Tax Attorney in Tacoma, WA

Yes. Under IRC §7508, service members deployed to a designated combat zone or qualified hazardous-duty area receive automatic extension of filing deadlines, payment deadlines, refund claims, and IRS collection actions for the period of qualifying service plus at least 180 additional days. The exclusion under IRC §112 separately excludes basic pay, reenlistment bonuses, and certain other compensation from gross income. The DFAS LES typically codes the §112 exclusion correctly, but the EITC look-back election under IRC §32(c)(2)(B)(vi) and the saver's credit interaction under IRC §25B require manual coordination. We routinely reconstruct the deployment timeline from LES records, orders, and DD-214 data to support the position when an IRS notice arrives.

For an active-duty service member, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act protects the legal state of residence (domicile) regardless of where stationed. For the civilian spouse, the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act and its 2018 Veterans Benefits and Transition Act amendment under 50 U.S.C. §4001 allow election of either the service member's domicile or the spouse's own legal residence. Washington has no state PIT, so wages earned in Washington carry no state-PIT liability either way. But if the spouse claims California, Oregon, Idaho, or Arizona residency while working in Tacoma, that state's PIT may apply to the wages depending on the source-rules in the home state. Documentation matters — voter registration, driver's license, vehicle registration, and intent evidence are all reviewed.

No personal income tax in the traditional sense. Washington is one of seven states without a state PIT. But that does not mean Washington tax is simple. Three structural pieces matter: the Business & Occupation tax under RCW 82.04 (a gross-receipts tax on every business activity in the state — no deduction for COGS or expenses); the 7% Capital Gains Tax under RCW 82.87 on long-term gains above the indexed threshold ($262,000 for 2026), upheld in Quinn v. State (2023); and the WA Estate Tax under RCW 83.100 with a $2.193M exemption. Sales-and-use tax in Tacoma runs 6.5% state plus 1.4% Pierce County plus 2.4% city/transit local = 10.3% combined, one of the highest combined rates in the state.

The WA Capital Gains Tax is a 7% state excise tax on long-term capital gains above a $262,000 annual threshold (2026 indexed amount) under RCW 82.87. It was enacted in 2021, took effect for the 2022 tax year, and was upheld as a constitutional excise tax (not an income tax) by the Washington Supreme Court in Quinn v. State, 196 Wn.2d 410 (2023). Real estate is excluded under RCW 82.87.050(2). Sales of qualified small-business stock under IRC §1202 receive a separate carve-out. Long-term lots of Boeing or Seattle-area tech equity sold by Tacoma filers can hit the threshold quickly; we coordinate the federal §1(h) long-term rate with the WA 7% layer on the same gain.

Fundamentally. The state Business & Occupation tax under RCW 82.04 is a gross-receipts tax: it applies to total business revenue with no deduction for cost of goods sold, no deduction for business expenses, no deduction for compensation paid, and no deduction for depreciation. Federal income tax under Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code is a net-income tax. The state B&O rate depends on classification: 0.471% for Retailing, 1.5% for Service & Other Activities, 1.75% for Royalties / Services (for higher-receipt businesses), and various other classifications by industry. Tacoma is one of the Washington cities that levies a separate municipal B&O tax on top of the state version through the City of Tacoma Tax & License Division at 747 Market Street. Misclassification between Retailing, Wholesaling, and Service & Other is the most common B&O audit issue and can yield multi-year DOR reassessments compounded by the city overlay.

There is no permanent U.S. Tax Court session in Tacoma. The Tax Court holds trial sessions for Pierce County petitioners at the Tom Lantos U.S. Courthouse at 700 Stewart Street, Seattle WA 98101 — roughly 35 miles north on I-5. Petitioners designate Seattle as the preferred place of trial on the petition under Tax Court Rule 140. Sessions are scheduled on rotation. Small-tax-case procedure under IRC §7463 is available for deficiencies of $50,000 or less per year. Separately, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington maintains a permanent Tacoma Division at 1717 Pacific Avenue (Union Station Courthouse) for federal refund suits and criminal-tax matters.

Federal tax law treats tribal members and tribal income through several distinct mechanisms. Under IRC §7873, income derived from the exercise of treaty fishing rights by a member of a qualified Indian tribe is excluded from federal income tax — relevant for Puyallup tribal fishers and shellfish gatherers. Per-capita distributions from tribal gaming revenue under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and an approved Revenue Allocation Plan are generally federally taxable, with the tribe issuing Form 1099-MISC for the distribution. General-welfare exclusion under Rev. Proc. 2014-35 may exclude certain tribal-program payments. Wages earned by a tribal member from a tribal employer on the reservation may have specific state-tax treatment under McClanahan v. Arizona (federal preemption analysis), though Washington has no state PIT so the issue is more focused on the federal side. We coordinate with the IRS Office of Indian Tribal Governments on contested positions.

If the aggregate balance across all your foreign accounts exceeded $10,000 at any point during the calendar year, yes. FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) is required under 31 USC §5314 and is filed separately from the federal income-tax return on the FinCEN BSA e-file system. IRS Form 8938 is a separate statement filed with Form 1040 at higher thresholds. For Tacoma filers with accounts in Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, or India — common in Hilltop, Lincoln District, and South Tacoma immigrant-community households, and across the Port of Tacoma Asia-trade business owner population — both forms may apply. Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures resolve good-faith past nondisclosure without the willful FBAR penalty (which can reach 50% of the account balance per year). The Streamlined program is the right path when there is no badge of fraud.

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. 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 a controller in certain fact patterns. For Tacoma port-trade LLCs, the issue often catches multiple partners because operational and signatory authority overlap. On the state side, RCW 82.32.145 reaches officers and members for collected-but-unremitted retail sales tax, with parallel WA Employment Security Department exposure for unemployment-insurance contributions.

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. Active-duty service members deployed overseas typically travel on a no-fee tourist passport, an official passport, or solely on orders, but personal travel and post-service civilian travel both depend on a valid tourist passport. 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. JBLM service members preparing for an overseas rotation, a leave block in Korea or Thailand, or post-ETS travel should resolve any seriously-delinquent balance well before the rotation date.

Under RCW 82.32.050, the Washington Department of Revenue generally has four years from the close of the tax year to assess a deficiency on B&O, sales-and-use, and other excise taxes. The period extends where the return was not filed, where fraud is found, or where the taxpayer signs a written waiver. The federal IRS Collection Statute Expiration Date (10 years from assessment under IRC §6502) runs independently. The WA Capital Gains Tax under RCW 82.87 has its own statute. For Tacoma transplants from California, the FTB applies a four-year SOL on assessment (extended to six years for substantial omissions and unlimited for unfiled returns) under Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §19057.

Yes. A levy under IRC §6331 reaches property and rights to property held by or for the taxpayer, including brokerage accounts. Once the broker (Fidelity, Computershare for Boeing plan administration, E-Trade, Charles Schwab, Morgan Stanley) receives a levy, it segregates the account and holds funds for 21 days under IRC §6332(c) before remittance. Vested-but-unsold shares are fully reachable. Unvested RSUs sit in a narrower category — the IRS levy power on contingent property is more limited — but vested cash-settled positions and vested-but-unsold shares move into liquid status. Acting in the 21-day window matters: a properly-filed CDP request or accepted CNC suspends the levy before the broker remits and avoids forced liquidation at an unfavorable price on a concentrated single-stock position. For JBLM active-duty filers, DFAS-administered pay levies follow a parallel process — we coordinate with DFAS Cleveland and the JBLM finance office on release.

Often yes — on income sourced to California even after the move. Under Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code §17041 and FTB Publication 1031's nine-factor residency test, equity compensation that vested while you rendered services in California is California-source income on sale, even years after you relocate. Severance and deferred comp tied to California services follow the same rule. The FTB issues residency audits on a four-to-six-year lookback. The move itself is fully legal — what catches people is filing as a nonresident for the year of relocation without sourcing the pre-move California-earned items properly. We see this pattern often with Bay Area workers who relocated to Pierce County after 2020 for the price differential, particularly in University Place, Lakewood, Gig Harbor, and Federal Way.

It depends on what the settlement is paying for. Under IRC §104(a)(2), damages received on account of personal physical injury or physical sickness are excluded from gross income. Property-damage settlements may be treated as a return of basis (nontaxable to the extent of basis) with any excess as capital gain. Punitive damages and interest are generally taxable. Environmental-remediation cost-recovery payments to a property owner are usually offset against basis. For Commencement Bay Nearshore/Tideflats Superfund settlements and ASARCO Ruston smelter legacy claims, the settlement-fund administrator's Form 1099 coding matters — if the fund issued a 1099-MISC Box 3 for the full settlement and the recipient has a legitimate §104(a)(2) exclusion or basis offset, we file the return with the inclusion on Schedule 1 and a corresponding exclusion under Form 8275 disclosure language to avoid an automated CP2000.

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-WA-DOR matter or federal-plus-California FTB residency audit defense runs higher because it involves two agencies and two statutes. VTL provides a written fee quote after the free consultation. California 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 criminal investigation, which matters significantly if a civil audit shifts to a Criminal Investigation Division referral. For JBLM service members, the JAG Legal Assistance Office provides separate counsel for service-related matters but does not handle private federal-tax controversy work — that gap is where private representation matters.

For administrative work at the Washington Department of Revenue — responding to a Notice of Determination, filing a Petition for Correction, working with the DOR Appeals Division on a B&O or sales-tax reassessment — representation runs through a Washington DOR power of attorney. The DOR accepts representation by attorneys, CPAs, and other authorized representatives. For formal appeal to the Washington Board of Tax Appeals under RCW Chapter 82.03, the BTA permits representation by attorneys, CPAs, and individuals with proper authorization. For judicial review in Pierce County Superior Court, an attorney admitted in Washington is required — VTL refers to local Washington counsel for that stage and stays engaged on the federal side. Many WA tax disputes resolve at the DOR Appeals or BTA stage without ever reaching state court.

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 JBLM filers, deployment timing and combat-zone tolling under IRC §7508 also affect the calculation.