Tax Attorney in Denver, CO

Cannabis remains a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law even where Colorado has legalized it under Amendment 64. IRC §280E disallows any deduction or credit for amounts paid or incurred in carrying on a trade or business that consists of trafficking in controlled substances. The Tax Court has applied §280E against state-legal operators repeatedly — CHAMP v. Commissioner, Olive v. Commissioner, and the lead opinion in Patients Mutual Assistance Collective Corp. v. Commissioner, 151 T.C. 176 (2018). The only category that survives is Cost of Goods Sold under the Treasury inventory regulations (§1.471-3 and §1.471-11). For a Denver dispensary that means rent, payroll, security, marketing, professional fees, and similar selling expenses are not deductible — only properly-inventoriable production costs reduce taxable income. Tax-positioning work for dispensaries is built around aggressive but defensible COGS allocation and clean separation between plant-touching and non-plant-touching operations.

Yes. Colorado imposes a flat 4.40% income tax on both individuals and C corporations under Colo. Rev. Stat. §39-22-104 and §39-22-301. The rate phased down from 4.55% in 2024 through the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR, Colorado Constitution Article X §20) surplus-refund mechanism — when state revenue exceeds the constitutional cap, Colorado must rebate the excess, sometimes via a temporary rate reduction. The base for Colorado tax starts at federal taxable income with state-specific add-backs and subtractions. Colorado is one of nine flat-tax states; there are no brackets. The state sales-tax rate is 2.9% — the lowest among states that impose one — though Denver adds 4.81% city tax plus 1% RTD and 0.1% SCFD for a combined Denver retail rate near 8.81%.

The U.S. Tax Court holds Denver trial sessions at the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building at 1961 Stout Street, Denver CO 80294, with some overflow at the Alfred A. Arraj United States Courthouse at 901 19th Street. A petitioner designates Denver as the preferred place of trial on the petition under Tax Court Rule 140. Sessions are scheduled on rotation rather than monthly. If the Denver calendar is overcrowded, the case may also route to Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, or Cheyenne depending on the judge's schedule. Small-tax-case procedure under IRC §7463 is available for deficiencies of $50,000 or less per year per period.

Amended IRC §174 (effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2021) requires taxpayers to capitalize and amortize specified research expenditures — including the wages of employees performing qualified research — over five years (domestic) or fifteen years (foreign). The prior immediate-deduction option is gone. For a Denver aerospace shop with $4 million in domestic engineering payroll, only roughly $400,000 is deductible in year one, with the rest amortized across years two through five at $800,000 each (half-year convention applies in year one). The R&D credit under IRC §41 still operates and partially offsets the cash impact, but the gross income increase from §174 is real. We see Denver Lockheed, Sierra Space, Ball Aerospace, and SaaS clients reach for installment agreements and OIC analysis specifically because of the §174 cash crunch.

Often yes — on income sourced to California even after the move. Under Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §17041 and FTB Publication 1031, equity compensation that vested while you rendered services in California is California-source income on sale, even years after you relocate. Severance and deferred comp tied to California services follow the same rule. The FTB issues residency audits on a four-to-six-year lookback. Colorado is the #4 destination state for California-departing households (after Texas, Nevada, and Arizona), and the FTB residency-audit pipeline tracks the migration. The move itself is fully legal — what catches people is filing as a nonresident for the year of relocation without sourcing the pre-move California-earned items properly.

Under Colo. Rev. Stat. §39-21-107, the Colorado Department of Revenue generally has three years from the date a return was filed to assess additional income tax, extended to four years where the return omits more than 25% of gross income, with no statute where the return was fraudulent or never filed. A federal adjustment from the IRS triggers a separate one-year window for CDOR to assess the corresponding state adjustment under §39-22-601(7). The federal IRS Collection Statute Expiration Date (ten years from assessment under IRC §6502) runs independently from the Colorado SOL. For Denver transplants from California, the FTB applies a four-year SOL on assessment (extended to six years for substantial omissions and unlimited for unfiled returns) under Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §19057.

Yes. A levy under IRC §6331 reaches property and rights to property held by or for the taxpayer, including brokerage accounts. Once the broker (Fidelity, E-Trade, Charles Schwab, Morgan Stanley) receives a levy, it segregates the account and holds funds for 21 days under IRC §6332(c) before remittance. Pre-IPO restricted positions and unvested RSUs sit in different categories — the IRS levy power on contingent property is narrower — but cash-settled vested positions and vested-but-unsold shares are fully reachable. Acting in the 21-day window matters: a properly-filed CDP request or accepted CNC suspends the levy before the broker remits.

Probably yes for the federal trust-fund portion. 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. The IRS conducts a Form 4180 interview to identify responsible persons. Anyone with check-signing authority, payroll-decision authority, or knowledge of the unpaid taxes can be assessed personally — that means owners, head-of-finance, even a floor manager in certain fact patterns. Denver dispensaries face this risk acutely because banking restrictions force cash-based payroll deposits, which break down under operational pressure. On the state side, Colorado pursues responsible-person liability on withholding shortfalls under principles similar to federal TFRP.

Yes. IRC §7345 authorizes the IRS to certify "seriously delinquent" 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. The certification reverses when the debt is paid, an IA is in place, an accepted OIC is in force, an active CDP hearing is pending, or Innocent Spouse Relief is in process. Denver aerospace engineers traveling internationally for work, dispensary investors raising capital overseas, and remote workers on extended trips abroad face real revocation exposure. Decertification typically processes within 30 days once a qualifying resolution is in place.

Four items recur on Denver STR audits. First, IRC §280A limits deductions when personal use exceeds the greater of 14 days or 10% of rental days — Denver owners who block out personal cannabis-tourism weekends or ski-season visits frequently trip the personal-use clock. Second, if the average rental period is seven days or less, the activity is not "rental" for passive-loss purposes — it is a trade or business under Treas. Reg. §1.469-1T(e)(3), which means material-participation testing under IRC §469 controls whether losses are deductible. Third, schedule and depreciation classification — furniture, fixtures, and the 27.5-year residential schedule versus cost-segregation acceleration under IRC §168 — is frequently mishandled on the original return. Fourth, Denver-city Lodger's Tax compliance under Denver Revised Municipal Code Chapter 53 sits on top of state 2.9% sales tax, RTD, SCFD, and any HOA short-term-rental restrictions — the combined city-and-state rate on STR revenue is roughly 14.85%.

Federal tax-resolution fees vary by matter complexity. A straightforward Installment Agreement typically falls between $1,500 and $3,500. A full Offer in Compromise with Form 433 financial analysis runs $4,000 to $7,500. Audit defense depends on the audit type and the number of issues. A U.S. Tax Court petition with case workup and trial preparation generally starts at $6,000 and rises with case complexity. Cannabis §280E audit defense and aerospace §174 R&D credit substantiation tend to sit at the higher end because of issue complexity and the volume of substantiation work. A combined federal-plus-California FTB residency audit defense for a Denver transplant runs higher because it involves two agencies and two statutes. VTL provides a written fee quote after the free consultation. Cal Bar Rule 7.1 prohibits comparisons claiming we are cheaper or faster than competitors without verifiable substantiation, so we do not market on price.

Yes. Communications between you and a licensed attorney for the purpose of seeking legal advice are protected by federal common-law attorney-client privilege, subject to the usual exceptions (crime-fraud, waiver, third-party presence). 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 or to written tax-shelter communications. An attorney handling your tax case retains the broader privilege that survives criminal investigation, which matters significantly for cannabis-industry clients where civil examination can shift to a CID referral on financial-reporting questions.

Yes, generally. IRC §6331(k)(1) suspends levy action while an offer is pending and for 30 days after a rejection, plus during any timely-filed Appeals review of a rejection. The IRS will not levy on you while a processable OIC is being evaluated. However, the IRS may still file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien during the OIC pendency to protect its position — the lien is not a levy. CSED is also tolled during pendency, which can matter when the original ten-year clock is close to expiring. A poorly-prepared OIC that gets returned (not rejected) does not provide the same protection — processability matters, and Forms 433-A(OIC) and 433-B(OIC) must be technically complete.

For administrative protests at the CDOR Tax Conferee under Colo. Rev. Stat. §39-21-103, taxpayers may represent themselves or be represented by an attorney, a CPA, or another authorized representative through Colorado Form DR 0145 Power of Attorney. The Conferee process is informal and does not require Colorado-bar admission. For judicial review of an adverse Conferee determination in Denver County District Court under §39-21-105, an attorney admitted in Colorado is required. VTL handles the federal side of overlapping matters and the CDOR Conferee administrative track, and coordinates with Colorado counsel where state-court litigation is necessary. Many CDOR disputes resolve at the Conferee stage without ever reaching state court.

TABOR — the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Colorado Constitution Article X §20 — is a constitutional cap on state and local government revenue growth, indexed to population growth plus inflation. Any state revenue collected above the cap must be refunded to taxpayers, and any new tax or tax-rate increase requires statewide voter approval. Practical effects you may see on your Colorado return: the 4.40% flat rate is itself the product of a TABOR-driven phase-down from 4.55%, and Colorado has periodically issued direct TABOR refund checks (the "Colorado Cash Back" check of $750 single / $1,500 joint in 2022 is a recent example). TABOR refunds are generally not taxable as federal income because they are state tax refunds returned to the taxpayer, but the IRS state-tax-refund-as-income rules under IRC §111 apply where the original Colorado tax was deducted on Schedule A and produced a federal tax benefit.