Panorama City Tax Attorney and CPA

The Best Tax Attorney in Panorama City

The Federal and State (CA) Tax Attorneys at The Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing represent taxpayers in Panorama City and throughout Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and the San Fernando Valley on a variety of tax law needs. Our Tax Lawyers, CPAs and EAs are ready willing and able to represent you if you are facing a Federal or California Tax Audit or criminal tax investigation. The firm has extensive experience with the following California taxing authorities: California Department of Tax and Fee Administration “CDTFA” and its sister agency, Office of Appeals “OAT”, together formerly known as the “BOE”, Franchise Tax Board “FTB” Employment Development Department “EDD”. We will provide you invaluable assistance with understanding how the veritable sea of Tax, Estate and Gift & Business laws apply to your specific facts and circumstances and how to build and pass on wealth within the bounds of federal and state (CA) law.

For a reduced-rate consultation on your Tax, Estate and Business law needs, contact our Los Angeles Tax Lawyers today. The Tax Attorneys, CPAs and EAs at The Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing may be able to take your case, fight the IRS on your behalf, and work to keep you clear of criminal and civil tax violations if you need to play defense. We can work with you to reduce your income tax and estate taxes and run your business more profitably when it’s time to play offense.

International Taxation Lawyers

The International Tax Attorneys, CPAs and EAs at The Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing work hard to help businesses and individuals with issues regarding international and off-shore businesses, accounts, holdings and investments. Under foreign laws, these accounts, businesses and investments face foreign taxation. Our core focus is the U.S. Federal and California tax and information requirements and the illumination or minimization of double taxation where income is simultaneously taxed in the U.S. and offshore.

If you have foreign investments, businesses or accounts, our International Tax Attorneys, CPAs and EAs will help you to understand and comply with the myriad of federal income tax and information reporting requirements in order to avoid potentially net worth threatening civil and criminal penalties and to legally minimize worldwide income taxes. If you are already, or may soon become, in serious trouble with the IRS or CA, our International Tax Attorneys may be able to fight the government’s claims, help clear your name and improve your financial situation. Alternatively, if we can get out in front of your federal or California, domestic or offshore income tax or foreign reporting problems we can utilize a full blown Offshore Voluntary Disclosure (OVDP) or streamlined offshore, or domestic, voluntary disclosure to foreclose the risks of a future Federal or CA criminal tax prosecution and to minimize the potential civil penalties and interest that could apply.

Since foreign bank and investment accounts are not subject to the same mandatory 1099 taxable income reporting on items like dividends, interest and capital gains, that U.S. banks and investment firms are, the burden of reporting on foreign bank and investment account balances and investment income falls to the U.S. account holder. If you have foreign accounts, or you have signature authority over such accounts, you may be required to file periodic disclosure documents with the federal government. The most familiar of these documents to the average U.S. Taxpayer and the average tax advisor is the “FBAR,” or Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts. This document tells the U.S. government most of what it needs to know about your foreign account balances under U.S. law. However, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) may impose additional disclosure requirements depending on your individual facts and circumstances. IRS forms like Form 8938 may be a required part of your income tax filings to inform the IRS of potential offshore sources of investment income and investment balances. Failing to file required foreign information or reporting offshore sources of taxable income will assuredly set-up a taxpayer for serious civil and criminal tax complications / exposure.

Failure to File and Tax Evasion in California

The Federal and California Tax Code requires every U.S. taxpayer to file taxes every year (with certain exceptions). Willful failure to file, or intentional attempts to evade Federal or California Tax can result in Federal or State (CA) criminal tax charges.

Simply forgetting to file or filing your tax returns late, for a single tax year, will not ordinarily result in Federal or California criminal tax charges. However, both the Federal Government and the State of California can criminally prosecute a taxpayer where a multiyear pattern of non-filing exists. For California purposes, a pattern of non-filing, where taxable income has gone unreported, is in and of itself criminally prosecutable as a felony and is the most commonly prosecuted tax crime in the state. For Federal purposes, each year of non-filing is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail for each count, (i.e. 5 years of non-filing equals up to 5 years in jail) and may be ramped up to a felony where the pattern of non-filing is accompanied by actions that the IRS views as attempts to conceal the fact that you are not filing your returns as required or that are likely to mislead the government as to your requirement to file taxes in the first place, as Spies Evasion. If you fail to timely file your income taxes, the IRS may eventually create a “substitute for return” (SFR) and the state of California may issue a proposed assessment, based on the sources of income that are reported to them via form’s 1099 and W2 for example and then begin collection action for any deficiency. These assessments typically do not include the credits or deductions you would otherwise be entitled to, even where the Fed and CA knows of them, which ordinarily resulting in a higher tax burden than you would have incurred had you voluntarily filed, along with additional penalties and interest. However, intentional, willful actions aimed at cheating the IRS or the state of California out of taxes is a much more serious matter and is consequently much likelier to result in criminal tax charges. Lastly, late filed returns do not qualify for tax relief in bankruptcy.

If you think you may be charged with a tax crime, or committed serious tax errors you need to correct, talk to a Non-Filer Tax Attorney today. Our Los Angeles tax attorneys can help you deal with IRS agents, file amendments, and straighten out potential tax troubles before you are charged with a crime. In many cases, this kind of proactive representation may be able to avoid criminal tax charges before a criminal tax investigation or criminal tax indictment ever occurs.

Panorama City Audit Defense Lawyers

One of the most beneficial services our firm offers is strategic and aggressive tax audit defense. If you are being audited, or believe that you may be audited, our lawyers can help handle the IRS’ audit process, form agreements with the IRS, and challenge improper IRS decisions. Even if the audit against you is unfounded, the audit process can be long, intrusive, and stressful. Our lawyers stand between our clients and the IRS, helping explain our clients’ tax situations, arguing against IRS sanctions and changes to your tax burden, and appealing inappropriate decisions against you.

How to Appeal the Results of an IRS Tax Audit

Unfortunately, you may find yourself in disagreement with the IRS’ findings at the conclusion of your tax audit. However, you are not necessarily required to accept the initial determination. Depending on your reason or reasons for disagreeing with the audit’s outcome, you may be able to challenge the IRS via the tax audit appeals or litigation process.

To do so, you will be required to prepare a written “protest letter,” or tax court petition which must establish how and why you disagree with the audit’s outcome, while further including any laws and facts which support your argument. Your protest letter must be submitted to the address on the letter explaining your rights to appeal – not to the Office of Appeals itself, which may result in delays or processing issues.

Due to the complicated requirements of the IRS audit appeals process, it is not advisable to handle the matter yourself. Being represented by a skilled and effective Tax Appeals & Litigation Attorney in Panorama City will increase your odds of appealing successfully.

IRS Audit Representation

The IRS is the federal agency tasked with conducting audits on federal income tax returns. These can be your personal tax returns or tax returns related to your business. The IRS sometimes conducts audits completely randomly, but many times audits will be triggered by suspected underreporting of income or overreporting deductions or credits on your return. The typical amount of time the IRS can look back on your records is usually 3 years, but in certain cases they will be allowed to look back 6 years or even more. The audits should be taken seriously because if the IRS discovers any willfully false reporting, civil, and criminal tax penalties may be assessed.

Types of IRS Audits

Correspondance Audit

There are three ways the IRS might conduct an audit. A correspondence audit is the simplest way. For a correspondence audit, an IRS agent will send you a letter asking for certain documents to back up the positions taken on your tax returns. The entire audit will be conducted remotely, with contact between you and the auditor occurring through the mail, over the phone, or by email. Our Tax Lawyers and CPAs can help you prepare the necessary documents and work to quickly correct any mistakes you made on your returns.

Office Audit

In an office audit you will be required to bring the requested records and documents into an IRS office for the agents to review and you will be subjected to an in-person interview. You should always be accompanied to this meeting by your Tax Lawyer.

Field Audit

A field audit is the most serious type of audit and is often reserved for cases where the IRS is considering severe civil or criminal tax penalties. You should contact a Tax Lawyer right away if you find out a field audit is to occur, as the agents will want to come into your home or business to look through your records themselves.

California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) Audit Representation

In addition to a federal tax return, most citizens of California must file a California income tax return. Audits related to California income tax returns are conducted by the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB). Many times these “audits” will simply piggy-back off audits conducted by the IRS related to your federal returns. The results of these audits will be sent to the FTB and, even if you did not owe money to the federal government, you may still owe money to the state.

The FTB also conducts independent audits related to California-specific tax issues. Such audits should not be treated less seriously than IRS audits just because they are being done by the state. A tax lawyer can help mitigate the damage of underreporting or false reporting and limit potential fallout. If you are found to owe back taxes, a lawyer can negotiate with the FTB to work out a reasonable payment plan and keep you from paying further fines.

California Employment Development Department (EDD) Audit Representation

The California Employment Development Department (EDD) conducts audits related to issues with employment taxes paid by businesses, specifically the state payroll tax. Each business is required to collect payroll taxes from their employees and hold these funds in trust until it is time to remit them to the state. If your business fails to collect or fails to properly remit state payroll taxes, you could face serious penalties from the EDD.

One of the most common issues in an EDD audit is the classification of workers as independent contractors vs. employees. Employers are not required to collect payroll taxes from independent contractors like they are with employees. However, the state has tight and complex restrictions on who can be classified as an independent contractor and looks very poorly on those who try to avoid taxes by misclassifying. A tax lawyer can help you understand who can and cannot be classified as an independent contractor and work to resolve any issues stemming from misclassification by showing that it was unintentional.

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

The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) conducts audits related to state sales tax issues. The state sales tax can be tricky as it can vary sometimes depending on what locality your business is in, what kind of product you are selling, and where the person buying it is located. Certain industries like bars and restaurants where sales tax issues are more common are often subjected to random audits by the CDTFA, or the audit might be triggered by suspicious activity on your returns that makes them think you are failing to charge or to remit proper sales taxes.

These can be some of the most invasive audits as they will often require you to produce documents related to all of your sales, including receipts and ledgers. A skilled tax attorney can help you reconstruct the necessary records and work to prevent serious civil or criminal penalties from being imposed if it is found that you failed to properly remit sales tax revenue to the state.