Multistate tax problems rarely fit neatly within a single jurisdiction. A California resident may face an FTB residency audit at the same time New York asserts nonresident withholding. A Texas online seller can trigger California CDTFA economic nexus on sales, while Washington requires use tax records. Payroll and worker classification disputes can cross state lines when remote staff live outside the company’s home state. The first question clients ask is simple: where do I hire counsel? The answer turns on where the case is procedurally pending, what forums are realistically in play next, and which team has the right blend of state law, controversy practice, and accounting depth to coordinate a consistent defense across all jurisdictions.
Start with Forum and Posture
Understanding Where the Matter Actually Lives Today and Where it Will Likely Go Next
Identify the live forum first. If your immediate problem is a California Franchise Tax Board residency audit, you need counsel that handles FTB audits, protests, and appeals before the Office of Tax Appeals, and that understands California’s sourcing and domicile rules. If your issue is sales and use tax, the forum may be the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, with possible appeal to the Office of Tax Appeals. If the problem is payroll and worker status, the forum is the Employment Development Department, with a protest to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. If you have parallel exposure in another state, determine whether that state is still at the audit stage, has already issued a proposed assessment, or is likely to follow a federal or California change. You do not need to hire a separate law firm in every state the moment a question arises. Most administrative controversies are handled with a state power of attorney and remote submissions. Litigation in a state court is different. If a case must be filed or defended in a particular state court system, you will need counsel admitted to practice there or admitted pro hac vice with local counsel. A practical sequence is to have one lead controversy team run the audits and protests across states, and to add local litigation counsel only if and when a state case moves into court.
Consider Credentials and Scope of Practice
Tax Controversy Experience and Integrated Accounting Support Matter More Than Zip Code
In administrative tax work, quality and relevance of experience generally matter more than where an attorney’s office is located. Before the IRS, any attorney admitted in a United States jurisdiction can represent taxpayers nationwide with a Form 2848. At the state level, most tax agencies accept powers of attorney from attorneys, CPAs, and EAs, and allow written and teleconference practice during audit and protest. What you need is a controversy team that lives in state tax rules, can rebuild examiner grade schedules from your books and bank data, and can keep federal and state positions aligned. Multistate cases usually turn on apportionment, residency and domicile, sales and use tax nexus and exemptions after Wayfair, worker classification, information return compliance, and statute-of-limitations management. That is why a dual-licensed attorney and CPA model is valuable. You get legal advocacy and technical accounting under one roof, which avoids gaps between the legal theory and the numbers the auditor will actually test.
Use One Lead Team to Coordinate Across States
Then Add Local Counsel Only Where Required
A single lead firm can run parallel audits and protests across multiple states, maintain consistent facts and math, and manage the sequence of filings so you do not box yourself in. The lead team prepares the record that each agency needs to see, handles statute extensions or targeted remittances to stop interest, and decides the order in which federal and state issues are reported. When a matter reaches a forum that requires in-state court admission, the lead firm’s associates vet local counsel and, where permitted, seek pro hac vice admission. That way, the same core team continues to control strategy and evidence while meeting local practice requirements. This model is also critical for settlements. Many states offer administrative settlement programs that resolve protested or appealed matters based on the hazards of litigation. A lead team that sees the entire map can negotiate in one state without accidentally undermining your posture somewhere else.
Practical Selection Criteria You Can Apply Today
Pick the team that has handled your exact problem many times before, not the one that happens to be physically closest. Ask whether they regularly appear before the specific agencies involved in your case and whether they prepare the schedules that an auditor will prepare anyway. Confirm they will map assessment and refund statutes by jurisdiction, manage six-month federal change reporting where required, and plan targeted payments to control interest while you contest issues. Verify that the firm will act as lead across states and bring in local litigation counsel only when the forum truly requires it. Finally, confirm how the firm protects your communications. At the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing, our CPAs are firm employees who work under attorney direction as part of the legal team, so the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine protect their work.
Contact the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing for Multistate Tax Defense
Multistate tax controversies demand a single narrative, consistent math, and precise procedural control. At the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing, our dual-licensed tax attorneys & CPAs routinely represent clients in California income tax audits before the Franchise Tax Board, sales and use tax audits before the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, and payroll tax audits before the Employment Development Department, while coordinating parallel exposure in other states and with the IRS. We file the required powers of attorney, take over communications, and rebuild examiner-grade schedules that tie your books, bank, brokerage, merchant processors, payroll, and contracts to what you filed. We then align those reconciliations to California schedules, such as Schedule CA for individuals and Schedule R for apportionment, so your file tells one coherent story in every jurisdiction.
At the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing, we serve clients nationwide from our Irvine headquarters at 2601 Main St, Penthouse, Irvine, CA 92614, and through California satellite offices in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Panorama City, Oxnard, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, Bakersfield, Sacramento, and Carlsbad. We also maintain out-of-state satellite offices for federal tax matters only in Las Vegas, NV; Phoenix, AZ; Albuquerque, NM; Salt Lake City, UT; Washington, D.C.; New York, NY; Miami, FL; Austin, TX; and Honolulu, HI.
When a matter must be litigated in a forum that requires local admission, we associate vetted local counsel and, where permitted, seek pro hac vice admission so strategy and evidence remain unified. Throughout, we map assessment statutes and refund periods by year and by state, manage six-month reporting of federal changes where applicable, and use targeted remittances to stop interest on amounts placed on account while disputes are resolved. If a settlement path is available, we evaluate the risks of litigation and pursue an administrative settlement that improves your outcome without creating collateral problems in another state. If collections have already started, we stabilize the file and address liens, levies, and payment plans while the controversy proceeds on the merits.
If you are facing a multistate tax issue, you do not need a separate firm in each jurisdiction to make progress. You need a lead controversy team that knows how the agencies think, how the math is built, and how to keep the calendar and forums under control. To speak confidentially with our dual licensed Tax Attorneys and CPAs, call 800-681-1295 or book a reduced rate initial consultation with the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing online HERE today.
