Tax Attorney in Shreveport, LA

No. Federal IRS practice is governed by 31 CFR Part 10 (Treasury Circular 230). Any attorney admitted to practice in any U.S. jurisdiction may represent any taxpayer before the IRS in any state, including Louisiana, through a Form 2848 Power of Attorney. The U.S. Tax Court admits attorneys on a national basis and holds Louisiana trial sessions primarily in New Orleans, with sessions in Baton Rouge and occasional Shreveport sessions at the Tom Stagg U.S. Courthouse. Louisiana-bar admission is required for Louisiana state-court litigation and Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals proceedings — those pieces are referred to local LA counsel. The federal piece, which is the majority of tax-controversy work, does not require Louisiana admission.

Royalty income from a Haynesville Shale lease is ordinary income reported on Schedule E (or Schedule C if you are in the trade or business of mineral leasing). The royalty payment is reported on Form 1099-MISC by the operator. Three federal deductions reduce the gross figure: percentage depletion under IRC §613A at 15% of gross royalty (limited to taxable income from the property and subject to the 1,000-barrel-per-day small-producer cap converted to gas-equivalent under the 6 Mcf-per-barrel ratio), cost depletion if the geological basis is established, and any operating expenses charged back to the royalty owner. Working-interest owners avoid the passive-activity loss limits under IRC §469(c)(3); royalty owners do not get that exception. Louisiana imposes a severance tax on the gas at the wellhead under La. R.S. 47:633 in addition to state personal income tax on the royalty.

It depends on the deployment location. IRC §112 excludes from gross income basic pay, hostile-fire pay, and reenlistment-bonus pay earned for any month during which you served in a designated combat zone or qualified hazardous-duty area. The Department of Defense publishes the current list of qualifying zones — portions of the Middle East, the Sinai Peninsula, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia airspace, and others have qualified at various times. IRC §7508 also postpones filing, payment, and assessment deadlines by the period of combat-zone service plus 180 days. Air Force Global Strike Command B-52 aircrews flying long-duration missions sometimes have ambiguous status — we pull the DD Form 214 / DD Form 215 and the deployment orders to document the qualifying period correctly. The IRS frequently miscodes shorter deployments, and the fix is paper-based through the IRS Military Tax Information line.

Probably yes. Louisiana imposes income tax on non-residents who earn Louisiana-source income, which includes gambling winnings from a Louisiana casino. A Form W-2G from Margaritaville, Horseshoe Bossier City, Sam's Town, or the Boardwalk creates a Louisiana non-resident filing obligation if the winnings exceed the Louisiana filing threshold for non-residents under La. R.S. 47:32. The Louisiana return is Form IT-540B (non-resident and part-year). Texas imposes no personal income tax, so you receive no Texas state credit to offset the Louisiana liability — the entire Louisiana state tax on the gambling winnings comes out of pocket. The casino's 24% federal backup withholding under IRC §3402(q) covers the federal piece but not the state piece. Gambling losses from the same year are deductible up to the amount of winnings on the federal return under IRC §165(d), but require diary substantiation.

Yes. Louisiana imposes a personal income tax under La. R.S. 47:32. The 2025 tax year transitioned from graduated brackets of 1.85%, 3.5%, and 4.25% to a flat 3% under HB 1 of the 2024 Third Extraordinary Session. Louisiana corporate income tax is a flat 3.5% under La. R.S. 47:287.12. Louisiana sales tax is 4.45% at the state level; Caddo Parish adds 5% local, for a 9.45% combined rate inside Shreveport city limits. Louisiana repealed its state inheritance tax effective July 1, 2008, so only federal estate tax applies at death — though Louisiana civil-law forced heirship and usufruct rules still affect how that federal estate tax is calculated on Haynesville mineral interests and other Shreveport assets.

Louisiana is the only U.S. state operating under a civil-law system rooted in the Napoleonic Code rather than English common law. State substantive law determines property rights, which then plug into the federal tax framework. Three concepts come up repeatedly in tax cases: community property under La. R.S. 9:2334 means most income earned during marriage is jointly owned, which interacts with Innocent Spouse Relief under IRC §6015 and joint-and-several liability under IRC §6013(d)(3); usufruct and naked ownership split ownership in a way that affects who reports royalty income from inherited Haynesville mineral rights and how IRC §1014 step-up applies; and forced heirship under Civil Code article 1493 constrains testamentary planning and changes how the marital deduction under IRC §2056 is structured. Federal tax law applies the same in Louisiana as elsewhere, but the underlying property rights it attaches to are different.

Yes. The IRS audits federal income, federal employment, and federal excise tax. The Louisiana DOR audits state personal income tax under R.S. 47:32 (flat 3%), state corporate income tax under R.S. 47:287.12 at 3.5%, sales-and-use tax, and severance tax on oil and gas production. The two agencies share information through information-exchange agreements, so an IRS Form 4549 adjustment frequently triggers an LDR notice within months. Federal adjustments must be reported to LDR within 180 days under La. R.S. 47:1565.1, with an extended state assessment window keyed to the federal change. A Shreveport business can face simultaneous Form 941 IRS payroll exam, LDR sales-tax field audit, and Haynesville severance-tax inquiry.

Louisiana enacted the Motion Picture Production Tax Credit under La. R.S. 47:6007 in 2002 and expanded it heavily in the 2010s. Shreveport became a major production city, particularly between 2010 and 2015 when "Hollywood South" peaked. Production LLCs issued K-1s to investors; transferable credits were sold to high-bracket Louisiana taxpayers at a discount. Several federal-tax issues still surface today: federal partnership audits of K-1 allocations, IRS scrutiny of sham-investor arrangements, transferee liability under IRC §6901 where production LLCs went dark with unpaid taxes, recapture issues where productions failed to meet the Louisiana certification, and basis disputes for credit transferees. The state program was capped and reformed in 2015 and again in 2017; the federal tax exposure from prior-year activity persists.

Probably yes, for the federal trust-fund portion. 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, not the employer's matching share. 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. On the state side, Louisiana sales-tax responsible-person liability operates under similar principles for entities that collected state sales tax in trust and failed to remit. Haynesville drilling-services LLCs and Barksdale support-services contractors sometimes have this fact pattern after a project ends with unpaid wages or when natural-gas prices crater.

Yes. IRC §7345 authorizes the IRS to certify "seriously delinquent" tax debt — currently $62,000 for 2026, indexed for inflation — to the U.S. State Department, which may then deny passport renewal or revoke an active passport. The certification reverses when the debt is paid, an Installment Agreement is in place, an accepted Offer in Compromise is in force, an active CDP hearing is pending, or Innocent Spouse Relief is in process. For Barksdale civilian contractors with OCONUS rotations, General Dynamics IT engineers on overseas client deployments, and Q-cleared personnel for whom delinquent-tax status interacts with security reviews, decertification is often the most urgent step in the engagement.

For a Willis-Knighton, CHRISTUS Shreveport-Bossier, or LSU Health Shreveport attending working under a 1099-NEC contract, the tax stack is: federal income tax at progressive rates topping out at 37% (plus the 0.9% additional Medicare tax on wages and SE income above $200,000 single / $250,000 joint), plus 15.3% self-employment tax under IRC §1401 on the first $168,600 of net SE earnings (2024 figure; indexed), plus the 2.9% Medicare portion above that, plus Louisiana state income tax (flat 3% under HB 1). Net effective rate frequently exceeds 43% before deductions. Quarterly estimates under IRC §6654 are mandatory; missing them triggers underpayment penalties. We routinely set up retirement-plan strategies (solo 401(k), SEP-IRA, defined-benefit plans where compensation supports it) and qualified-business-income deductions under IRC §199A where the specified-service-trade-or-business limits permit.

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 number of issues. A U.S. Tax Court petition with case workup and trial preparation generally starts at $6,000 and rises with complexity. Haynesville-depletion and IDC controversies, casino W-2G aggregation cases, and Barksdale combat-zone reconstructions sit at the higher end. We provide a written fee quote after the free consultation. Cal Bar Rule 7.1 prohibits price comparisons unless backed by verifiable substantiation, so we do not market on price — we market on the work product and the case files behind it.

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, etc.). 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. An attorney handling your Shreveport tax case retains the broader privilege that survives criminal investigation — a meaningful difference if the audit develops fraud indicators or if a referral to the IRS Criminal Investigation division becomes possible. For Q-cleared Barksdale contractors handling classified-research expense items under IRC §174, the attorney privilege protects work-product discussions that the IRC §7525 privilege would not.

Yes, generally. IRC §6331(k)(1) suspends levy action while a processable Offer is pending and for 30 days after a rejection, and during any timely-filed Appeals review of a rejection. The IRS will not levy your Shreveport bank account or wages while the Offer is being evaluated. However, the IRS may still file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien during the OIC pendency to protect its position in your Caddo Parish real estate, Haynesville royalty interest, or other assets. The CSED is also tolled during the pendency. A poorly-prepared OIC that gets returned (not rejected) does not provide the same protection — processability is the key threshold.

Yes, for Board litigation. The Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals operates under R.S. 47:1401 and following as an independent state-tax tribunal. Petitions to challenge a Louisiana Department of Revenue assessment must be filed within 30 days of the formal assessment under R.S. 47:1431. Hearings are held in Baton Rouge. Representation before the Board generally requires Louisiana-licensed counsel or, for limited matters, an authorized representative under Board rules. Judicial review proceeds in Louisiana district court and requires Louisiana admission. VTL handles the federal side of overlapping Shreveport matters and coordinates with Louisiana counsel for the Board piece. Many LDR disputes resolve at the protest stage with LDR's Litigation Division before any Board petition is filed.