The Newport Beach Tax Attorney Blog

Wilson Tax Law is pleased to announce our firm has been selected as Federal Tax Law Firm of the Year - USA by the Worldwide Financial Advisor Awards Magazine Golden Globe Awards 2019.



The Worldwide Financial Advisor Awards Magazine Golden Globe Awards recognize a select number of leading professional firms, across the globe, for their individual areas of specialization, within their geographical location.

For taxes administered by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the interest rates between July 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019, are:



The debit rate for deficiencies or underpayments is 9%; andThe credit rate for refunds or overpayments is 2%.



The interest rate seems extremely high for even California tax authorities. The Federal interest rate on deficiencies and underpayment is currently 6%. California CDTFA is 3% more than the Federal interest rate.



Contact Joseph P. Wilson at 949-397-2292 or wilson@wilsontaxlaw.com.  Mr. Wilson represents clients throughout California and the Globe, involving local, state, federal and international civil tax disputes and tax litigation and criminal tax defense. Mr. Wilson is the Managing Shareholder at Wilson Tax Law Group, APLC, former Member of the Executive Committee of the Taxation Section, California Lawyers’ Association, a former IRS Attorney, a former Assistant United States Attorney, and a former Tax Attorney, California Fran…

The regular appeals filing periods for 2019 for California county property tax assessments have been certified. The regular appeals filing periods will begin on July 2 and end on either:



September 16; orDecember 2.



The end date a county uses depends on whether the county assessor mails assessment notices by August 1 to all taxpayers with property on the secured roll. See Letter to County Assessors, No. 2019/015, California State Board of Equalization, May 31, 2019



Contact Joseph P. Wilson at 949-397-2292 or jwilson@wilsontaxlaw.com.  Mr. Wilson represents clients throughout California and the Globe, involving local, state, federal and international civil tax disputes and tax litigation and criminal tax defense. Mr. Wilson is the Managing Shareholder at Wilson Tax Law Group, APLC, former Member of the Executive Committee of the Taxation Section, California Lawyers’ Association, a former IRS Attorney, a former Assistant United States Attorney, and a former Tax Attorney, California Franchi…

Failure to comply with filing, reporting, and payment requirements may result in civil penalties or, in some cases, criminal investigation, which may in turn lead to prosecution, fines, and imprisonment. IRS’s Collection function collects Federal taxes that have been reported or assessed but not paid and secures tax returns that have not been filed. IRS’s Criminal Investigation function conducts investigations of alleged criminal violations of the tax code and related financial statutes.



In Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, the IRS collected more than $55.5 billion in unpaid assessments on returns filed with additional tax due, netting more than $40.6 billion after credit transfers.



The IRS assessed close to $29.3 billion in civil penalties. Almost $12.0 billion was assessed in civil penalties on individual and estate and trust income tax returns.



In FY 2018, the IRS initiated 2,886 criminal investigations in three areas—legal source tax crimes, illegal source financial crimes, and narcotics-relat…

The Senate Finance Committee Chair and Ranking Member announcedherethat they have started The Senate Finance Committee Chair and Ranking Member announced here that they have started
an investigation into the potential abuse of syndicated conservation easement transactions, which may have allowed some taxpayers to profit from gaming the tax code and deprived the federal government of billions of dollars in revenue. For several years now, the IRS has been investigating these transactions.
They appear to involve promoters selling interests in tracts of land to taxpayers looking for large tax deductions. In such an arrangement, the taxpayers then get inflated appraisals of those tracts of land and grant conservation easements on that land. The resulting inflated charitable deductions are then split among the taxpayers."

The SFC sent letters to 14 "individuals who appear to be associated with these investor groups that might have unfairly profited from conservation easements." …

On 5/9/19, Treasury Police (TIGTA) arrested an IRS auditor, Felecia Taylor, at the IRS office in Long Beach for allegedly soliciting and accepting a $5,000 bribe to reduce the tax liability of a taxpayer who was under audit.
Taylor made an initial court appearance in United States District Court in Santa Ana and is facing a maximum sentence of 15 years. Although more realistically she is looking at between 3-5 years.
According to the press release and the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Taylor, who has been employed at the IRS since 1990, works as a tax compliance officer in Long Beach, where she plans and conducts examinations of individual and business taxpayers.
On May 1, a taxpayer contacted law enforcement, and stated that, at a meeting two days earlier, Taylor was “inviting a bribe” in exchange for lowering the amount owed to the IRS to $10,000, according to court documents. The taxpayer was supposed to pay the bribe to Taylor on May 7 at her Long Beach office, cour…