Tax Attorney in Richmond, 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 — about 17 miles south of Richmond across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge or via BART out of the Richmond Station at the end of the Red and Orange lines. A Richmond petitioner designates 'San Francisco, California' as the place of trial on the petition under Tax Court Rule 140. Sacramento is the secondary California venue at roughly 80 miles up I-80, and sometimes the better calendar choice when the San Francisco docket runs long. The petition itself is filed with the Tax Court in Washington, D.C., or through DAWSON electronic filing at dawson.ustaxcourt.gov. The 90-day window under IRC §6213(a) is jurisdictional and the court has no authority to extend it.

The Chevron Richmond Refinery at 841 Chevron Way is the largest petroleum refinery in Northern California, processing roughly 245,000 barrels per day and employing about 2,900 direct workers plus a sizeable 1099 maintenance and turnaround contractor population. Separation distributions from the Chevron Retirement Plan, the Chevron Employee Savings Investment Plan, and the Chevron Retirement Restoration Plan are reported on Form 1099-R and taxed as ordinary income under IRC §72 with after-tax basis recovery under the simplified method or general rule. Lump-sum eligible rollover distributions can be rolled to an IRA under IRC §402(c) within 60 days to defer federal income tax — the 20 percent mandatory withholding under §3405(c) applies if the distribution is paid to the participant rather than direct-rolled. Pre-age-59½ withdrawals trigger the 10 percent additional tax under §72(t) unless an exception applies. The §72(t)(2)(A)(v) separation-from-service-at-55 exception is the standard refinery-worker fix for operators, mechanics, and process engineers retiring on the early-out window. The §72(t)(2)(A)(iv) substantially-equal-periodic-payment series under Rev. Rul. 2002-62 is the secondary route for separations before 55. Net Unrealized Appreciation under §402(e)(4) preserves long-term capital-gain treatment on Chevron stock distributed in-kind, and the §415(b) annual benefit limit caps the defined-benefit accrual for higher-earning supervisors. California conforms with limited exceptions and adds the state-tax layer at up to 13.3 percent under R&TC §17041.

Two separate questions, two different answers. (1) PG&E wildfire civil-suit settlements paid to Chevron and Richmond-area households arising from the 2017-2020 Northern California fires — under the August 2012 Chevron Richmond refinery fire context as well — are analyzed against IRC §104(a)(2), which excludes from gross income damages received on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness. Emotional-distress damages tied to physical injury are excluded; pure emotional-distress damages without physical sickness are not. Replacement of lost wages or business income is fully taxable. Punitive damages are always taxable under §104(a). Attorney-fee gross-up under Commissioner v. Banks, 543 U.S. 426 (2005), can pull the entire settlement into income unless the §62(a)(20)/(21) above-the-line deduction or the §104 exclusion applies. (2) Environmental-disaster settlements from refinery incidents may qualify for IRC §139 'qualified disaster relief payment' exclusion where the recipient demonstrates expenses reasonably related to a federally-declared disaster or an event of catastrophic nature. The 1099-MISC or 1099-NEC reporting from the settlement administrator is the starting point — we run the §104, §139, and §61 analysis line by line and respond to CP2000 or NPA notices that recharacterize the payment.

The California Franchise Tax Board operates its East Bay field office at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 305, Oakland CA 94612 — about 14 miles south of Richmond via I-580 and the Bay Bridge approaches. This is the home FTB office for Richmond residents and businesses: residency audits under R&TC §17014, Notice of Proposed Assessment protests under §19041, FTB Settlement Bureau review under §19443, walk-in services for individual taxpayers, and audit conferences. Phone (510) 622-4693. We file FTB Form 3520-PIT or 3520-BE to put representation in place and route every notice to counsel. Most administrative work runs by phone, secure portal, and written submission, but in-person hearings happen at 1515 Clay when calendaring requires.

Richmond holds one of the larger Laotian-American and Mien-American refugee communities in the United States, alongside the Sacramento and Stockton concentrations. U.S. persons with foreign financial accounts whose aggregate 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. A separate Form 8938 under IRC §6038D attaches to the federal return at higher thresholds — $50,000 / $75,000 for single domestic filers, $100,000 / $150,000 for joint, and higher thresholds for taxpayers living abroad. Non-willful FBAR penalties run up to $10,000 per violation, per-report not per-account, after Bittner v. United States, 598 U.S. 85 (2023). Willful penalties reach the greater of $100,000 or 50 percent of the account balance per year. For previously-unreported accounts with non-willful conduct, the IRS Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures (Domestic Offshore or Foreign Offshore) bring filings current at a 5 percent miscellaneous offshore penalty or zero penalty for qualifying foreign-resident filers. For willful conduct, the IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice under Form 14457 (updated June 2022 and again in 2024) is the only path that closes criminal exposure under IRC §7203 and §7206. Family-trust structures, inheritance from Vientiane or Houayxay, and remittance accounts all factor into the analysis. The Lao Family Community Development organization and IRCO refugee-services networks regularly refer prior-conduct questions and we handle them on a privileged basis.

The Port of Richmond is California's fourth-largest port by tonnage and the West Coast's primary liquid-bulk port — petroleum, chemicals, autos through Honda's Richmond import terminal, and dry bulk. Customs brokerages, freight forwarders, terminal operators, and bunker fuel suppliers operating at the port collect federal excise taxes that pass through IRC §7202. The statute makes willful failure to collect or pay over any tax a felony punishable by up to five years and a $10,000 fine. It reaches Form 720 federal excise on petroleum products, the Harbor Maintenance Tax under IRC §4461 on cargo loaded or unloaded at federal ports, payroll trust funds under IRC §6672, and other collected federal taxes. 'Willful' is the controlling word. A missed deposit during a cash-flow crunch followed by clean catch-up filings is usually civil-only territory under §6651, §6656, and §6672. A pattern of collections-without-remittance, especially while paying other creditors, raises criminal exposure. The first step is parallel-track work — voluntary catch-up on the civil side (Form 941-X for payroll, amended Form 720 for excise) while counsel evaluates whether the matter belongs in front of IRS Criminal Investigation. Richmond Port operators get specific attention because the industry is concentrated and CI knows the pattern.

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, operated by UC under DOE Contract DE-AC02-05CH11231) and the UC Berkeley Richmond Field Station on Meeker Avenue host a sizeable 1099-NEC contractor population — research-engineering specialists, instrumentation contractors, materials-science consultants, software developers for energy-grid and battery programs, and classified-program contributors with Q-clearance security access. The 1099-NEC compensation feeds Schedule C with the standard self-employment lines. Three federal items recur: (1) self-employment tax under IRC §1401 at 15.3 percent on the first $168,600 of net earnings (2024 wage base, indexed) plus 2.9 percent thereafter plus the 0.9 percent Additional Medicare on wages over $200,000 single or $250,000 joint; (2) §174 research-and-experimental capitalization rules amended by TCJA — software and engineering R&E expenditures must now be capitalized and amortized over 5 years (domestic) or 15 years (foreign) rather than expensed currently, which created a working-capital problem for many DOE-contract subcontractors; (3) the §199A qualified business income deduction at 20 percent of QBI, subject to the W-2 wage and UBIA tests, with the SSTB carve-out for consulting that can be addressed through S-corp election and separate business activity structuring. Q-clearance holders working classified programs face additional documentation rules — we handle clearance-related background concerns confidentially under §7525 and California Evidence Code §954 attorney-client privilege.

Richmond was among the first East Bay cities to permit commercial cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution under the city's cannabis-business permit program. Federal tax treatment is governed by IRC §280E, which disallows any deduction or credit for expenses paid or incurred in carrying on a trade or business that consists of trafficking in a controlled substance — cannabis remains Schedule I federally as of 2026 despite the DEA rescheduling proposal. §280E permits cost-of-goods-sold under IRC §471 only; it disallows ordinary operating expenses like salaries, rent, utilities, marketing, professional fees, and depreciation on non-production equipment. The result is federal effective rates often exceeding 70 percent on net economic income. Three points of relief exist: (1) careful §263A inventory cost allocation pulls more costs into COGS where the facts support it — Champ Charitable Foundation v. Commissioner, 128 T.C. 173 (2007), and CHAMP and Olive v. Commissioner, 139 T.C. 19 (2012), draw the line; (2) TCJA §13102 added an exception to §263A and §471 for taxpayers meeting the §448(c) gross-receipts test (under $30 million indexed average gross receipts over three years), letting small cultivators treat inventory as non-incidental materials and supplies under §471(c) — the Patients Mutual Assistance Collective Corp. v. Commissioner, 151 T.C. 176 (2018) holding has been narrowed; (3) bifurcating cannabis operations from non-cannabis activities (ancillary CBD, services, or non-280E lines) protects the non-280E side from disallowance. California state conformity is partial — Cal. R&TC §17280 conforms to §280E for personal income tax but Cal. R&TC §24436.1 carves out a state-level deduction allowance for licensed cannabis businesses, so the California return looks materially different from the federal return.

The closest IRS TAC is at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building, 1301 Clay Street, Suite 160S, Oakland CA 94612 — about 14 miles south of Richmond via I-580 and I-980. Appointments are scheduled by calling 844-545-5640 or through apps.irs.gov/app/office-locator. For most resolution work, in-person TAC visits are not required — we represent Richmond clients by Form 2848 Power of Attorney and route every IRS notice directly to counsel. Walk-in services at the TAC handle ITIN W-7 certification, account inquiries, payment processing, and Form 911 Taxpayer Advocate Service requests. The San Francisco TAC at 450 Golden Gate Avenue inside the Phillip Burton Federal Building is an alternative when the Oakland calendar runs full.

CDTFA mark-up and observation audits on cash-intensive Richmond retailers and restaurants pull Z-tapes, point-of-sale reports, food-and-beverage purchase invoices, bank deposits, and observation-period data to build a projected sales figure, then compare against reported sales. Discrepancies generate an assessment under Cal. R&TC §6481. The defense challenges the test-period sample, the mark-up percentage, the observation period, and the sample-period selection before the methodology scales across the audit period. We file Petitions for Redetermination under R&TC §6561, request appeals conferences at the CDTFA Oakland District Office at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 303, and escalate to the California Office of Tax Appeals under §6562 when the methodology is wrong. Dual-determinations against officers and LLC members under §6829 are a separate exposure that we head off in parallel. Macdonald Avenue, San Pablo Avenue (the El Camino Real corridor), 23rd Street, Cutting Boulevard, and the Hilltop area — including the Hilltop Mall and Pacific East Mall corridors — all draw heightened CDTFA scrutiny.

90 days from the date stamped on the Notice of Deficiency (the NOD or '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 court cannot extend it. A Richmond petitioner designates 'San Francisco, California' as the place of trial. Filing the petition stops the IRS from assessing or collecting on the deficiency until the case resolves under §6213(a). Missing the 90 days forfeits prepayment review; you then either pay the deficiency and sue for refund in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Oakland Division at the Dellums Federal Building or San Francisco Division at the Phillip Burton building) or the U.S. Court of Federal Claims under 28 USC §1346(a)(1), or wait for collection action and assert other defenses through a Collection Due Process hearing under IRC §6320 or §6330. The cleanest path is to file the Tax Court petition timely. DAWSON electronic filing at dawson.ustaxcourt.gov is the standard mechanism.

60 days from the date on the Notice of Proposed Assessment to file a protest under Cal. R&TC §19041. The protest goes to the FTB and triggers a Protest Hearing Officer review. If the FTB issues a Notice of Action against you, an OTA petition follows within 30 days under R&TC §19045. The OTA is an independent tribunal that replaced the Board of Equalization on tax appeals in 2018. Richmond petitioners draw either the Sacramento OTA hearing room at 400 R Street or the San Francisco OTA hearing room at 455 Golden Gate Avenue depending on calendaring. Missing the 60-day NPA protest window converts the proposed assessment into a final assessment 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 §19443 based on collectibility. Both protest and OTA windows can be extended only by mutual written consent of the FTB and the taxpayer.

Cal. R&TC §17014 defines a California resident as any individual in the state other than for a temporary or transitory purpose, plus any person domiciled in California who is outside the state for a temporary or transitory purpose. The Office of Tax Appeals applies the nine-factor closer-connection test from Appeal of Stephen Bragg (2003-SBE-002) — physical presence, real-property holdings, vehicle registration, driver's license state, voter registration, professional and business filings, banking relationships, family ties, and where children attend school. Appeal of Bindley (2018-OTA-179P) layered on sourcing-of-services analysis for departing residents continuing to perform services. The cleanest record for a Richmond departure to Houston, Austin, Las Vegas, Reno, Miami, Tampa, or Boise is: (1) sell or genuinely rent the Richmond home at arm's length — Point Richmond, Marina Bay, Richmond Annex, the Iron Triangle, North & East Richmond, and Hilltop all see this question; (2) re-title vehicles and surrender the California driver's license within the new state's window (Texas 30 days, Nevada 30 days, Florida 30 days, Idaho 90 days); (3) re-register to vote in the new state and cancel California registration; (4) move primary banking and brokerage; (5) keep California physical presence under 45 days per year — the 183-day Bragg safe harbor is the outer limit and the FTB scrutinizes returns claiming non-residency at much lower day counts. The FTB has four years from filing under R&TC §19057 to open the audit and longer if no return was filed. We build the closer-connection file before the move and defend the audit when it lands.

The Trust Fund Recovery Penalty under IRC §6672 is the IRS mechanism to reach individuals personally for unpaid employment-tax withholdings the business failed to remit. The penalty equals 100 percent of the federal income-tax withholding plus the employee share of FICA — the 'trust fund' portion of Form 941. A Revenue Officer conducts a Form 4180 interview to identify 'responsible persons' (anyone with check-signing authority, ability to determine which creditors get paid, or operational control over payroll) and to establish 'willfulness' (knowing failure to pay over while paying other creditors). The penalty is jointly and severally assessable against every responsible person. Common targets in Richmond are restaurant and grocery operators on Macdonald, San Pablo, and 23rd Street, port-area trucking and customs LLCs operating off Garrard Boulevard and Cutting, owner-operator drayage carriers running aggregates and intermodal containers between the Port of Richmond and the I-80 corridor, refinery contractor and turnaround LLCs working the Chevron site, and Hilltop Mall and Pacific East Mall retail operators. The criminal companion at IRC §7202 reaches willful failures to collect or pay over. EDD asserts a parallel state TFRP under Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code §1735.

For non-filers, the IRS generally accepts six years of back returns under IRM 1.2.1.6.18 as the compliance bar. The FTB looks back four years by default under R&TC §19057, longer for non-filed or fraud years. The sequence is: (1) pull IRS Account Transcripts and Wage-and-Income Transcripts across all open years to confirm what the IRS already knows; (2) pull FTB MyFTB records to confirm what the FTB has; (3) prepare and file the six federal years and at least the four California years; (4) once compliance is current, request a Collection Information Statement-based resolution (Installment Agreement, Currently Not Collectible status, or Offer in Compromise) sized to the facts. Filing the missing returns first is what unlocks every relief option. Refunds older than the §6511 three-year window (two years from payment if later) are forfeited. The §7201 felony exposure for willful failure to file rises with the count of unfiled years and the dollar size of the implied liability. The IRS Substitute for Return under §6020(b) is what the IRS prepares when you do not — usually disadvantageous and worth replacing with a filed return.

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. Cal. R&TC §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 Richmond 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 to address the longer state tail. The two strategies are decided together.

Kaiser Permanente Richmond Medical Center at 901 Nevin Avenue is a 50-bed acute-care hospital serving West Contra Costa County. Locum tenens, per-diem, and contract physicians paid 1099-NEC frequently see annual compensation between $250,000 and $450,000. Three rate-stacks drive the tax burden: federal income tax at the top brackets, self-employment tax under IRC §1401 at 15.3 percent on the first $168,600 of net earnings (2024 wage base, indexed) and 2.9 percent thereafter plus the 0.9 percent Additional Medicare on wages over $200,000 single or $250,000 joint, and California income tax topping at 13.3 percent under R&TC §17041. Quarterly Form 1040-ES estimates fix the federal side; FTB Form 540-ES fixes the California side. An S-corp election under IRC §1362 (Form 2553) can split income into reasonable compensation plus distribution where the practice supports it, lowering SE-tax exposure — subject to reasonable-compensation scrutiny under Watson v. Commissioner. Solo 401(k) and SEP-IRA contributions under §401 and §408(k) reduce taxable income further. Doctors Medical Center San Pablo (closed 2015) alumni and current Kaiser Vallejo and Kaiser San Rafael 1099 staff face the same framework.