Tax Attorney in Butte County

Yes — in Sacramento. The U.S. Tax Court designates Sacramento as a place of trial under Tax Court Rule 140. Sessions are held at the Robert T. Matsui U.S. Courthouse at 501 I Street, Sacramento 95814, roughly 90 minutes south of Oroville and Chico on Highway 99. Butte County petitioners typically designate Sacramento on Tax Court petitions, which avoids the longer drive to San Francisco or Los Angeles for trial. The Court calendars Sacramento sessions several times per year.

Both offices share the County Center campus in Oroville. The Butte County Treasurer-Tax Collector at 25 County Center Drive, Oroville 95965 handles property-tax billing, collection, payment plans for defaulted property, and the annual tax-defaulted property auction. The Butte County Assessor at 25 County Center Drive, Suite 100, Oroville 95965 sets the assessed value of each parcel. Disputes over assessed value go to the Assessor, then to the Butte County Assessment Appeals Board. Disputes over the amount owed or the bill itself go to the Treasurer-Tax Collector. Prop 13 base-year-value transfers, Prop 19 parent-to-child exclusions, and Prop 8 decline-in-value applications — particularly relevant for Paradise and Magalia rebuild parcels still recovering market value — all route through the Assessor.

Three doctrines run at once. First, IRC §1033 involuntary conversion lets you defer recognition of gain to the extent insurance and Trust proceeds exceed adjusted basis, provided you reinvest in replacement property of like kind within the statutory window — four years for a principal residence in a federally declared disaster area, two years for other property. Second, the IRC §121 $250,000 (single) or $500,000 (joint) exclusion for gain on a principal residence may apply if the destroyed home qualified. Third, the PG&E Fire Victim Trust distribution itself is allocated across claim categories: physical-injury and physical-sickness recoveries under IRC §104(a)(2) are excludable; property-loss recoveries are recovery-of-basis and excess-over-basis (gain); emotional-distress amounts not attributable to physical injury are taxable; and punitive components are taxable. The Trust does not provide a per-claimant tax allocation — that work falls on the recipient and the recipient's counsel. Many 2018 returns also took the §165(i) prior-year election to claim the casualty loss against 2017 income, which produced refunds in the fire year itself.

Possibly. Under IRC §165(h) as amended by the TCJA, personal casualty losses are deductible after 2017 only when attributable to a federally declared disaster. Paradise was inside the 2018 federal disaster declaration, so the Camp Fire loss qualified. The federal statute of limitations on refund claims under IRC §6511(a) is generally three years from the original filing or two years from payment, whichever is later — but federally declared disaster postponements under IRC §7508A can stretch that window for affected taxpayers. Carryforwards of casualty-loss NOLs into open years remain available where the original year is closed but the carryforward year is still open. The math is fact-specific — pull the original return, the loss calculation, and the postponement notices before deciding to amend.

Depends on the components. Under IRC §117, qualified scholarships and fellowships used for tuition and required fees are excludable from gross income. Amounts used for room, board, travel, equipment, and other living expenses are not excludable and are taxable as ordinary income. Amounts paid in exchange for required teaching, research, or other services — the §117(c) services exception — are taxable as compensation, even if they are labeled "stipend." A typical CSU Chico graduate student package mixes all three components, and the university's reporting on a 1098-T versus a 1099-NEC or W-2 has been inconsistent year to year. The audit risk concentrates on filers who excluded the entire package under §117 and on out-of-state students who claimed California residency for the §25A American Opportunity or Lifetime Learning Credit without establishing residency under FTB Pub. 1031.

Four pieces. First, the IRC §1301 farm income averaging election spreads a peak-income year against the three prior base years, smoothing the marginal rate. Second, crop-insurance proceeds and disaster payments under IRC §451(f) can be deferred one year where the operator's normal practice would have sold the crop in the year after harvest. Third, prepaid farm expenses under IRC §464 are deductible in the prepayment year subject to the 50-percent-of-other-deductible-expenses cap. Fourth, the §199A pass-through deduction interacts with co-op patronage dividends through §199A(g) — an operation that markets through a co-op like Lundberg or Sunsweet has a different calculation than one that sells directly. Equipment expensing under §179 and bonus depreciation under §168(k) layer on top, and the §175 soil-and-water conservation deduction reaches certain land-improvement costs. Coordinating all five takes a planning conversation, not a tax-season scramble.

Yes — three of them. FTB compromise authority sits at Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §19443 (filed on FTB Form 4905 PIT for individuals or 4905 BE for entities). CDTFA operates a parallel offer program for sales-and-use tax. EDD compromise authority sits at Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code §1192 for payroll-tax liabilities. Each program has its own form, financial disclosure standard, and review path. The FTB §19443 compromise unit sits in headquarters at 9646 Butterfield Way in Rancho Cordova, 90 minutes south of Oroville. Submitting an FTB OIC does not affect a federal IRS OIC; the two are evaluated by separate teams under different RCP standards, and California is generally tougher on primary-residence equity than the IRS — a factor in rebuild-area Paradise files where the new home represents most of the household's net worth.

Two periods matter. For FTB assessment, Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §19057 generally gives the FTB four years from a filed return to assess, with no statute on unfiled returns. For FTB collection, §19255 gives the FTB 20 years from the latest of assessment, due date, or final return filing — double the federal 10-year period under IRC §6502. CDTFA assessment runs three years under §6487 (eight for unfiled or fraud), with collection generally 10 years under §6711. EDD has its own windows under the Unemployment Insurance Code. A Butte County filer who watches the federal CSED expire in 2026 may still face FTB collection until 2036 on the same year — and the FTB's reach into California-source income survives a move to Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, or any other state after a Camp-Fire-driven relocation.

Yes. The IRS examines federal income tax under the Internal Revenue Code; the FTB examines California state income tax under the Revenue and Taxation Code. The two agencies operate independent audit programs but share information through formal information-exchange agreements. An IRS adjustment to federal taxable income is reported to the FTB under the federal-state agreement, and a Revenue Agent Report can trigger a parallel California assessment within four years. CDTFA sales-tax audits and EDD payroll audits can run alongside both. A single Butte County small business — say, a Chico restaurant, a Lake Oroville lodging operator, or an Oroville auto shop — can have a 2022 tax year open in four different forums at once.

Probably yes, on both sides. Federal IRC §6672 assesses a Trust Fund Recovery Penalty against any "responsible person" who "willfully" failed to pay over withheld taxes — the FICA and federal income-tax withholding portion of Form 941, not the employer's share. The IRS conducts a Form 4180 interview to identify responsible persons. Anyone with check-signing authority, payroll-decision authority, or knowledge of unpaid taxes can be assessed. On the California side, Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code §1735 assesses personal liability for EDD payroll-tax withholding (SDI, PIT withholding) against the same class of responsible persons. CDTFA sales-tax personal liability under Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §6829 operates under similar principles. For a Chico downtown restaurant, an Oroville auto shop, a Paradise rebuild contractor, or a Lake Oroville marina that closes with unpaid 941s, the owner usually faces all three exposures simultaneously.

Quarterly estimates. The W-2 from Enloe withholds at the rate driven by your W-4 election, often at the marginal-rate-minus-allowances level. The 1099 from outside locum work has zero withholding. For a physician household at the 35 to 37 percent federal bracket plus 11.3 to 13.3 percent California, every $100,000 of unwithheld 1099 income generates roughly $46,000 to $50,000 of combined tax due in April plus the federal self-employment tax of 15.3 percent on net earnings (capped on the Social Security portion). The fix is Form 1040-ES quarterly payments under IRC §6654, sized to either 90 percent of the current-year tax or 110 percent of the prior-year tax for higher earners. RSU vests can be handled with a one-time Form W-4 adjustment or a supplemental withholding election with the employer.

Yes. IRC §7345 authorizes the IRS to certify "seriously delinquent" federal tax debt — currently $62,000 for 2026, indexed for inflation — to the State Department, which may then deny passport renewal or revoke an active passport. Certification reverses when the debt is paid, an IA is in place, an OIC is accepted, an active CDP hearing is pending, or Innocent Spouse Relief is in process. Enloe physicians with international medical-mission obligations, CSU Chico faculty with academic-conference and research travel, Sierra Pacific corporate staff with cross-border project work, and Butte residents with overseas family travel all need to address §7345 certifications before travel.

Federal and California tax treatment of tribal members involves several distinct doctrines. Income earned by an enrolled tribal member from sources on the tribe's reservation is generally exempt from state income tax under the McClanahan v. Arizona doctrine and conforming California treatment under FTB Notice 2006-3, but federal income tax generally applies under IRC §61 unless an Indian Treaty or specific federal statute provides an exception. Per-capita distributions to enrolled members from gaming revenue under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act are taxable federally as ordinary income but are not subject to FICA or SE tax. The Tyme Maidu Tribe operates Gold Country Casino & Hotel in Oroville and the Mooretown Rancheria of Maidu Indians operates Feather Falls Casino & Lodge near Oroville. Non-tribal-member employees of either casino are taxed normally on their W-2 wages. The intersection of tribal-tax doctrine, federal income tax, state income tax, and gaming-revenue treatment is fact-intensive. We coordinate with tribal counsel where appropriate.

No. The firm is headquartered at 1100 S. Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles, but we represent clients throughout Butte County by phone, secure document portal, and email. Most engagements never require an in-person meeting. When in-person matters — an FTB headquarters conference at Rancho Cordova, a Tax Court trial at the Matsui Courthouse on I Street, a U.S. District Court appearance in the same building, an OTA hearing at 400 R Street, or a Butte County Superior Court appearance at the Oroville or Chico courthouse — we coordinate appropriately. Some Butte County clients meet by Zoom, others prefer phone, and we make the trip to Sacramento, Oroville, or Chico when the case calls for it.

Yes. Communications between you and a California-licensed attorney for the purpose of seeking legal advice are protected by California Evidence Code §954 attorney-client privilege and the parallel federal common-law attorney-client privilege, subject to the usual exceptions (crime-fraud, waiver). The narrower federally-authorized tax practitioner privilege under IRC §7525 applies to non-attorney CPAs and EAs but does not extend to criminal-tax matters. An attorney handling your tax case retains the broader privilege that survives criminal investigation.