Tax Attorney in Los Angeles County

The U.S. Tax Court holds Los Angeles trial sessions at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, 255 E. Temple Street, Room 1174, Los Angeles 90012. Multiple sessions are scheduled each year. A petitioner designates the preferred place of trial in the petition under Tax Court Rule 140. LA-County cases typically calendar to Los Angeles; if the petitioner prefers Orange County, the San Diego trial city is also available.

The IRS operates several Taxpayer Assistance Centers across LA County: Westwood (11000 Wilshire Blvd, LA 90024), Downtown LA (300 N. Los Angeles Street, LA 90012), El Monte (9350 Flair Drive), Long Beach (501 W. Ocean Blvd), and Glendale (225 W. Broadway). Appointments are required and can be scheduled at apps.irs.gov/app/office-locator or by calling 844-545-5640. The IRS Examination and Collection field offices for LA County are separate from the TACs — representatives generally interact with field offices by phone or by appointment.

An LT11 or CP90 Final Notice of Intent to Levy starts a 30-day clock under IRC §6330. During that window you can file Form 12153 to request a Collection Due Process hearing, which pauses federal levy enforcement and preserves U.S. Tax Court review out of the LA trial session. If the 30 days lapse without a CDP filing, you can still pursue an Equivalent Hearing on the same form, but you lose Tax Court rights. Either way, do not ignore the notice — the IRS can issue wage and bank levies after day 30 without further notice. Call us; we can file the CDP request and a parallel collection alternative the same day.

Often yes. California uses the domicile test at Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §17014, fleshed out in FTB Publication 1031, which weighs nine factors: time in state, location of family, location of primary residence, where you hold a driver's license, where you register vehicles, where you vote, where you bank, where you maintain professional licenses, and where you have business or social ties. The FTB pursues departing LA County residents — especially those moving to Austin, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, or Seattle — on a theory that the move was incomplete or pretextual. A clean break documented at the time of the move is the strongest defense. We see FTB residency audits run two to three years after the move out of LA.

A loan-out S-corp is a common entertainment-industry structure that converts what would be 1099 self-employment income into S-corp W-2 wages plus distributions. The federal issues: reasonable compensation analysis to support the W-2/distribution split, IRC §199A Qualified Business Income deduction analysis (the SSTB carve-out applies to "performing arts" professionals above income thresholds), SEP-IRA or solo 401(k) funding, and federal payroll-tax compliance. The California issues: the $800 annual minimum franchise tax under Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §23153, FTB residency analysis when work happens out of state, and EDD payroll-tax compliance on the W-2 portion. SAG-AFTRA pension-and-health contributions on residuals and royalties are separately handled. We see loan-outs fall behind on quarterly estimates after a single down year.

Most aerospace and tech employers withhold federal tax on RSU vests at the supplemental rate of 22 percent, which is often well below the marginal rate of a high earner. The shortfall lands on the April Form 1040 as a balance due. For employees with $250,000-plus in annual ordinary income, the supplemental withholding gap can be $30,000 to $80,000. The fix on a forward-looking basis: increase Form W-4 step 4(c) additional withholding, make quarterly estimated payments under IRC §6654, or sell-to-cover at vest rather than net-share-settling. On a back-looking basis: a streamlined IRS Installment Agreement under IRC §6159 handles balances up to $50,000 with no Form 433 financial disclosure. The California parallel runs through FTB Form 3567.

A Notice of Federal Tax Lien under IRC §6321 is filed with the LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk in Norwalk. It clouds title on every parcel you own anywhere in LA County and shows in every credit and title check. Four release paths: full payment (lien releases within 30 days under IRC §6325(a)), accepted Offer in Compromise (release follows acceptance and payment), withdrawal under Fresh Start (available for streamlined IAs under $25,000 paid by direct debit), and certificate of discharge for a specific property (allows you to sell or refinance one parcel while the lien remains on the rest). FTB State Tax Liens released or withdrawn separately under Cal. Gov. Code §7174. Both releases need to be recorded with the LA Recorder to clear title.

CDTFA audits cash-intensive restaurants using mark-up methodology, observation tests, and POS-to-deposit reconciliation. The auditor takes a small test sample, calculates a presumed mark-up, and projects it across the entire audit period — often three years. The defense is challenging the test-period sample early: documenting comps and waste, separating tax-exempt to-go beverage sales, identifying delivery-platform commissions that did not pass through to revenue, and demonstrating mark-up variance by menu segment. If the test period is sound, the projection sticks; if not, the entire assessment unravels. We respond to CDTFA observation reports, prepare records for the auditor visit, and pursue redeterminations and OTA appeals where the assessment is wrong.

FinCEN Form 114 (the FBAR) is required of any U.S. person with signature authority or financial interest in foreign accounts whose aggregate value exceeds $10,000 at any point during the year. Form 8938 under FATCA layers additional reporting at higher thresholds. Penalties under 31 USC §5321 reach $10,000 per non-willful violation per year and the greater of $100,000 or 50 percent of the account balance per willful violation. Three remediation paths exist: the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures (non-willful, abbreviated penalty), Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures (no unreported income), and IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice (potential criminal exposure). Each path has narrow eligibility criteria; submitting under the wrong one creates new problems. Always reach out before the IRS contacts you — eligibility narrows materially once a letter arrives.

Prop 19 (effective February 16, 2021) replaced the broader Prop 58 parent-to-child base-year-value transfer rule. Under the current Cal. Const. Art. XIII A, a parent-to-child transfer of a primary residence keeps the parent's base-year value only if the child makes the property the child's own principal residence within one year. If the child rents it out, the property reassesses to current fair market value. There is also a $1 million increment above the parent's base value that resets — significant for high-value LA County properties. Investment-property transfers no longer benefit at all. The LA County Assessor at 500 W. Temple Street administers the reassessment; the LA Assessment Appeals Board hears valuation disputes. Estate planning around Prop 19 is now a different exercise than it was pre-2021.

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. We handle decertification routinely for LA-based entertainment talent traveling to international festivals, aerospace executives on overseas contracts, and Persian and Korean diaspora taxpayers with family abroad.

No. Most LA-County engagements run by phone, secure portal, and email. The 1100 S. Robertson Boulevard office is available by appointment for clients who prefer face-to-face meetings — particularly for sensitive matters, criminal-adjacent investigations, or for clients in the Westside, Beverly Hills, Hancock Park, Mid-City, Culver City, and West LA who find it convenient. Clients in Long Beach, Pasadena, the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita, the South Bay, the Antelope Valley, and the San Gabriel Valley generally choose remote engagement. The level of in-person work depends on the case — an OIC rarely needs an in-person meeting; a complex audit, a criminal-adjacent investigation, or a Tax Court trial preparation often does.

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 CPAs and EAs but does not extend to criminal-tax matters. A California-bar attorney handling your tax case retains the broader privilege that survives criminal investigation.

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 complexity. California-state matters (FTB, CDTFA, EDD, OTA) are priced separately. VTL provides a written fee quote after the free consultation. Cal Bar Rule 7.1 prohibits comparative price claims without verifiable substantiation, so we do not market on price.

Property tax in LA County is administered by two separate offices. The LA County Assessor at 500 W. Temple Street sets the assessed value under Prop 13, Prop 19, and supplemental-assessment rules. The LA County Treasurer-Tax Collector at 225 N. Hill Street handles billing, collection, and tax-defaulted property sales. Disputes over assessed value go to the LA County Assessment Appeals Board through an application filed July through November each year. Delinquency, payment plans, and the five-year redemption window for tax-defaulted property are handled by the Treasurer-Tax Collector. Our practice focuses on income tax, employment tax, and sales-and-use tax (IRS, FTB, CDTFA, EDD). For pure property-tax assessment appeals, the LA County Assessment Appeals Board has its own filing process and we will refer to property-tax specialty counsel where that is the entire matter.