Tax Attorney in Redwood City, California

The United States Tax Court holds Northern California trial sessions at the Phillip Burton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco CA 94102. A Redwood City petitioner designates 'San Francisco, California' as the place of trial on the petition under Tax Court Rule 140. From Redwood Shores or downtown Redwood City the route runs US-101 north through San Mateo and Burlingame across the SF Peninsula corridor — roughly 26 miles, 45 to 60 minutes outside commute hours and 90 minutes in peak. Sacramento at 501 I Street is the alternative Northern California trial city. The petition itself files through the Tax Court's DAWSON electronic filing system or with the court clerk in Washington, D.C. The 90-day clock from a Notice of Deficiency under IRC §6213(a) is jurisdictional and the Tax Court cannot extend it.

Oracle Corporation's global headquarters sits at 500 Oracle Parkway in Redwood Shores — the iconic lakefront campus that anchors the Peninsula's enterprise-software corridor. Restricted Stock Units vest as ordinary wages at fair market value, with federal withholding at the flat 22 percent supplemental rate under IRC §3402(g). For senior engineers, product VPs, sales executives, and finance leads in California's top brackets — federal 37 percent plus California up to 13.3 percent under R&TC §17041 plus 1.45 percent Medicare plus 0.9 percent Additional Medicare — the 22 percent supplemental rate undershoots reality by 15 to 20 points. April balances of $50,000 to seven figures on a single year's vest are common for Oracle executive grants. Incentive Stock Options trigger the AMT preference under IRC §56(b)(3) on the spread between strike and fair market value at exercise; pre-public exercises produce substantial AMT in the exercise year with the §53 minimum-tax credit recoverable in later years. Oracle's §409A nonqualified deferred compensation plans for senior executives carry distribution-timing rules with 20 percent additional tax plus interest under §409A(a)(1)(B) on noncompliant distributions. The §415 limit on qualified-plan benefits caps the defined-benefit accrual; high-three pay for retired Oracle executives flows through §415(b)(1)(A). We file Streamlined or Non-Streamlined IRS and FTB IAs against the resulting balance, reset withholding going forward, and run the AMT and §409A analysis before exercise or distribution where the structure is still flexible.

Electronic Arts, Inc. (EA) at 209 Redwood Shores Parkway is the publicly traded interactive-entertainment company behind the FIFA / EA SPORTS FC, Madden NFL, Battlefield, The Sims, Apex Legends, and Star Wars Jedi franchises. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act §174 mandatory R&E capitalization regime — five-year domestic and fifteen-year foreign amortization starting tax year 2022 — hits gaming hard because software development is explicitly included under §174(c)(3). The §41 research credit overlays at 20 percent or the 14 percent Alternative Simplified Credit, with California's R&TC §17052.12 state credit at 15 percent on QREs over base. EA's individual employees are not the §174 taxpayer (the corporation is), but the corporate cash-tax position affects equity grants and bonus pools downstream. On the personal-tax side, EA RSU vest the same way Oracle does — 22 percent supplemental withholding against a California top-bracket reality of roughly 50 percent combined. EA's Employee Stock Purchase Plan under §423 produces ordinary income on the 15 percent discount at purchase plus capital-gain on the appreciation. Disqualifying dispositions before the two-year-from-grant / one-year-from-purchase holding period recharacterize gain as ordinary. We handle the resulting federal and FTB balances through IA, OIC where collectibility supports it, and audit defense where the SBC or §174 position is questioned.

Founders, early employees, and seed investors in Redwood City and Redwood Shores startups — Box Inc at 900 Jefferson Avenue, Equinix at 1 Lagoon Drive, Imperva legacy (now Thales CPL), GoPro's former Woodside HQ, Informatica, Kelly Engineering, and the broader Peninsula startup cluster — should run IRC §1202 Qualified Small Business Stock eligibility before any disposition. The five gates: (1) the issuer must be a domestic C corporation at issuance and through substantially all the holder's holding period; (2) gross assets must not exceed $50 million at any point through issuance; (3) the issuer must be engaged in a qualified trade or business under §1202(e)(3); (4) the stock must be held at least five years; and (5) the per-issuer cap limits exclusion to the greater of $10 million or ten-times-basis. The exclusion runs up to 100 percent of gain on stock acquired after September 27, 2010. California does not conform to §1202 post-2013 under R&TC §18152.5 — the federal exclusion does not eliminate California tax on the gain. We coordinate the federal exclusion with the California sourcing analysis on departure from California before sale, and the §1045 rollover where the five-year hold has not matured.

Stripe, Inc. — the privately held payments-infrastructure company — operates from a global headquarters at 354 Oyster Point Boulevard in South San Francisco, immediately north of Redwood City along US-101. Many Stripe engineers, product managers, and finance leads live in Redwood City, San Carlos, Belmont, San Mateo, and the broader Peninsula residential corridor. Stripe's equity comp profile mixes Restricted Stock Units, Incentive Stock Options for earlier grants, and tender-offer secondary liquidity events that the company has run periodically. RSU vest as ordinary income at the per-share value set at the most recent 409A or tender; ISO and §83(b) early-exercise programs produce AMT exposure under §56(b)(3); secondary tender participation is taxable at the spread between the tender price and basis under §1001. The §1202 QSBS analysis for very early employees and seed investors is decisive — if Stripe ultimately goes public (or sells), the difference between qualifying for the §1202 exclusion and not qualifying can be tens of millions on a single position. California non-conformity under R&TC §18152.5 means the federal exclusion does not eliminate California tax, which makes the residency analysis on any pre-IPO exit decisive. We coordinate the equity timeline with the federal and FTB tax position.

Redwood City's Indian-American community concentration — driven by Peninsula and Silicon Valley tech employment at Oracle, EA, Box, Equinix, Stripe, Roblox, and broader Bay Area employers — creates a recurring foreign-account compliance profile. U.S. persons (citizens, green-card holders, and tax residents) with foreign financial accounts whose aggregate maximum value exceeded $10,000 at any point during the calendar year must file FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) by April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15 under 31 USC §5314. Accounts at ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Punjab National Bank, and India Post Office savings accounts all count. Form 8938 under IRC §6038D adds a parallel IRS filing with higher thresholds ($50,000 single year-end / $75,000 single any-time; $100,000 / $150,000 married filing jointly) attached to Form 1040. Indian mutual funds, ULIP policies, Public Provident Fund, and Employees' Provident Fund accounts can trigger Form 8621 Passive Foreign Investment Company reporting under IRC §1297 with §1291 excess-distribution treatment unless a §1296 mark-to-market or §1295 QEF election is made. We handle Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures (Streamlined Domestic or Foreign Offshore) for non-willful noncompliance, and the Voluntary Disclosure Practice for willful exposure. Penalties for non-filed FBARs run $10,000 per non-willful violation per year under 31 USC §5321 with the §5321(a)(5)(C) willful penalty reaching the greater of $100,000 or 50 percent of the account balance.

Yes. The Redwood City Chinese-American community concentration includes accounts at Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Construction Bank (CCB), Agricultural Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, and Hong Kong-based HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Bank of East Asia. The same FBAR rules under 31 USC §5314, Form 8938 rules under IRC §6038D, and PFIC rules under IRC §1297 apply. A wrinkle: U.S.-China tax treaty Article 4 residency tiebreaker and the §901 foreign tax credit on Chinese-source dividend and interest income require careful documentation of withholding. Hong Kong accounts get separate analytical treatment because Hong Kong is not a tax treaty jurisdiction with the United States. Beneficial-ownership accounts where a U.S. person is named on a parent's or sibling's account in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, or Shanghai still trigger FBAR filing for the U.S. person under the 31 CFR §1010.350(e) signature-or-other-authority test. We unwind these through the Streamlined Foreign Offshore or Streamlined Domestic Offshore procedures depending on the U.S. presence pattern.

Yes — the Redwood City Pacific Islander community concentration (Tongan, Samoan, and Fijian residents in North Fair Oaks and adjoining neighborhoods) includes accounts at ANZ Bank, Bank of South Pacific (BSP), Westpac Banking Corporation, Bank of Hawaii Pacific branches, and Pacific Commercial Bank. The same 31 USC §5314 FBAR threshold ($10,000 aggregate at any point in the calendar year) and Form 8938 IRC §6038D thresholds apply. Inherited family land and trust accounts in Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji are sometimes held in collective family-trust structures where signature authority sits with multiple family members; the 31 CFR §1010.350(e) signature-or-other-authority test still reaches the U.S. person. Remittance flows through Western Union, MoneyGram, and Wise to Pacific family accounts do not create FBAR filing for the sender if the sender does not hold signature authority on the receiving account, but they do create source-of-funds documentation issues during any audit. We file Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures where exposure is non-willful, and run the audit-defense piece where IRS examination opens.

Redwood City is the seat of San Mateo County government. The Hall of Justice and Superior Court sits at 400 County Center, the County Assessor / Controller / Treasurer-Tax Collector complex sits at 555 County Center, and roughly thousands of county employees work in central Redwood City. County employees participate in CalPERS (California Public Employees' Retirement System) for the defined-benefit pension and frequently maintain a §457(b) deferred-compensation plan and a §401(k) supplemental plan through the county's approved vendors. CalPERS retirement benefits are subject to federal income tax but exempt from California income tax under R&TC §17501 only where the taxpayer is a CalPERS retiree resident of California — moving out of state shifts the tax to the new state of residence (the federal Pension Source Tax Act of 1996 at 4 USC §114 prohibits states from taxing nonresident retirees on retirement benefits earned in the state). The §457(b) plan operates under §457(b)(2) contribution limits ($23,000 elective deferral 2024 plus $7,500 age-50 catch-up plus the §457(b)(3) special three-year catch-up up to double the regular limit in the three years before normal retirement age). The §457(b) plan does not aggregate with the §403(b) or §401(k) limit, so dual-plan participation can move significant pre-tax dollars in late-career years. We coordinate the §457(b) treatment with any IRS or FTB resolution work where deferral allocations affect monthly disposable income on Form 433-A.

Stanford University sits roughly 15 miles south of Redwood City along US-101 and Sand Hill Road. Many Stanford faculty, lecturers, post-doctoral scholars, residents, and Stanford Health Care physicians live in Redwood City (especially Emerald Hills, Farm Hill, Mount Carmel, and the central neighborhoods) for the school and commute access. Several tax angles attach. (1) IRC §117(a) qualified scholarship: tuition-and-fee components of a scholarship to a degree candidate are excluded from income; room, board, and stipend components are taxable. §117(c) carves out compensation for required services from §117(a). (2) IRC §127 employer-provided educational assistance: up to $5,250 per year of employer-paid tuition is excluded. (3) Stanford's §403(b) plan and the Stanford Contributory Retirement Plan operate under §415 and §402(g) limits. (4) Visiting faculty under H-1B, J-1, or O-1 visas hit treaty-residency tiebreakers and Form 8843 / Form 1040-NR sourcing rules. (5) Post-docs paid on §117(c) compensation reported on Form W-2 face full self-employment tax exposure if the institution treats them as independent contractors with 1099-NEC. We help post-docs and visiting faculty resolve mismatched 1099 / W-2 / Form 8233 filings and the associated FTB exposure.

Dignity Health Sequoia Hospital at 170 Alameda de las Pulgas, Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center at 1150 Veterans Boulevard, and Stanford Health Care providers operating in Redwood City all employ a mix of W-2 employed physicians and 1099 contracted physicians (anesthesia groups, radiology groups, ER staffing, hospitalist coverage). The 1099 physician carries Schedule C / 1099-NEC income subject to self-employment tax under IRC §1401 at 15.3 percent on the first $168,600 of SE income plus 2.9 percent Medicare above, federal income tax up to 37 percent under §1, California up to 13.3 percent under R&TC §17041, and the §1411 net investment income tax on passive income above thresholds. SEP-IRA, Solo 401(k), and Cash Balance plan deferrals under §415(c) move significant pre-tax dollars at high income. The §199A qualified business income deduction does not apply to the SSTB-classified physician income above the §199A(d)(3) threshold ($241,950 single / $483,900 MFJ 2024 indexed). Malpractice insurance is deductible under §162 as ordinary and necessary business expense; CME and licensing are deductible. We handle the IRS and FTB resolution side when balances build from inconsistent quarterly estimates.

Peninsula appreciation in 2020-2022 pushed many purchase-price-based Prop 13 base-year values above the post-2022 cooling market across Redwood Shores (the lagoon-frontage condo and townhouse market in particular), Emerald Hills, Farm Hill, Mount Carmel, Roosevelt, and the downtown core. Prop 13 freezes the base-year value at acquisition with 2 percent annual escalation under California Constitution Article XIIIA §2, but Proposition 8 allows a temporary downward adjustment to current market value when market drops below the factored base-year value as of January 1 of the lien date. The path: file the informal Request for Decline in Market Value Reassessment with the San Mateo County Assessor at 555 County Center, Redwood City first, with comparable sales from the same Redwood City neighborhood within 90 days of January 1. If the informal review does not produce the right number, file the formal Assessment Appeals Board application before the September 15 deadline under R&TC §1603. The AAB hears the matter at 400 County Center. The reduction is annual — the Assessor restores the factored base-year value when market recovers, capped at the Prop 13 2 percent escalation. Sub-neighborhood comparable sales (Redwood Shores lagoon-frontage versus interior, Emerald Hills view versus down-slope, downtown high-rise versus single-family) carry more weight than tract-wide averages.

The San Mateo County Assessment Appeals Board sits at 400 County Center (the Hall of Justice complex) with the Clerk of the Board administering filings, and the County Assessor's office sits at 555 County Center — both addresses in central Redwood City. The 2026 appeal-filing window for the regular roll opens July 2 and closes September 15 under California Revenue & Taxation Code §1603 — San Mateo County uses the September 15 deadline. A Proposition 8 'decline-in-value' appeal applies where market value on January 1 of the lien date is below the Prop 13 factored base-year value; the reduction is effective for one year only and is reviewed annually until market recovers. Supplemental and escape assessments have their own 60-day filing windows from the supplemental notice. Evidence the AAB expects: comparable sales within 90 days of January 1 from the same neighborhood, photos documenting condition issues, contractor estimates for deferred maintenance, and income/expense records for rental property under the income approach. The Decline in Market Value request with the Assessor is a no-fee preliminary path. We file the formal AAB application where the informal review does not produce the right number, and appear at the board hearing for the formal evidentiary record.

Post-2020 remote-work exits from Redwood City and the broader Peninsula to Austin, Houston, Reno, Las Vegas, Boise, and Coeur d'Alene pulled Oracle, EA, Box, Equinix, Stripe, Roblox, and tech-sector workers across state lines while many kept Peninsula real estate. R&TC §17014 defines a California resident as someone in California for other than a temporary or transitory purpose, or a domiciliary temporarily outside the state. The nine-factor domicile test set out in Appeal of Stephen Bragg (2003-SBE-002) and developed in Appeal of Bindley (2018) examines: location of family and primary residence, time spent in each state, location of personal possessions and business interests, state of vehicle registration, voter registration, driver's license, professional licenses, social and community ties, and where the taxpayer claims homestead exemption. Keeping a Redwood Shores or Emerald Hills home as a rental can be defensive; keeping it as an unrented pied-à-terre is harder. The Corbett v. FTB line tightens what 'closer connection' actually requires. The deferred-RSU and ESPP wrinkle: vests after the exit can still be California-source income under the §17951-5 multi-state allocation rules if the underlying work was performed in California. We map the facts against Bragg, Bindley, Corbett, and Reg. §17951-5(b) before any FTB Notice of Proposed Assessment lands.

The Redwood City Caltrain station at James Avenue and Broadway anchors a central Peninsula commute stop on the SF-to-Gilroy line, with frequent baby-bullet express service into San Francisco's Fourth and King station for tech and finance work. IRC §132(f) qualified transportation fringe lets an employer provide up to $315 per month (2024 indexed) in tax-free transit-pass and commuter-vanpool benefits, plus $315 per month for qualified parking. Many Peninsula employers offer the pre-tax election through Clipper Direct, Edenred, or HealthEquity. The state sourcing question is more important for higher-earner commuters: wages earned for work performed in San Francisco County, San Mateo County, or Santa Clara County are California-source regardless of Redwood City residency, but residents of Redwood City report all wages on Form 540 as full-year California residents anyway — the multi-state question only arises after relocation outside California. The closer issue is local-level San Francisco gross receipts tax exposure for Redwood City residents who are S-corp owners or self-employed contractors performing work in San Francisco. We handle the apportionment and the SF GRT registration where it applies.

Redwood City taxpayers do not have a dedicated FTB field office in San Mateo County — the closest FTB Field Offices are San Francisco at 121 Spear Street, Suite 400 and Oakland at the Elihu M. Harris State Office Building, 1515 Clay Street, Suite 305. The San Francisco office is the primary venue for Peninsula matters and is roughly 26 miles north via US-101. The FTB San Jose Field Office at 96 North Third Street, Suite 600 is the alternative South Bay venue. These offices handle residency audits under R&TC §17014, Notice of Proposed Assessment protests under R&TC §19041, FTB Settlement Bureau review under R&TC §19443, and walk-in services for individual taxpayers and entity filers. Most resolution work runs by phone, secure portal through MyFTB, and written submission. Verify current public hours through ftb.ca.gov/help/contact/office-locations.html before any walk-in visit.

The closest IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center to Redwood City is the San Mateo TAC at 977 South Claremont Street, San Mateo CA 94402 — roughly 8 miles north via El Camino Real or US-101, in central San Mateo. This is the home TAC for Peninsula taxpayers between South San Francisco and Palo Alto. Alternative venues are the San Francisco TAC at 450 Golden Gate Avenue inside the Phillip Burton Federal Building (the same building that houses U.S. Tax Court SF trial sessions) and the Oakland TAC at 1301 Clay Street inside the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building. Appointments through apps.irs.gov/app/office-locator or 844-545-5640. For most resolution work, in-person visits are not required — we represent clients by Form 2848 Power of Attorney and route notices directly to counsel.

90 days from the date stamped on the Notice of Deficiency (the '90-day letter') to file a petition with the U.S. Tax Court under IRC §6213(a) — 150 days if the notice is addressed to a person outside the United States. The deadline is jurisdictional and the Tax Court cannot extend it. A Redwood City petitioner designates 'San Francisco, California' as the place of trial; trial sessions sit at the Phillip Burton Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue. Filing the petition stops the IRS from assessing or collecting on the deficiency until the case resolves. Missing the 90 days forfeits prepayment review; the path then narrows to paying the deficiency and suing for refund in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division at the Phillip Burton Federal Building or the San Jose Division at the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building, 280 South First Street, or the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. Or waiting for collection action and asserting other defenses through a Collection Due Process hearing under IRC §6320 or §6330. The cleanest path is to file the petition timely.

60 days from the date on the Notice of Proposed Assessment to file a protest under California Revenue & Taxation Code §19041. The protest goes to the FTB and triggers Protest Hearing Officer review. If the FTB issues a Notice of Action against you, an Office of Tax Appeals petition follows within 30 days under R&TC §19045. The OTA is an independent tribunal that replaced the State Board of Equalization on tax appeals in 2018; Redwood City petitioners draw the OTA's Sacramento headquarters at 400 R Street, the San Francisco hearing room, or video conference hearing for most matters. If you miss the 60 days, the assessment becomes final and the FTB moves to collection. The fix at that stage narrows to a refund claim under R&TC §19306 after payment, or a compromise under R&TC §19443 based on collectibility. Both windows can be extended only by mutual written consent.

IRC §6502(a) gives the IRS ten years from the date of assessment to collect; after the federal Collection Statute Expiration Date, the debt becomes uncollectible by operation of law. Tolling events extend the federal CSED: a pending Offer in Compromise (OIC pendency plus 30 days), bankruptcy (stay plus six months), Collection Due Process hearings, Innocent Spouse claims, and continuous absence from the United States for six months or more. California Revenue & Taxation Code §19255 gives the FTB twenty years — double the federal tail. CDTFA collection runs ten years under R&TC §6711 with similar tolling. EDD operates under its own collection window in the Unemployment Insurance Code. A federal Redwood City balance assessed in 2016 may approach CSED expiration in 2026, while the FTB equivalent continues to be collectible until 2036. Submitting a federal OIC restarts the federal clock. Sometimes a Partial Pay Installment Agreement that runs out the federal statute is the better federal play, paired with a separate FTB compromise under R&TC §19443 to address the longer state tail. The two strategies are decided together.

No. The firm is headquartered at 1100 S. Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles and represents clients across all 58 California counties. Redwood City engagements run by phone, secure client portal, and email; in-person meetings happen by appointment at the LA office for clients who prefer face-to-face. We appear at the IRS San Mateo Taxpayer Assistance Center at 977 South Claremont Street, the FTB San Francisco Field Office at 121 Spear Street, the CDTFA San Francisco District Office at 121 Spear Street, the San Mateo County Assessment Appeals Board at 400 County Center, the San Mateo County Assessor at 555 County Center, the U.S. Tax Court San Francisco trial sessions at the Phillip Burton Federal Building (450 Golden Gate Avenue), the Phillip Burton Federal Building for NDCA San Francisco Division matters, the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building (280 South First Street) for NDCA San Jose Division matters, the San Mateo County Superior Court at 400 County Center, and the California Court of Appeal First Appellate District (350 McAllister Street, San Francisco) as case calendaring requires. US-101, Caltrain, and El Camino Real connect Redwood City to the broader Peninsula and Bay Area.