenship-based” taxation, many taxpayers are subject to tax laws of which they are unaware. Examples of taxpayers who may be impacted by international tax law issues include:
- Recent immigrants or frequent business travelers who have income generating assets & businesses and their associated bank & financial accounts in foreign countries
- Taxpayers who have dual citizenship with the United States
- Taxpayers who have recently sent money to the U.S. via wire transfer
- S. expats who live and/or work abroad
Taxpayers who belong in these categories are, for example, generally subject to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), which requires U.S. citizens and companies to report foreign income and foreign information to the IRS. This foreign information is typically reported by filing FinCEN Form 114 (otherwise known as the Foreign Bank Account Report, or “FBAR”), filing Form 8938 (Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets) under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and meeting a multitude of other requirements for international taxpayers.
The failure to report global taxable income accompanied by omitting the related required foreign information reporting that would flag the unreported offshore income can lead to draconian civil or even criminal tax and foreign information reporting penalties, depending on whether such failure was seen as negligent or “willful” & whether accompanied by underreported taxable income or not.
Our San Francisco FinCEN Form 114 Attorneys & CPAs specialize in guiding taxpayers through the intricacies of FinCEN Form 114, a mandatory IRS form for reporting offshore bank & financial accounts. Our award-winning team, with a long track record in international tax representation, ensures compliance, safeguards your legal rights, and strategizes to minimize IRS tax civil and criminal tax and foreign information reporting penalties.
Contact our San Fransico office at (800) 681-1295 or (415) 287-6568or contact us here online for assistance on the following:
- Compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act
- FinCEN Form 114 Reporting
- FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) Compliance
If you’re engaged in international business or managing foreign assets, navigating the complex landscape of global taxation is crucial to success. At the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing in San Francisco, our team of dual-licensed Domestic and International Business Tax Attorney in San Francisco, CA is poised to protect your interests.
Addressing compliance oversights timely and correctly is essential, with the IRS currently escalating its efforts to uncover unreported global investment income & unreported offshore businesses and financial accounts. Now is the time to enlist experienced international tax counsel to review the international aspects of your U.S. tax filing history, ensuring compliance that minimizes additional tax penalties & interest and avoids criminal tax prosecution at all costs.
Whether you’re an American expatriate or have multiple offshore business entities and investments, we provide meticulous attention to ensure your international tax dealings are reported with precision and foresight.
Our association with Marc Schwartz, a dually licensed International Tax Attorney and CPA, greatly enhances our ability to address the often complex federal offshore tax planning, compliance, and controversial implications surrounding engaging in international business and the associated mandatory information reporting.
- Tax Planning for American Expatriates and Businesses
- International Tax Liability Minimization
- International Estate Planning
- Business Succession Planning
- International Tax Treaty Application
- U.S. Entity Formation for Non-Resident Aliens
- International Tax Mistake Rectification
- International Business Entity Structuring
- Offshore Income-generating Assets
- Tax Planning for Foreign Companies
- Compliance with IRS Form 5472 for Foreign-Owned U.S. Corporations
- Tax Compliance for Expats
- Transfer Pricing Compliance and Penalties Avoidance
- Double Taxation Avoidance
Dual Licensed San Francisco Cryptocurrency Taxation Attorneys and CPAs
At the San Francisco branch of the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing, our team of San Francisco Bitcoin and Virtual Currency Tax Attorneys and CPAs is profoundly knowledgeable in the complexities of cryptocurrency taxation. We provide expertise in handling the unique tax reporting challenges of this rapidly evolving sector, including the nuances of dealing with airdrops, managing tax implications of defunct cryptocurrency exchanges, and strategizing around tax complications caused by volatile market conditions.
Our services extend a crucial opportunity for taxpayers who may have inadvertently or intentionally avoided cryptocurrency income tax reporting obligations, enabling them to self-report through voluntary disclosure programs or amended returns based on the perceived risk involved. This correct approach can significantly reduce the risk of criminal tax prosecution and potentially lessen civil tax penalties.
In San Francisco, we offer the combined expertise of Tax Attorneys and CPAs, specialized in the tax ramifications and reporting of virtual currency transactions. Our services range from organizing and, where necessary, reconstructing cryptocurrency transaction records to providing informed advice on reporting virtual currency on tax returns especially where the returns are being amended or are delinquent and therefore the audit risk is heightened.
We are also adept at handling cryptocurrency based IRS criminal tax investigations & eggshell audits. Our goal is to ensure compliance with the ever-changing tax regulations and to mitigate tax reporting risks associated with cryptocurrency transactions for taxpayers and investors in San Francisco.
For San Francisco residents dealing with the intricate world of cryptocurrency taxation, our experienced attorneys are ready to offer their support and guidance. Contact the San Francisco office of the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing at (415) 287-6568 to book an initial consultation at a reduced rate. Discover how our expertise in cryptocurrency taxation can assist you in staying compliant and navigating the complex tax landscape surrounding digital currencies. For more detailed information, please refer to the following:
- Cryptocurrency/Bitcoin tax law 101
- Accuracy-related Penalties as dictated by sections 6662, 6721 and 6722
- Reporting Bitcoin transactions on IRS Form 8949 and Schedule D filing
- Third-party Settlement Organization on a Form 1099-K
- 1031 exchanges with digital currencies
- John Doe summons
- Capital Gains Taxes
- Self-employment tax for Bitcoin mining
- Using Bitcoin to Commit Tax Evasion
- Responding to IRS letters on unreported cryptocurrency
- Reporting requirements for virtual currency payments
- Voluntary disclosure for unreported cryptocurrency transactions
- (IRS-CI) Expanding to Target Crypto Users
- Big Data Analytics to Punish Tax Evaders
- Representation in eggshell audits and criminal tax investigations for cryptocurrency
- International FBAR Lawyers for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Tax Issues
- Coinbase User Audits
Dual Licensed San Francisco Sales Tax Attorneys and CPAs
In San Francisco, businesses that are responsible for collecting sales tax must ensure they accurately remit these taxes to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA). Discrepancies, such as failing to remit collected taxes or improperly taxed transactions, can lead to a California sales tax audits by the CDTFA. Considering the critical role of sales tax, which forms a significant portion of the California’s revenue, sales tax audits are frequent in California, particularly for businesses in high-risk sectors. If your San Francisco business is selected for a sales tax audit, it’s crucial to stay calm and immediately seek the assistance of our dual-licensed San Francisco, CA Sales Tax Audit Lawyers.
Given the recent changes in California sales tax laws, particularly following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision expanding state authority over online sellers, it’s beneficial to have our dual-licensed San Francisco, CA Internet Sales Tax Attorney + CPAs guide you. Our services include internet sales tax audit representation, small business tax planning, and bookkeeping services, leveraging our deep understanding of the evolving business tax landscape. We are well-versed in the intricacies of California sales tax nexus, the differences between sales and use tax. Rely on our San Francisco Sales Tax Attorneys and CPAs for comprehensive advisory and representation, ensuring that your business navigates and flourishes within California’s complex regulatory framework.
- Sales and Use Tax Audits and Litigation
- Internet Sales Tax
- Common issues encountered during sales tax audit
- Criminal Exposure as a Result of Sales Tax Audits
In Need of Tax & Estate Planning in San Francisco
Our dual-licensed San Francisco Estate & Income Tax Planning Attorneys and CPAs offer comprehensive tax & estate planning services. We are dedicated to ensuring that your final wishes are respected and that you provide effectively for your loved ones after your passing. By combining our expertise in financial planning, legal counsel, taxation, and accounting, we aim to help you secure and preserve your wealth for future generations. Estate planning is a crucial process that requires the compassionate and effective guidance of a knowledgeable tax professionals. Our services encompass the creation of tax-efficient estate plans that align with your personal goals, assistance in preparing and filing estate tax returns, and providing expert advice on the implications of gift taxes.
Estate planning involves various elements, each of which must be tailored to your unique financial situation. This includes considering the size of your estate, the number of beneficiaries, and the complexity and locations of your assets, both domestically and internationally. This is especially pertinent if your holdings include offshore business & bank, financial and investment accounts. Our experienced California Estate Planning attorneys, supported by a team of CPAs and CPA candidates, have decades of experience in guiding clients through the nuances of wills, trusts, advanced healthcare directives, and other estate planning and administration matters. In San Francisco, we provide assistance in:
- Representing the Executor/Trustee of an Estate
- Wills and Trusts
- International Estate Planning
- Drafting revocable/irrevocable trusts
- Single-jurisdictional wills
- Creating generation-skipping trusts and family dynasty trusts
- Drafting living wills and living trusts
- Estate tax planning
- Malpractice Traps
- Utilizing tax-exempt organizations and foundations in the estate planning process
- Business succession planning
- Integrating retirement plans into estate planning
- Preparation of family limited partnership and limited liability company tax returns
- Independent estate administration
- Inventory Assets
- Decedent’s testamentary instrument
- Drafting durable powers of attorney and directives to physicians
- Guardianship and conservatorship services
Click on the following to learn more about our San Francisco Tax Services:
San Francisco Bitcoin and Virtual Currency Tax Attorney
San Francisco IRS Tax Fraud Defense Attorney + CPA
San Francisco Tax Audit Attorney + CPA
San Francisco Tax Litigation Attorney
San Francisco, CA Audit Appeals and Litigation Attorney
San Francisco, CA Tax Audit Lawyer
San Francisco Innocent/Injured Spouse Attorney + CPA
San Francisco Domestic and International Tax Compliance & Preparation Attorney + CPA
Domestic and International Business and Tax Attorney in San Francisco, CA
San Francisco IRS Federal Tax Audit Attorney + CPA
San Francisco California State Tax Audit Attorney + CPA
San Francisco Business Tax Attorney + CPA
San Francisco Criminal Tax Audit Defense Attorney + CPA
San Francisco Passive Income Tax Attorney + CPA
San Francisco Aerospace Tax Attorney + CPA
Dually Licensed Tax Attorney in San Francisco for Entertainment Agencies
Dually Licensed Tax Attorney + CPA for Artists
San Francisco Architect Tax Attorney + CPA
San Francisco Business Consultant Tax Attorney