Tax Attorney in Irvine, California

In Los Angeles, 35 miles north. The U.S. Tax Court calendars trial sessions in only five California cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, and Fresno) and does not sit in Irvine or anywhere in Orange County. An Irvine petitioner writes "Los Angeles, California" on the petition under Tax Court Rule 140 and the matter is calendared at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building at 255 East Temple Street, Los Angeles. San Diego is the alternate California trial city if scheduling or witness logistics warrants it (90 miles south of Irvine). For Irvine taxpayers who would rather avoid LA traffic on calendared trial days, San Diego is sometimes the practical choice; for matters tied to LA-based witnesses or Sorrento Valley or Pasadena counsel, Los Angeles is usually the default. We file the petition, pay the $60 filing fee, and prepare for the calendar call.

A common Broadcom pattern at the senior-engineer, principal-engineer, director, and VP layer since the 2018 corporate inversion and headquarters move to Irvine. Employer withholding on RSU vests defaults to the flat 22 percent federal supplemental rate (37 percent on amounts above $1 million in the calendar year). For Irvine-resident employees in California's top brackets, the actual federal rate runs 32 to 37 percent, plus 9.3 to 13.3 percent California, plus the 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax on capital-gain components. The April shortfall reaches six figures fast. Resolution options include a streamlined IA under $50,000 (Form 9465), a Non-Streamlined IA above (Form 433-F financial disclosure), or a Partial Pay IA under IRC §6159 if affordability is below standard ALE budgets. For future years, additional voluntary withholding via Form W-4 step 4(c) or quarterly Form 1040-ES estimates prevent the pattern from repeating. The same analysis applies to Edwards Lifesciences, AbbVie Aesthetics, Masimo, and Western Digital.

Generally no, and this is one of the most common Irvine return errors. Mello-Roos Community Facilities District special taxes are levied under the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 (Cal. Gov. Code §53311 et seq.) and appear on the Orange County property-tax bill alongside the ad valorem property tax. Treas. Reg. §1.164-4(b) bars deduction as state and local property tax under IRC §164 because CFD assessments are local-benefit special assessments tied to specific public-facility financing (parks, schools, roads, sewers within the CFD boundary), not general ad valorem taxes on the value of real property. Northwood, Woodbridge, Westpark, Quail Hill, Portola Springs, Stonegate, Eastwood, Cypress Village, Beacon Park, Pavilion Park, Parasol Park, and the Great Park Neighborhoods all carry one or more active CFDs. If you have been deducting the CFD portion on prior returns, we amend with Form 1040-X and California Form 540 Schedule X for each open year. If a CP2000 has already issued, we respond with the corrected calculation and request abatement of any negligence penalty under reasonable-cause principles. The base-year ad valorem property tax under Prop 13 remains deductible (subject to the $10,000 SALT cap under IRC §164(b)(6) post-2017).

Inside Irvine itself. The CDTFA Irvine Field Office sits at 16715 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 200, Irvine CA 92606. Irvine is one of only a small number of Orange County cities to host its own CDTFA office — most OC sales-tax matters route through this address. The office handles sales-and-use tax audits, fuel-tax matters, and special-tax programs across Orange County. Mark-up audits on Diamond Jamboree Korean BBQ and Asian restaurant concepts, Irvine Spectrum food-service operators, Irvine Business Complex hospitality, and online sellers headquartered in Irvine are common. The CDTFA Petition for Redetermination under R&TC §6561 has a 30-day window from the Notice of Determination. We file the petition, prepare the audit-period response, and conference with the supervising auditor before escalating to OTA. Combined Irvine sales-and-use tax sits at 7.75 percent (7.25 percent state plus the Orange County local add-on).

The FTB Santa Ana Field Office at 600 West Santa Ana Boulevard, Room 300, Santa Ana CA 92701. This is the home FTB office for Orange County residents and businesses: residency audits under R&TC §17014, Notice of Proposed Assessment protests, FTB Settlement Bureau review under §19443, and walk-in services for individual taxpayers. The location is six miles north of Irvine, off the 5 Freeway at the Main Street exit, adjoining the Santa Ana civic center. The post-2020 Irvine HNW departure-corridor audits (to Austin TX, Henderson NV, and Naples FL) route through this office; the FTB knows the corridor and applies extra scrutiny on retained Turtle Rock, Shady Canyon, Quail Hill, and Newport Coast-adjacent homes. Most resolution work runs by phone, secure portal, and written submission, but in-person hearings and conferences happen at 600 West Santa Ana when calendaring requires.

California uses the domicile test at Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §17014 and FTB Publication 1031, weighing nine factors: physical-presence days, location of family, location of primary residence, driver's license, vehicle registration, voter registration, banking, professional licenses, and business or social ties. Appeal of Bragg (2003-SBE-002) and Appeal of Bindley (2018) frame the OTA's analysis. The post-2020 Irvine HNW departure corridor concentrates on three destinations: Austin, Texas (zero state income tax, with a senior Broadcom, Edwards, and AbbVie exodus tied to relocations and second-home purchases), Henderson, Nevada (Las Vegas suburb, again zero state income tax, with Newport Coast-adjacent buyers shifting south), and Naples, Florida (zero state income tax plus Gulf Coast luxury-residence appeal). Retaining a Turtle Rock, Shady Canyon, Quail Hill, or Newport Coast home while claiming Texas, Nevada, or Florida residency is the most common reason these audits fail. The defense is a documented clean break at the time of the move: new state driver's license, new voter registration, sale or genuine arm's-length lease of the Irvine home, transfer of professional licenses, and a careful physical-presence log under the 9-month presumption rule. We assemble the file before the FTB issues a Notice of Proposed Assessment.

Possibly. The FBAR threshold under 31 USC §5314 is triggered when a U.S. person has signature or other authority over, or a financial interest in, one or more foreign accounts with an aggregate maximum value exceeding $10,000 at any point during the calendar year. "Financial interest" reaches accounts owned by you. "Signature or other authority" reaches accounts you can sign on even if you do not own them — common with elderly parent accounts at KEB Hana, Woori, Shinhan, Kookmin, NongHyup, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, and the Korea Exchange Bank. If your name is on the Seoul, Busan, or Incheon account, you file FinCEN Form 114 by April 15 (automatic extension to October 15). A separate Form 8938 under IRC §6038D may attach to the federal return at higher thresholds. Irvine holds one of the two largest US Korean-American concentrations, alongside Los Angeles Koreatown, centered on the Walnut Avenue corridor, the Korean Cultural Center, and the Northwood, Woodbridge, and Northpark communities. Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures (Domestic Offshore or Foreign Offshore) bring non-willful taxpayers current at reduced penalty exposure. Voluntary Disclosure is the tool for willful cases. The Bittner v. United States, 598 U.S. 85 (2023) decision caps non-willful FBAR penalties at $10,000 per report (not per account), but willful penalties still reach the greater of $129,210 or 50 percent of the account balance per year.

Yes, and the OFAC layer makes Iranian-American account reporting one of the most procedurally complex matters we handle. The basic FBAR rule under 31 USC §5314 still applies — a U.S. person with aggregate foreign-account balances above $10,000 must file FinCEN Form 114. But the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control prohibit most U.S.-person transactions with Iran, including transactions involving the Iranian banking system. OFAC general licenses cover certain personal remittances and inheritance receipts under specific conditions. The interplay between FBAR reporting (which the U.S. requires) and OFAC compliance (which the U.S. also requires) means an Iranian-American Irvine taxpayer with an account at Bank Mellat, Bank Saderat Iran, Bank Tejarat, Bank Pasargad, or Bank Melli Iran must report the account on FBAR while also confirming that any transactions involving it were OFAC-compliant or covered by general or specific license. The Irvine Iranian-American community concentrated in Turtle Rock, Shady Canyon, Newport Coast adjacencies, and Quail Hill has substantial exposure here. We handle the FBAR filing, the Streamlined or Voluntary Disclosure submission, and the OFAC license analysis in coordination with an OFAC-experienced practitioner where the facts require it.

Two threshold questions, then the filings. First, are you a U.S. tax resident for the year? H-1B holders typically meet the IRC §7701(b) substantial-presence test in their second or third U.S. tax year (183-day weighted formula). Once you meet substantial presence, you are taxed as a U.S. resident on worldwide income and you are a "U.S. person" for FBAR purposes. Second, what accounts are reportable? Indian accounts at SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, and Bank of Baroda all qualify as foreign financial accounts under 31 USC §5314 (FBAR) and IRC §6038D (Form 8938). PPF (Public Provident Fund), EPF (Employees' Provident Fund), Indian mutual funds (subject to PFIC analysis under IRC §1297-1298), and Indian fixed deposits all require analysis. The PFIC issue is the trap — a foreign mutual fund is generally a PFIC for U.S. tax purposes, triggering Form 8621 reporting and either the QEF election, the mark-to-market election, or the punitive default excess-distribution regime. Many Broadcom and Edwards Lifesciences H-1B and L-1 employees inherited Indian mutual-fund holdings before arrival and discover the PFIC trap years later. Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures (Foreign Offshore for those who have not yet established U.S. residency, Domestic Offshore for those who have) bring non-willful taxpayers current. We file the FBAR, Form 8938, Form 8621 for each PFIC, and the catch-up filings under the appropriate program.

Generally yes. IRC §117(a) excludes from income qualified scholarships used for tuition and required fees, but IRC §117(c) excludes from that exclusion any amount that represents payment for teaching, research, or other services required as a condition of the stipend. Post-doctoral fellowships at UC Irvine and the UC Irvine Medical Center are typically structured as compensation for research services and therefore fully taxable. UCI issues a 1099-MISC or W-2 depending on classification; the FTB layers on California sourcing under R&TC §17951. NIH NRSA fellows (T32, F32, K99) sit in a particular gray zone — the IRS has long taken the position the NIH stipend is taxable but not subject to self-employment tax. State of California treatment can differ. We file 1040 with proper schedule treatment and address the CP2000 if one issues.

Federally, yes — the Qualified Small Business Stock exclusion under IRC §1202 allows up to 100 percent exclusion of gain (capped at the greater of $10 million or 10x basis) on stock issued by a domestic C corporation with gross assets of $50 million or less, held more than five years, with an active business meeting the qualified-trade tests. California does not conform. Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §18152.5 was the parallel state exclusion until it was held unconstitutional in Cutler v. FTB (2012) and the FTB stopped accepting QSBS exclusions retroactively for years still open. The federal exclusion is real; the California side taxes the gain at full rates, which can mean a 13.3 percent California layer on top of zero federal. We model the dual exposure before the sale closes and look at residency planning (a clean break to Texas, Nevada, or Florida before the sale), Section 1045 rollovers, and California-source allocation as separate questions. The UCI Beall Applied Innovation campus and the surrounding Irvine Spectrum biotech and medical-device cluster generate the bulk of Irvine-area QSBS analyses we run.

Several options. First, the AMT credit under IRC §53 carries forward indefinitely and recovers in years when regular tax exceeds tentative minimum tax. Second, a Disqualifying Disposition in the same calendar year as exercise converts AMT preference treatment to regular ordinary income, often a smaller bill where the AMT spread was the larger problem. Third, where the share price collapsed after exercise (the "underwater ISO" scenario), the loss on sale generates a capital-loss carryforward that combines with the AMT credit over time — though the AMT was already assessed on the higher exercise-date fair-market value, so the recovery comes through the credit not through gain offset. Fourth, payment of the AMT can be structured through an Installment Agreement under IRC §6159 or, where the liability is large enough relative to assets, an Offer in Compromise under IRC §7122 based on doubt as to collectibility or effective tax administration. Fifth, reasonable-cause penalty abatement under IRC §6651(a)(2) is available where the AMT was unexpected and the underpayment was a good-faith estimate error rather than disregard of obligations. Sixth, California does not conform to many post-2017 federal AMT changes, so the California AMT calculation under R&TC §17062 runs on a different track that sometimes produces a smaller state AMT than the federal AMT, occasionally none at all. Broadcom legacy Avago grants and the more recent pre-IPO biotech and medical-device grants from the Irvine Spectrum cluster, the UCI Beall Applied Innovation campus, and the surrounding venture-funded life-sciences ecosystem produce the bulk of Irvine ISO cases we see.

CDTFA mark-up audits out of the Irvine Field Office at 16715 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 200 pull Z-tapes, point-of-sale reports, food and beverage purchase invoices, and observation-period data to build a projected sales figure, then compare against reported sales. Discrepancies generate an assessment under Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §6481. The defense is challenging the test-period sample and the mark-up percentage before they scale across the audit period. We file a Petition for Redetermination, escalate to the CDTFA appeals conference at Von Karman, and pursue the Office of Tax Appeals at the LA hearing room if needed. Dual-determinations against officers and LLC members under §6829 are a separate exposure that we head off in parallel. Diamond Jamboree Korean BBQ and Asian-cuisine concepts, Irvine Spectrum restaurant operators, Diamond Plaza, Heritage Plaza, and Irvine Business Complex food-service draw the most CDTFA scrutiny.

Yes, until 2028 in most fact patterns. The California Collection Statute Expiration Date for FTB liabilities runs 20 years from the latest of assessment date, final return due date, or actual filing date under Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §19255 — double the federal 10-year IRS CSED under IRC §6502. A 2008 FTB assessment generally remains collectible through 2028. Tolling events (bankruptcy stay, OIC pendency, OTA appeal, agreement to extend the statute) push it further. The first step on any old California balance is to pull the MyFTB account and the FTB collection-statute calculation to confirm the actual statute date — assessments tied to substitute returns the FTB filed in your absence (under R&TC §19087) run on a different timeline than self-filed returns, and prior bankruptcy filings, prior IAs, and prior compromise requests all toll. Sometimes a Partial Pay IA running through the federal CSED is the better federal play, paired with a separate FTB compromise under R&TC §19443 to settle the longer state tail at a different reasonable-collection-potential calculation. The two strategies are decided together, not separately. We also pull the OC Clerk-Recorder records to identify any FTB State Tax Liens under Cal. Gov. Code §7170 already attaching to Turtle Rock, Shady Canyon, Quail Hill, Northwood, or other Irvine real property — release procedures differ from federal NFTL withdrawal and need to be sequenced separately.

A Notice of Federal Tax Lien recorded with the Orange County Clerk-Recorder clouds title until released, subordinated, discharged, or withdrawn. For refinance, the typical path is subordination under IRC §6325(d): Form 14134 (Application for Certificate of Subordination of Federal Tax Lien) shows the IRS that the refinance proceeds will pay down the tax debt or that subordination otherwise helps collection by improving the taxpayer's overall payment capacity. The IRS reviews on a case-by-case basis and may impose conditions on the use of refinance proceeds. If the underlying liability has been paid in full, request release on Form 668(Z) — the IRS is required by IRC §6325(a) to release within 30 days of full payment, though enforcement on the 30-day window is uneven. If you are on a streamlined IA under $25,000, lien withdrawal under Fresh Start (Form 12277) is available and clears title cleaner than release because withdrawal removes the public record entirely. For sale rather than refinance, Form 14135 (Application for Certificate of Discharge of Federal Tax Lien Under Section 6325(b)) lets the property close free of the lien while leaving the underlying debt in place — useful where sale proceeds will not fully pay the lien and you want to preserve negotiating room. The FTB State Tax Lien parallel under Cal. Gov. Code §7174 has its own release and subordination procedures — FTB Form 2196 for release after payment, FTB Form 2197 for subordination — on a separate track from the federal lien. Both records sit at the Orange County Clerk-Recorder at 12 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, and a title-company lien search will pick up both. Turtle Rock, Shady Canyon, Quail Hill, Northwood, and Cypress Village refinances and University Hills second-home transactions are the most common Irvine scenarios where we run the subordination path; Tustin Legacy and Great Park Neighborhoods new-construction closings with builder financing add the second-priority-lender wrinkle.

A few. The former Marine Corps Air Station Tustin closed in 1999 under the Base Realignment and Closure process and was redeveloped as Tustin Legacy — a mixed-use master-planned community bordering southeast Irvine. The redevelopment carries Mello-Roos CFD overlays under Cal. Gov. Code §53311 on the residential portions, with the same Schedule A non-deductibility treatment under Treas. Reg. §1.164-4(b) as the Irvine Company villages. Portions of the Tustin Legacy footprint sit inside designated Opportunity Zones under IRC §1400Z-2 (the 2017 TCJA designation), meaning a qualified taxpayer with capital-gain proceeds can defer and reduce the gain by investing through a Qualified Opportunity Fund — though the original December 31, 2026 deferral-recognition date is approaching for most pre-2022 deferrals. Brownfield-redevelopment basis treatment under IRC §198 (now sunset for most purposes) may affect commercial parcels but generally not the residential side. We run the property-level analysis when an Irvine resident buys, sells, or 1031-exchanges a Tustin Legacy parcel.

The 20-year California collection statute under Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §19255. Toyota Motor North America consolidated its U.S. operations from Torrance and the legacy Irvine footprint at 19001 South Western to Plano, Texas in 2017, and the corporate-level move triggered a large wave of employee relocations. The FTB pursued departing employees aggressively on residency under R&TC §17014 during the 2017-2020 cycle, scrutinizing retained Irvine and Newport Coast homes, retained California professional licenses, ongoing California-source consulting income, and physical-presence days. A residency assessment from that audit cycle remains collectible for 20 years from the latest of assessment, due date, or filing — meaning a 2018 assessment can remain in collection through 2038 absent tolling. Departure-package issues add a second layer: accelerated RSU vest treatment, IRC §409A nonqualified deferred-compensation distributions, and California-source allocation under R&TC §17951 of equity-comp earned during the California residency period. We pull the FTB transcript, verify the actual statute date, and either negotiate compromise under R&TC §19443 or file the OTA appeal where the residency determination itself was wrong.

No. The firm is headquartered at 1100 S. Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles, and we represent clients across all 58 California counties. Irvine engagements run by phone, secure portal, and email; in-person meetings happen by appointment at the LA office for clients who prefer face-to-face. The Los Angeles office is about 45 minutes north of Irvine on the 405 outside of peak hours. We appear at the FTB Santa Ana Field Office at 600 West Santa Ana Boulevard, the CDTFA Irvine Field Office at 16715 Von Karman Avenue, the IRS Santa Ana TAC at 801 Civic Center Drive West, the Ronald Reagan Federal Building at 411 West Fourth Street, the Orange County Superior Court Central Justice Center at 700 Civic Center Drive West, the Orange County Assessor at 625 North Ross Street, the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three at 601 West Santa Ana Boulevard, and the U.S. Tax Court Los Angeles trial sessions at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building as case calendaring requires.