One of The Best Tax Attorneys in Oxnard

Situated on California’s scenic coastline, Oxnard is home to more than 200,000 people, making it the largest city in Ventura County. But while Oxnard is known for its sunny beaches, thriving agricultural and manufacturing industries, and affluent neighborhoods, local residents face one of the country’s strictest and most detailed tax codes, which is rigidly enforced by tax authorities like the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) and the IRS. The FTB and other agencies also coordinate with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), performing tax audits, investigating fraud, and assessing costly taxes, interest, and penalties. If you need help resolving a California or federal tax issue, turn to the Oxnard tax lawyers at the Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing for counsel you can depend on.

California, Federal, and International Tax Services in Oxnard

The Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing is a full-service California tax law firm handling the complete spectrum of civil, criminal, state, federal, international, personal, and business tax matters. With offices located in Oxnard’s Riverpark neighborhood on the banks of the Santa Clara River, we are conveniently positioned to serve taxpayers and business entities throughout the region.

Whether you live in Oxnard, own a small business in Oxnard, or do business with vendors in the community, our knowledgeable team of Tax Attorneys and CPAs is ready to provide you with the support and guidance you require. No matter what sort of case we are assisting a taxpayer with, from audit representation to tax planning to criminal tax defense, our mission is always threefold: to mitigate your penalties and tax liabilities, to help you use the tax code to your advantage, and to ensure your compliance with state and federal tax regulations all the while protecting your liberty.

We work with individual taxpayers, business entities, and other organizations, including S corporations, C corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs), sole proprietorships and more. Led by dually-certified California Attorney-CPA David W. Klasing, our versatile, award-winning taxpayer advocates apply decades of combined experience to every case, sharpened by cutting-edge research into the latest regulatory and legislative developments. Tax services we provide in Oxnard include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Business Tax Services
  • Business Entity Selection and Formation
  • Business Succession Planning
  • Business Transactions

• International Tax Services
  • FATCA and FBAR Compliance
  • Tax Services for U.S. Expats
  • Voluntary Disclosure Programs

IRS, FTB, CDTFA (BOE), or EDD Audit Defense

No matter what kind of audit you are dealing with, it is important to contact a tax attorney who can help guide you through the process and mitigate any potential damages to your net worth or to your very liberty. Below we discuss four of the major agencies that conduct audits in California.

IRS Audit Representation

The IRS conducts audits related to your federal tax returns. This can involve your personal tax return or tax returns filed by your business (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 3 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.

Types of IRS, FTB, CDTFA and EDD Audits

The IRS, FTB, CDTFA and EDD conduct three distinct types of audits: correspondence audits, office audits, and field audits. Likely one of the first questions your dual licensed Tax Lawyer & CPA will ask you when you discover you are being audited is about which type of audit you are facing. The reason for this is that you can tell a lot about what the federal of California government is after and how thorough they will be simply by identifying which type of audit they have decided to pursue.

Correspondence, office, and field audits differ by how they are conducted and how in-depth the audit is. There are also two informal names for audits based on their content. An eggshell audit occurs when the taxpayer is aware of a substantial noncompliance on their tax return that could be viewed as intentional income tax evasion the auditor is not aware of. Reverse eggshell audits occur when the auditor suspects tax fraud and begins to collect information for a clandestine criminal tax investigation without informing the taxpayer. Eggshell and reverse eggshell audits are especially risky and prone to becoming a criminal tax investigation followed by prosecution.

Correspondence Audits

Correspondence audits, also known informally as “mail audits,” are initiated when the IRS, FTB, CDTFA and EDD, sends you a letter asking for documents and records to back up the information on your tax return. This type of audit will ordinarily be conducted through correspondence rather than in person. While this ordinarily is the least risky type of audit, if you have cheated on the return at issue, you could be at risk for criminal tax prosecution especially if you are facing an eggshell audit. A dual licensed Tax Lawyer & CPA 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 and EDD will usually come to a resolution on a correspondence audit within three to six months.

Office Audits

The second type of audit you could be facing is an office audit. In an office audit, you will be required to bring the requested documents and records to an IRS, FTB, CDTFA and EDD office where agents will review them in person and interview you. You should always have one of our dual licensed Tax Lawyer CPAs prepare you for and accompany you to such a meeting. Since 70% of communication is nonverbal and a person being audited is normally nervous, it is often better to have your Tax Attorney & CPA attend the audit on your behalf. Office audits typically resolve themselves within three to six months, but if the taxpayer makes mistakes or does not cooperate fully, the government may decide to further instigate a field audit.

Field Audits

Field audits are the typically the most serious civil audits, eggshell audits, reverse eggshell audit or criminal tax investigations that the IRS, FTB, CDTFA and EDD can undertake. If you are the target of a field audit, the federal of California agents will often attempt to come to your home, place of business, or both, and conduct their investigation on site. A field audit is commonly used when conducting a net worth analysis. If the IRS suspects that your income is understated on your tax returns, they will attempt to visit your home to analyze your standard of living. If you live in a way that requires more income than reported, the auditor may use that net worth analysis as potential evidence of criminal tax fraud.

A field audit for a business can be extremely invasive and disruptive to business operations. The auditor can request interviews with employees and tours of offices or other business facilities. Revenue agents frequently compare reported income from sales to your actual sales data, they could speak to your suppliers to confirm the number of materials you have purchased, they could examine any inventory stored on site and examine your inventory valuation methods especially where you are a manufacturer and utilize many other methods to confirm the company’s reported activities. The sheer amount of information available to an auditor during a field audit is alarming and difficult to control. If the audit is also an eggshell or reverse eggshell audit, there is a significant chance that the audit could become a criminal tax investigation.

This is the most serious type of audit, and you may need to contact a tax lawyer right away to avoid potentially devastating civil and criminal consequences. Attorneys are far better suited to represent you in any audit as they are trained in the art of persuasion and can leverage their ability to bring an appeal or litigation should the IRS get either the facts or the law wrong in conducting and concluding your audit. No tax professional is better suited to get you the optimal results.

Eggshell Audits

As mentioned, eggshell audits frequently occur when the taxpayer intentionally and materially understates revenue, overstates expenses, or claims credits they are not entitled to, but the auditor is unaware of these issues at the outset of the audit. From the IRS’s perspective, the audit is routine, and no tax fraud is initially suspected. The taxpayer and their representative, ordinarily view such an audit as a minefield. Seemingly innocuous questions could result in information that alerts the auditor to the underlying potentially criminal noncompliance.

There are a wide variety of issues that can create an eggshell audit. Generally, any material error on a tax return that significantly increases tax liability is of concern. Even an aggressive position on a tax return can become a criminal tax exposure especially as tax law changes over time. If you doubt the legitimacy of a previous tax position and you are being audited, consult our dual-licensed Tax Lawyers & CPAs for advice.

Eggshell audits can be survived. Our firm routinely deals with them, and we have not had a client go to jail over an eggshell audit yet. The IRS rarely completes an audit without discovering noncompliance. If a taxpayer lies, makes criminal tax admissions, or otherwise gets caught intentionally covering up known tax fraud, the consequences of those actions can be catastrophic.

We counsel taxpayers to respond accurately to IRS requests while only providing the minimum amount of information required. Our dual-licensed Tax Lawyers & CPAs can assist with developing and reviewing responses to the IRS to help ensure excess & potentially incriminating information is minimized. Additionally, our dual licensed Tax Attorney & CPAs can intervene if potentially criminal tax noncompliance is at issue and assist with keeping the audit purely about money where possible. Preventing a referral for a criminal tax investigation is our main goal in an eggshell audit. Engaging an dual licensed Criminal Tax Defense Attorney & CPA as early as possible to represent you in an audit is your best chance at keeping the audit purely civil and avoid a criminal tax investigation followed by criminal tax charges, prosecution and jail time.

Reverse Eggshell Audits

An eggshell audit reverses when the party withholding information is the IRS. This scenario results in a potential clandestine criminal tax investigation taking place under the guise of a civil audit. If the taxpayer is not notified of an ongoing criminal tax investigation, they will not ordinarily hire criminal tax defense counsel and consequently their unprepared and unqualified representatives, often the original preparer, rarely adequately prepare a defense and are thus prone to revealing incriminating information that can be used to prosecute the taxpayer and potentially the preparer as well. The original preparer also has a conflict of interest where they are likely to bury the taxpayer to protect their own reputation with the taxing authorities while trying to not go to jail themselves. The IRS benefits from these types of audits because criminal tax evidence can be collected while the taxpayer, and often their tax preparer representing them in the audit, are none the wiser. Taxpayers and their representatives are also more open and forthcoming if they believe that the audit results from mere random selection as opposed to actual suspicion of tax evasion. Therefore, our specially trained dual-licensed Tax Lawyers & CPAs are highly beneficial to any audit – even those involving seemingly harmless audits. There may be more to the audit than meets the eye, and only a specially trained an experienced dual licensed criminal tax defense attorney & CPA will be in the absolute best position to recognize the possible red flags.

Audits that are initially routine can turn into a reverse eggshell audit very quickly and be easily missed by the untrained eye. Formally, an IRS agent is required to halt any audit and refer it for criminal tax investigation if clear indications of fraud are found. However, whether something constitutes a clear indication of tax fraud is subjective, and auditors often continue a civil audit while collecting criminal tax evidence. In such cases, your attorney can spot the warning signs and advise on possible legal options including the potential to block illegally collected evidence.

If you or your business has been subjected to a reverse eggshell audit that led to a criminal tax investigation, you may be able to fight against the admission of some evidence at a trial. Since civil audits must end when tax fraud is indicated, any evidence collected after that point could be subject to a motion to suppress. Your dual licensed Criminal Defense Tax Attorney & CPA can evaluate if this option fits your situation.

Regardless of whether you know a reverse eggshell audit is occurring or not, full compliance with the IRS is expected. If you are concerned about incriminating yourself, you should speak with our dual-licensed Tax Lawyers & CPAs. We can help you provide responsive answers to the IRS while avoiding incrimination or offering excessive information. Reverse eggshell audits are exceptionally risky. Engaging a dual licensed Tax Lawyer & CPA early in the audit is your absolute best opportunity to mitigate those potentially life & career altering risks. Don’t forget that tax fraud is an act or moral turpitude that can cost you your career on top of your liberty and net worth.

California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) Audit Representation

The California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) conducts audits related to issues with California state personal and business income tax returns. Even if you were not found to owe the IRS anything after a federal audit, you may be found to owe money to California because of differences between California and Federal tax law. California 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.

Like with federal audits, if you are erroneously determined to owe money to California, a lawyer can work to challenge any incorrect findings, mitigate damages, and work out a payment plan to pay them back what you ultimately owe over time.

California Employment Development Department (EDD) Audit Representation

While the IRS handles issues related to the federal payroll tax, California payroll tax issues are audited by the California Employment Development Department (EDD). Each employer in California is required to withhold taxes out of each employee’s paycheck and remit them to the state. Fines and penalties can be assessed if you fail to collect payroll taxes from your employees or fail to remit them to the proper state agency.

Many EDD audits center on the potential misclassification of workers as independent contractors when they should be legally classified as employees. Employers are required to handle payroll taxes for their employees, but not for independent contractors working for them. There are complex rules and regulations that must be followed regarding who can and cannot be classified as an independent contractor especially considering California’s recent legislation known as AB5. A skilled tax attorney can work to make sure you are classifying them correctly and help mitigate any damage from improper classification in the past.

California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) Audit Representation

The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) is tasked with conducting audits related to state sales tax issues. The amount a business is required to charge in sales tax can vary depending on the municipality and the product being sold. The CDTFA often conducts random audits of businesses in fields like the restaurant and bar industries where undercharging of sales taxes is common, especially when associated with skimming cash. This type of audit can be your worst nightmare.

Sales tax audits can be extremely invasive, requiring you to produce all records of sales you made over a 3-year period or longer. The auditor will compare the sales reported on your income tax returns to the sales reported on your sales tax returns and investigate any differences. An experienced tax attorney can work to help you reconstruct these records and can help deal with any fallout from past failures to charge, collect or remit sales taxes properly. An attorney can make sure any petition challenging a finding that you owe money is filed in a timely manner. If this is not done, you could be deemed to owe an amount you simply cannot pay, and your business could face severe collection related consequences.

How Do I Choose a Tax Lawyer in Oxnard, California?

If you are facing income, employment of sales tax issues, you can greatly benefit from having an experienced Tax Law guru at your side. We eat live and breathe federal and California taxation. Even if you are familiar with the issues you are facing, enlisting a dual licensed Tax Lawyer CPAs help can free you from the time-consuming and arduous process of preparing and defending your filings. It also greatly reduces the chances of simple but potentially costly errors that could affect your net worth or in worst case scenarios, your very liberty and ongoing ability to earn a living if you have professional licensing.

When you are searching for tax law help in Oxnard, you will want to make sure that all of your bases are covered. This is important because many tax law firms specialize in one or two areas, providing limited services to clients. If you discover that your issues range outside of that firm’s practice, you may be forced to seek out the help of yet another firm. In all likelihood, this will cost you more time and money, and may even lead to communication breakdowns between the firms, ego battels and territorialism which could make your existing problems that much harder to handle.

You should also put considerable stock into where your dual licensed Tax Lawyer practices. Firms that are not local to Oxnard may not be familiar with the particulars of state taxes that apply to you specifically. If a firm is located far from you, your lawyer may have a difficult time with setting up an in-person consultation with you or accompanying you during a hearing or audit. David Klasing is an instrument rated private pilot and owns a very fast yet economical airplane.  He can be in Oxnard in less than an hour after getting airborne and does not charge for travel time. 

Fortunately for you, the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing prevents any of these issues from affecting our Oxnard clients. Our dual-licensed Tax Attorneys and CPAs bring interdisciplinary knowledge to our representation so that we can address any tax issues that may arise. We operate at locations throughout the State of California, including Oxnard, and are intimately familiar with the unique tax regulations that affect you.