Tax Attorney in Memphis, TN

No. Tennessee repealed the Hall Income Tax effective January 1, 2021, becoming the last U.S. state to eliminate its dedicated investment-income tax on individuals. There is no Tennessee personal income tax on wages, no Tennessee capital-gains tax, and no Tennessee state-level wage withholding. Tennessee businesses still face Franchise Tax under Tenn. Code §67-4-2105 ($0.25 per $100 of net worth), Excise Tax under Tenn. Code §67-4-2007 (6.5% of net earnings), Business Tax under Tenn. Code §67-4-708 on gross receipts, sales-and-use tax of 9.5% combined in Memphis (7% state + 2.25% Shelby County + 0.25% city), and Realty Transfer Tax of $0.37 per $100 under Tenn. Code §67-4-409. Federal income tax filed on Form 1040 with the IRS applies in full.

The U.S. Tax Court holds Memphis trial sessions at the Clifford Davis-Odell Horton Federal Building at 167 N. Main Street, Memphis TN 38103. A petitioner designates Memphis as the preferred place of trial on the petition under Tax Court Rule 140. Sessions are scheduled on rotation rather than monthly. Small-tax-case procedure under IRC §7463 is available for deficiencies of $50,000 or less per year per period and uses simplified evidentiary rules. The same building houses the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center at 22 N. Front Street, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee Memphis Division, and the IRS Memphis Submission Processing Center.

49 USC §40116(f) preempts state income tax on flight-crew compensation except by the state of residence and any state where the crewmember earns more than 50% of pay. For FedEx Express pilots domiciled in Tennessee and flying out of the Memphis World Hub, the practical effect is simple: Tennessee has no personal income tax, so the §40116 preemption protects the pilot from inbound-state taxation on layover pay in California, Illinois, New York, and other jock-tax-style states where the aircraft touches the ground. The protection does not extend to non-flight compensation — per-diem treatment under Rev. Proc. 2019-48, ground-school stipends, training income paid for in-classroom time, and any 1099 contract work outside the airline-pilot role can still create state-tax filing obligations elsewhere. Federal income tax on Form 1040 applies in full regardless of §40116.

The IRS operates only four Submission Processing Centers nationally. Memphis is one of them — the campus on the Clifford Davis-Odell Horton site processes paper individual returns, ITIN W-7 applications for the entire United States, certain business returns, and a large share of inbound IRS correspondence for taxpayers across the western and southern U.S. For Memphis filers this means the same office that processes your CP-series notices, your return, and your ITIN renewal sits in your own zip code. Practical implications: response-mail routing is straightforward, in-person ITIN authentication at the IRS TAC at 22 N. Front Street is available, and any case-specific phone outreach often connects to a Memphis-campus team. Closure of the Submission Processing Centers in Fresno, Andover, and Cincinnati over the past decade concentrated processing at Memphis, Austin, Kansas City, and Ogden — Memphis carries an outsized share of national processing volume.

No. The employer's IRC §501(c)(3) status shields the institution itself from federal income tax on mission-related receipts, but the employee's wages are fully taxable. Form W-2 wages from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Methodist Le Bonheur, Regional One Health, Baptist Memorial Hospital, the University of Memphis, or Rhodes College are reported on Form 1040 like any other W-2 income. Three common areas where physicians, research staff, and faculty trip over the rules: (1) research-grant honoraria treatment — sometimes excludable as a fellowship under IRC §117 if degree-candidate criteria are met, but often taxable scholarship income; (2) moonlighting 1099 income at outside facilities, which carries 15.3% self-employment tax under IRC §1401; and (3) Section 403(b) and 457(b) deferrals, which are taxable on distribution and can blow up retirement planning if rolled incorrectly. Federal payroll-tax withholding still applies normally.

Two recurring issues. First, default supplemental withholding on RSU vests is 22% (federal) plus 1.45% Medicare and an Additional Medicare Tax of 0.9% above income thresholds. For a FedEx Corp., AutoZone, or First Horizon executive in the top federal bracket, 22% withholding under-collects the actual rate and the April balance can run six figures. Second, broker 1099-B basis reporting on RSU sales frequently understates basis — the broker reports cost basis equal to the exercise or vest payment only, leaving out the ordinary-income amount already in Form W-2 Box 12 V codes. Filing Schedule D without adjusting the basis effectively double-counts the income. We pull the supplemental statement, the vest history, and the W-2 alongside the 1099-B to fix the reporting before the IRS Automated Underreporter system flags it.

If you are a U.S. person (citizen, lawful permanent resident, or substantial-presence-test resident) and the aggregate value of your foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any point during the calendar year, yes — FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) is required, filed separately from your Form 1040 via the BSA E-Filing System. Vietnamese accounts that count include Vietcombank, BIDV, Sacombank, Techcombank, and most other Vietnamese banks. Indian accounts that count include SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Punjab National Bank, and post-office savings. FATCA Form 8938 is filed with the Form 1040 if higher thresholds are met. Penalties for willful non-filing under 31 USC §5321(a)(5) reach the greater of $10,000 or 50% of account balance per year, and the post-Bittner Supreme Court ruling clarified that non-willful penalties run per form, not per account. Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures are sometimes available for taxpayers who can certify non-willful conduct.

Memphis is the national ITIN processing site, which means most W-7 rejection letters in the country originate there. Common rejection reasons: original or certified-copy documentation missing, wrong document type (Mexican voter card without consular certification, Honduran ID expired, Indian passport with photo-page issues), the W-7 box-d requirement for dependents not satisfied, or the W-7 was filed without an attached Form 1040 (W-7 with an exception case must cite the right exception number). Options after rejection: (1) refile the W-7 with corrected documentation and the required certifying paperwork; (2) use a Certified Acceptance Agent who can authenticate documents without you mailing originals; (3) in some cases, schedule an in-person ITIN appointment at the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center at 22 N. Front Street in Memphis (call 844-545-5640 in advance). If the rejection is causing a tax-return processing freeze, we coordinate the W-7 refile with the underlying return to keep refund timing intact.

Substantial. 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 — founders, head-of-finance, even an outside bookkeeper in narrow fact patterns. For Beale Street clubs and Memphis BBQ restaurants on Brooks Road, Madison Avenue, or in Cooper-Young, this often catches multiple people because operating authority and check-signing authority overlap. On the state side, Tenn. Code §67-6-538 imposes personal liability on persons responsible for unpaid Tennessee sales tax, which Memphis hospitality operators frequently face alongside the federal exposure. A 9.5% combined sales-tax rate on bar tabs and food sales adds up fast when remittance lapses.

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. FedEx Express pilots flying international routes from the Memphis World Hub, AutoZone executives traveling to Mexico City for the corporate footprint there, International Paper supply-chain staff visiting overseas mills, St. Jude physicians on European medical conferences, and touring blues and soul artists with European or Australian festival dates all face real revocation exposure. Decertification typically processes within 30 days once a qualifying resolution is in place.

Tennessee is one of a small number of states without a dedicated tax court. A contested assessment first goes through informal conference at the Tennessee Department of Revenue Hearing Office in Nashville (Memphis taxpayers can use the Bartlett service center at 3150 Appling Road for in-person work). The Department issues a written determination. Taxpayers dissatisfied with the determination file suit in the Chancery Court of Shelby County at 140 Adams Avenue under Tenn. Code §67-1-1801, which is the standard venue for judicial review of TN DOR decisions for West Tennessee filers. Pay-then-sue and pay-under-protest options exist depending on the tax type. VTL handles the administrative-conference stage remotely under a Tennessee DOR power of attorney. If the case proceeds to Chancery Court litigation, we coordinate with Tennessee-admitted counsel and stay engaged on parallel federal issues.

Almost certainly yes. Tennessee imposes a combined Franchise Tax under Tenn. Code §67-4-2105 at $0.25 per $100 of net worth (minimum $100) plus an Excise Tax under Tenn. Code §67-4-2007 at 6.5% of net earnings on virtually every entity doing business in Tennessee — LLCs, S-corps, C-corps, and most LLPs. The combined return is filed on Form FAE 170 with the Tennessee Department of Revenue. A loan-out S-corp earning royalty income through a Memphis publishing deal, a Stax or Sun catalog interest, or a producer credit on a label release is doing business in Tennessee for franchise-and-excise purposes and owes both taxes. The federal pass-through treatment of S-corp income does not save you at the Tennessee state-tax level — Tennessee taxes the S-corp itself on its earnings, not the shareholder. Some narrow entities (general partnerships, sole proprietorships, certain non-business entities) are exempt; we evaluate the structure before assuming.

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. A combined federal-plus-FBAR Streamlined Offshore filing for a Vietnamese-American, Indian-American, or Hispanic family in Memphis runs higher because it involves multiple years and a non-willful certification narrative. 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 a Criminal Investigation Division referral, which matters significantly if a civil audit shifts to a criminal track — a common concern in offshore-account, cash-economy hospitality, and music-industry royalty-tracing matters.

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 informal administrative conference at the Tennessee Department of Revenue Hearing Office, taxpayers may be represented by an attorney, a CPA, or another authorized representative who holds a valid TN DOR power of attorney. No Tennessee bar admission is required for that stage. VTL handles the agency-side work remotely. For judicial review in the Chancery Court of Shelby County at 140 Adams Avenue under Tenn. Code §67-1-1801, an attorney admitted in Tennessee is required. Many TN DOR disputes resolve at the administrative stage without ever reaching Chancery Court. When a case does proceed to litigation, we coordinate with Tennessee counsel and remain engaged on the federal track and on the strategic side of the state matter.