Santa Barbara Tax Attorney and CPA

One of The Best Tax Attorney in Santa Barbara

Whether your financial situation is one of a single-income household, a family with children, independent investors, small to middle market business owners or management, or even one of California’s wealthiest residents, consulting with a dually licensed California Tax Attorney and CPA would be very beneficial. Our team of experienced Tax Attorneys, CPAs and EAs assembled by the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing, can help you minimize your tax burden by helping you strategically plan your investment and business transactions, and simultaneously protecting you from potential tax position errors and the associated underpayment penalties and interest.

If you are being investigated for tax crimes by the IRS or a California taxing authority, are under audit and have a history of large errors or willful income tax evasion underlies your filing history, or need help in understanding how a set of complicated domestic or international tax laws apply to you, contact our office today. The Santa Barbara Tax Attorneys, CPAs and EAs at The Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing have decades of experience helping Californians keep the IRS and California taxing authorities at bay, and are ready willing and able to help you, too. Call 800-681-1295 or schedule online today for a reduced-rate initial consultation on your tax case.

Federal Tax Attorney in Santa Barbara

For help with your Domestic, California or International United States income tax and information filing requirements, contact the Tax Attorney’s CPAs and EAs of the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing today. Our staff has decades of sophisticated professional experience with federal taxation, compliance, planning and controversy.

One of the most advantageous actions you can take to legally reduce your ongoing Federal and California tax liability is to have one of our dually licensed California Tax Attorney CPAs review your overall tax situation, examine and implement legal tax planning strategies and help you file your required income tax and information returns on a timely basis.

Failing to make your estimated tax payments or to file your federal and California taxes on time is one of the common errors that taxpayers make. If you have a history of several years of non-filed income tax returns and have earned a substantial amount of income that has to date gone unreported, talk to a Tax Attorney about your options for getting your taxes brought current without facing potential criminal tax prosecution. Our Tax Attorneys, CPAs and EAs can advise you of your options, help you file complete and accurate domestic and international income and information returns, and help you through the subsequent federal and California income tax collection actions.

International Taxation Attorneys, CPA and EAs in California

If you have overseas business holdings, investments, or accounts, you are required to file specialized income tax compliance and information returns with the U.S. government. Our office has extensive experience in minimizing the potential double taxation that can occur where a foreign country taxes your offshore assets as well as the IRS.

The U.S. government imposes strict income tax and information reporting requirements for accounts, investments and businesses held / operated outside the United States. For example, under federal law, you must file an “FBAR” - a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, to annually report any qualifying overseas accounts or face a $10,000 penalty. Moreover, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) may require you to additionally file Form 8938 or face a second potential $10,000 penalty. Willfully failing to file either or both of these forms carries significant additional tax penalties and can even lead to criminal prosecution and sanctions.

For help understanding your offshore income tax and information reporting obligations, talk to the Tax Attorneys, CPAs and EAs of the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing Today. Many of these requirements are complex and counter intuitive requiring that many actions related to these offshore holdings be reported under specific situations. Do not leave your financial welfare to chance; hire an experienced International Tax Attorney to review your offshore accounts, investments and businesses and put together a proactive international tax and information reporting plan that fits your needs.

Santa Barbara Audit Defense

Our Tax Attorneys, CPAs and EAs pride ourselves not only on our ability to play offense through comprehensive, proactive and legal tax, business and estate planning, but also on our superb ability to play defense through reactive civil and criminal tax controversy representation to minimize any potential additional tax, penalties, interest, restitution and criminal tax prosecution exposure that could follow. There are dozens of reasons you could wind up facing an audit in California, and there are numerous potential outcomes. Our Tax Attorneys, CPAs and EAs at best may be able to prove to the IRS that the taxes under audit were proper as originally filed and thus achieve a rare “no change” audit. At worst, in the case that you had errors or misrepresentations on your original Individual or Entity Tax Returns, we will fight to mitigate any additional tax, penalties and interest, which may involve presenting additional or corrected information or tax returns where appropriate, and defend you during an audit to keep the matter purely about money rather than criminal tax exposure. Schedule a consultation with our tax professionals today to understand what our firm can do for you during your IRS audit.

Appealing an IRS Tax Audit in Santa Barbara

If you do not agree with the outcome of an IRS tax audit, you should promptly discuss your legal options with an experienced Tax Appeals Lawyer in Santa Barbara, like those at The Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing. Depending on factors like the amount in dispute and your reasoning for disagreeing with the results of the audit, it may be appropriate to initiate the IRS tax audit appeals process. We will not take a client into the IRS appeals process unless we firmly believe the appeal will better the outcome of the audit by reducing the additional tax, penalties and interest assessed in a manner that more than covers the costs of our representation. This requires that the law and the facts of the case be on the client’s side and a Tax Appeals Lawyer is the best tax professional to make this determination.

An appeal is started by submitting either a “protest letter,” or tax court petition which outlines your disagreement with the audit’s findings, why you disagree with the audit’s findings, and delineates any pertinent laws and facts to bolster your position as to why the IRS is in error. Our Tax Appeals Attorneys can help to ensure that your protest letter or tax court petition contains the appropriate information, is presented in a clear, compelling, and comprehensive fashion, and reaches the appropriate destination in a timely manner to preserve your appeal rights. Our Tax Attorneys will be able to answer your questions, guide you through the process, protect your rights, and explain your responsibilities at each stage of the appeals or litigation process.

Santa Barbara Criminal Tax Defense

If you are (or soon may be) facing serious civil and criminal tax consequences related to failure to file, tax evasion, or misrepresentations or purposeful non-filing of your domestic or international tax and information returns, our Tax Attorneys, CPAs and EAs are ready, willing and able to zealously defend you. There are dozens of potential tax crimes the government has in its arsenal against you under federal law, some of which carry the potential of a $250,000 penalty ($500,000 Corporate) and up to 3 to 5 years in a federal prison per count.

If you are ever in doubt about the legality of different tax options you are considering taking or potential errors in your previous domestic and international tax and information filings, talk to a Criminal Tax Defense Attorney before you are ever investigated / charged. Our lawyers may be able to help you file amendments to tax returns, file late tax and information returns, enter you into a domestic or foreign voluntary disclosure before you are ever formally charged with a crime and effectively remove the risk of criminal prosecution.

If you are find yourself under IRS criminal investigation we can zealously defend you through either creating an uphill battle for the government to prove that a tax crime has been committed or do damage control where he evidence is overwhelming against you through the process of cooperation to set up an advantageous plea bargain.

If you know for a fact you cheated on your tax returns and are facing an egg shell or reverse egg shell audit we have a great track record of avoiding criminal prosecution for our clients that have found themselves in similar circumstances (see our testimonials).

IRS Audit Representation

The IRS handles any audits related to federal income tax returns, whether they are business or personal returns. These audits can be triggered randomly or but ordinarily are triggered by suspicious activity that makes the IRS believe you are underreporting income, underpaying taxes, or claiming exemptions or credits that do not actually apply to you. These audits typically look back over 3 years of your records, but in some cases the IRS will be permitted to look back over 6 years or more of your records.

3 Types of Audits by the IRS

There are three major types of audits by the IRS: a correspondence audit, an office audit, and a field audit. Different types of audits vary in level of thoroughness, implication of punishment, and expected time of completion, so it is important that you and your dual licensed Santa Barbara Tax Attorney & CPA identify which one you are facing. Having a Tax Lawyer & CPA on your side to assist with audit compliance can also greatly reduce the chance of a simple mistake, which may result in a longer time frame or a ramping up of the audit’s severity.

Correspondence Audit

Correspondence audits, also referred to as mail audits, are the action with the lowest level of scrutiny. A correspondence audit begins when you receive a letter from an IRS agent asking for records and documents to back up information on your tax returns. The entire audit will be conducted through correspondence by mail or electronically. Taxpayers should typically expect a correspondence audit to be resolved within three to six months of their initial response, barring any mistakes on the taxpayer’s end or discovery of any issues that warrant further examination. Our Tax Lawyers and CPAs can help you gather and reconstruct the necessary documents and correct any errors you may have made.

Office Audit

An office audit involves you bringing the requested documents and records into an IRS office where the agent will review them and interview you in real time. You will receive correspondence from the IRS setting the date and location of your office audit. Typically, you will be called to the closest available IRS field office. Similar to mail audits, office audits usually wrap up between three to six months from the date of your meeting. You should always have a dual licensed Tax Attorney & CPA accompany you to this meeting as well as prep you for the meeting. If you wish to avoid the meeting entirely or cannot make the meeting on the date in question, your Tax Attorney & CPA may be able to represent you in your stead at the office audit.

Field Audit

The most serious type of audit conducted by the IRS is a field audit. In a field audit, the agent will often wish to come to your home or place of business and look through your records and interview you in person. Field audits are usually reserved for serious cases where civil or criminal tax penalties may be considered or where multiple complex streams of income warrant particular attention. These audits may take many months or even years to resolve. Thus, you should engage the services of a dual licensed Tax Attorney & CPA as soon as you learn a field audit is going to occur.

California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) Audit Representation

Audits related to your California income tax returns are conducted by the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB). Even if a federal audit found that you did not owe any money to the IRS, you may still owe money to the FTB because of the differences in state and federal tax laws. FTB audits are ordinarily completely independent of any federal audit. The FTB conducts independent audits when they suspect underpayment which is occasionally related to California-specific issues, such as someone who lives in California but is not paying required residency taxes. An FTB audit can be just as serious as one conducted by the IRS and you should retain the services of a skilled Tax Attorney. An attorney can help you reconstruct records, challenge any incorrect findings by the FTB, and mitigate any damage by working out a payment plan with the FTB for any back taxes that you do owe.

California Employment Development Department (EDD) Audit Representation

IRS audits cover federal payroll taxes, but California payroll tax audits are conducted by an entity known as the California Employment Development Department (EDD). Every employer in California is required to withhold California payroll taxes out of each paycheck for their employees and to remit these taxes to the proper state agency. Failing to collect or remit such taxes can result not only in owing back taxes but also in serious potential civil or even criminal fines and penalties.

One of the most common issues triggering an EDD audit is the suspected misclassification of those who work for you as independent contractors as opposed to employees. While employers are required to collect payroll taxes for employees, they are not required to do so for independent contractors who work for them. However, there are tight restrictions on who can and cannot be classified as an independent contractor. A skilled tax attorney can work the EDD to attempt to prove you have been classifying correctly, that any mistakes you made were unintentional, and to mitigate the damage from any and all payroll tax issues that arise in the course of the audit.

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

The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) conducts audits related to issues with the state sales tax. What sales tax businesses are required to charge can be complex and vary depending on the locality from which they operate and the type of product they sell. For online businesses, the location of the consumer-buyer can also be a factor. If you are suspected of undercharging sales taxes or failing to remit them properly, you could be subject to a very invasive audit.

A tax attorney can help you prepare the numerous books and records you will need for such an audit, potentially including receipts and other records of every sale you made. If there was undercharging or underreporting, a lawyer can work to mitigate the potential civil or criminal fines and penalties. If you do not agree with the results of the audit, a lawyer will know how to timely file a petition challenging them so that you are not deemed to owe more than you do.