California Tax Legal Questions

Generally, if you receive a hearing notice from your local county tax assessor's office, you can go to their website and find additional information regarding your upcoming hearing (appeal) or you can contact them via phone and request them to send you all the information including the statute with respect to your hearing (appeal). It is your right to know what is involved with those hearings and that is why those information are generally posted for public view.... Read More

You do not have to sign an audit. We never agree to sign extensions. Why? Because that will give the auditor additional time to beef up the file and, if it is obvious that the matter is going to go disagreed at audit, you don't want to give the auditor any more of your (i) facts or to (ii) arguments. You would prefer to keep both for use at the Appeals division. If you have no new facts and no new arguments, then it makes it difficult for the Appeals officer to rule in your favor.... Read More

The corporation does not have any obligation to notify its employees about its tax structure. However, the nature of your question suggests you are not merely an employee, but that you are also a shareholder. Is that the case? If you are a shareholder, then it could not have changed from a "C" corporation to an "S" corporation without you signing a shareholder's consent.... Read More

You must carefully document in writing every communication you have with the IRS. If you talk to someone on the phone, get that person's name, badge number and mailing address and send a letter: Dear John, It was a pleasure speaking to you. I told you this. You told me that. Best regards. We call these "two sentence confirmation letters." If it isn't in writing, it doesn't exist. That applies for any communication, in person or over the phone. You must be patient and you must be thorough and you must be persistent.... Read More

First, to answer your question your advisor needs to know all of your facts, personal and business, and all of your goals and objectives. So you should first have a highly competent CPA whom you trust enough to discuss this with. Second, there are reasons you could make either decision: "S" corporation or LLC. For example, if you are in California, an LLC has a gross receipts tax that could make it more expensive than an "S" corporation. On the other hand, if you are going to have a minority owner, that person would have more rights in an "S" corporation than in an LLC. Also, it is easier to divide P&L in an LLC than in an "S" corporation. So, you need advice, which is something you can't get in a simple e-mail response. Does that make sense?... Read More

The definition of "wages" for income tax withholding purposes specifically excludes services performed by nonresident alien individuals as the Secretary may designate by regulation. The regulations exempt remuneration paid to a nonresident alien individual other than a resident of Puerto Rico for services performed outside the United States.... Read More

Dues to a trade association may be deducted with one complication. Money spent on lobbying activities is not deductible. So the trade association can either tell its members not to deduct that portion of their dues or the trade association may elect to pay a "proxy tax" rather than provide the information disclosure about what portion of the dues is not deductible.... Read More

You need to retain a tax lawyer and provide the lawyer with the current facts of the business along with your future plans for the business. This is not a consultation to be performed over the internet. The answer depends, in part, on the state in which your business is established and the states from which it is deriving revenue and how it derives revenue from those states. Read about the current antagonism between Amazon and states like California and Illinois and you will get a flavor for the issues.... Read More