San Bernardino Tax Attorney and CPA
The Best Tax Attorney in San Bernardino
San Bernardino is a great place to live with excellent services and a vibrant economy. Maintaining a strong tax base is important to provide the services in this area, which means state and federal tax authorities aggressively enforce the tax laws.
Understand that if you have common or uncommon financial and tax situations, you may need the help of a team of local San Bernardino Tax Attorneys, CPAs (certified public accountants) and EAs (Enrolled Agents) to help you work through the legal situation and avoid penalties and collection actions from California tax authorities or the IRS .
In the San Bernardino area, you may need help with tax issues in niche financial areas, such as cryptocurrency investments. Or if you have offshore bank accounts, income generating assets or businesses, you may need advice for planning for international tax situations, such as FATCA compliance and FBAR filing requirements.
Whether you’re concerned about an IRS notification regarding an audit, or you need advice for preparing to file your taxes, schedule a 10-minute call with a local San Bernardino Tax Attorney and CPA. Contact the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing for the help you need.
Just east of L.A., San Bernardino is the seat of San Bernardino County. It’s also home to more than 200,000 residents, with strong education, retail, and healthcare industries. San Bernardino’s businesses and residents are required to follow California’s complex tax code, in addition to federal tax laws. These laws are aggressively enforced by state and federal tax authorities like the IRS and Franchise Tax Board (FTB), which can impose harsh penalties for noncompliance. At the Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing, we have more than 20 years of experience assisting the San Bernardino region with tax planning, tax audits, criminal charges like tax evasion, international tax regulations like FATCA, and other tax matters. If you have a tax question, look to our San Bernardino tax lawyers for dedicated support.
California, Federal, and International Tax Services in San Bernardino
At the Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing, we are a full-service team of tax attorneys and certified public accountants (CPAs) who combine decades of hands-on experience in civil, criminal, California, federal, and international tax law, including more than a decade of experience in public auditing. Under the leadership of dually certified attorney-CPA David W. Klasing, our nationally-recognized San Bernardino tax firm is committed to providing results-oriented service. Our mission is to restrict your tax debts and penalties to an absolute minimum, help you utilize the tax code advantageously, and work with you to achieve compliance with the law.
From our San Bernardino tax offices, which are conveniently located just off I-10 near the Valley View, South Pointe, and North Central neighborhoods, our personal and business tax attorneys provide award-winning service to C corporations, S corporations, LLCs, partnerships, sole proprietors, U.S. citizens and residents, non-citizens and non-residents, U.S. expats, high net worth individuals, and other taxpayers. Whether you are seeking tax advice on how to pass an inheritance down to your children, have questions for our international tax lawyers about reporting a foreign bank account, need help preparing for a federal or California tax audit, need an aggressive tax defense lawyer to defend you against criminal charges, or want to start exploring your options for tax relief, the Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing offers around-the-clock assistance.
IRS, FTB, CDTFA (BOE), or EDD Audit Defense
Nobody likes the sound of the word audit. When an audit takes place, this means one of the federal or state taxing entities is going to look through all your books and records to ensure that you have been honest on your tax returns. Even if you have been completely honest, you may need assistance gathering and reconstructing the abundance of records they will want to look at. If you have made intentional or unintentional errors, you could face severe fines and penalties. Below we explain the four major organizations that conduct audits in the state of California.
IRS Audit Representation
The IRS conducts all audits related to federal business and personal tax returns. Audits by the IRS can occur for a multitude of reasons, including randomly, but also because of suspected issues with underreporting of income, underpaying of certain taxes, or claiming excessive amounts of tax exemptions or credits you do not qualify for. Typically, an IRS audit will look back at around 3 years of your records but, in some cases, they can go back 6 years or even back to the dawn of time if fraud is discovered.
Types of IRS Audits
Correspondance Audit
There are three types of IRS audits. The first is a correspondence audit. This will be initiated by an auditor sending you a notice in the mail that you are under audit and that the IRS requires further documentation to substantiate information on your returns. All contact between you and the auditor will take place through mail or electronically. Our Tax Lawyers and CPAs can help you reconstruct the necessary records and deal with gaps between what you can substantiate and the positions you claimed on your returns.
Office Audit
An office audit is where you are required to come into an IRS office with your records and documents for an agent to review and you will also be interviewed. You should always hire a Tax Lawyer to help you prepare and accompany you to an office audit.
Field Audit
Finally, a field audit is the most serious type of audit and involves agents coming directly to your home or place of business to look over the records in person and to interview you. These audits can lead to serious civil or criminal penalties and you should engage the services of a Tax Lawyer right away to assist you.
California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) Audit Representation
The California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) handles audits related to issues with your California income tax return. Sometimes, you might owe the FTB even if you did not owe the IRS, because California and federal tax laws are structured differently. Other times, the FTB may conduct independent audits related to the same type of issues the IRS audits or purely state-specific issues. A Tax Lawyer can help you collect the necessary records, mitigate any damage from underreporting, and work out a reasonable payment plan if necessary.
California Employment Development Department (EDD) Audit Representation
While the IRS handles issues related to the federal payroll tax, California payroll tax issues are handled by an audit from the California Employment Development Department (EDD). Employers are required to withhold state payroll taxes out of their employees’ checks and hold them in trust until it is time to remit them to the state. If you avoid collecting such taxes or collect them from employees without sending them to the state, you could face serious civil and or criminal tax penalties.
Perhaps the most common issue in EDD audits relates to classifying those who work for you as either an employee or an independent contractor. While you are required to collect payroll taxes from employees, you are not required to do so for independent contractors. The rules regarding who can be designated as an independent contractor are complex. A skilled Tax Lawyer can fight to show that you classified properly and that any improper classifications were made unintentionally.
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) Audit Representation
Sales taxes are the purview of the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA). CDTFA audits relate to potential underpaying of sales taxes or the failure to collect such taxes in the first place. These audits can be triggered randomly, especially in certain industries where cash payments are common, and sales taxes are often not charged properly. They can be extremely intrusive, asking to look at the records of every sale you made and comparisons are also made to your federal and California income tax returns.
It is important to engage a Tax Attorney as early as possible to ensure everything is conducted properly and to help you in the reconstruction of your books and records related to sales. If the CDTFA issues a finding that you owe back taxes, a tax attorney will have 30 days to file a protest to challenge it or you will be deemed to owe what they say you owe. This can be devastating for businesses if the amount is higher than what they can pay but retaining a skilled Tax Attorney can help prevent this from occurring.
In addition to the broader services described above, such as our tax planning and tax audit services in San Bernardino, we also possess the expertise to assist with niche tax issues in developing areas of the law. For example, numerous clients have sought our assistance with cryptocurrency tax matters, such as IRS Bitcoin reporting requirements. We have also established ourselves as leading authorities in the area of international taxation, such as FATCA compliance and the FBAR filing requirement for taxpayers with offshore bank accounts
From estate planning to innocent spouse relief – business formation to IRS criminal investigations – streamlined disclosure to tax preparation for individuals and corporations – the Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing approaches every matter with enthusiasm, precision, and meticulous attention to detail. To arrange a reduced-rate consultation regarding a personal or corporate tax issue, contact the Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing online, or call our San Bernardino tax office at (909) 991-7557 today.