San Diego Tax Attorney

Written by Sam Brotman, J.D., LL.M. (Taxation), CPA — Managing Attorney, Brotman Law  ·  Updated May 2026

A san diego tax attorney handles disputes with the IRS and California tax agencies as legal matters, not accounting problems. The distinction is practical: tax audits, collection actions, criminal investigations, and agency appeals are adversarial proceedings with legal rights and formal procedures. They require someone who can appear on your behalf, assert privilege where it applies, and understand when what looks like a civil dispute has exposure that goes beyond money.

What I do is represent people through those proceedings — and, when possible, keep things from reaching the worst outcomes in the first place. If you have received a notice from the IRS or a California agency and want to understand what you are actually dealing with, a free 15-minute call is a good place to start.

What a San Diego Tax Attorney Handles

The core of a tax law practice in San Diego covers four jurisdictions: the IRS federally, and the FTB, EDD, and CDTFA at the California state level. Each has its own audit authority, collection tools, and administrative appeals process. A serious tax matter in San Diego can involve any combination of them — an IRS audit of a business owner's personal return can run parallel to an EDD worker classification audit of the same business, for example, with FTB making its own inquiry once the IRS adjusts the federal return.

Federal tax matters — IRS audits, IRS collections, criminal referrals, Offers in Compromise, and tax court petitions — are handled under Title 26 of the Internal Revenue Code and federal regulations. Those proceedings are consistent across the country, but the personnel, the office, and the local procedures matter in practice. The IRS San Diego Field Office handles examination and collection cases for San Diego County taxpayers. Federal criminal tax cases prosecuted out of San Diego go through the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California at 333 W. Broadway.

California state tax matters involve separate agencies. The FTB administers personal and corporate income tax; EDD handles payroll tax and worker classification; CDTFA covers sales and use tax, as well as a range of industry-specific excise taxes. Each has its own administrative appeals process before final assessment — the Office of Tax Appeals (OTA) for FTB and CDTFA, and the CUIAB for EDD. Knowing those internal appeals structures is where representation tends to matter most.

Federal Tax Issues in San Diego

IRS Audits

An IRS audit is the agency's examination of whether your federal tax return accurately reflects what you owe — and the outcome of that examination depends heavily on how it is handled from the beginning. The IRS San Diego Field Office conducts field examinations for San Diego-area taxpayers. Correspondence audits are managed through the campus system. Office exams typically take place at the field office or, with proper notice and arrangement, can be conducted through your representative's office.

The type of audit matters. A correspondence audit triggered by a single line item — a charitable deduction, a Schedule C expense — is a different matter from a multi-year field examination with a revenue agent reviewing your books. The latter can develop into a fraud referral if the examiner finds patterns that suggest willful underreporting. The Form 4549 — the Revenue Agent's Report — is what formalizes the IRS's proposed changes. From there, you have 30 days to appeal through Appeals or agree. A 90-day letter (Notice of Deficiency) follows if the matter goes unresolved, and from there the Tax Court is the primary avenue to contest the liability before paying.

I handle IRS audits at all levels — correspondence audits, office exams, field examinations, and eggshell audits where there is potential criminal exposure running alongside the civil exam. See our full page on IRS audit defense.

IRS Collections — Liens, Levies, and Offers in Compromise

Once the IRS has assessed a tax liability, it has ten years from the date of assessment to collect — the Collection Statute Expiration Date (CSED) under IRC § 6502. During that window, the IRS can file a federal tax lien (Form 668(Y)), issue a bank levy (Form 668-A) or wage garnishment (Form 668-W), and in some circumstances seize assets. For San Diego taxpayers, those actions come through the IRS San Diego Field Office's collection division.

Resolution options depend on your financial situation. An Offer in Compromise (OIC) is a settlement with the IRS for less than the full amount owed — the IRS accepts when your Reasonable Collection Potential (RCP), calculated on Form 433-A (OIC), supports the offered amount. A partial-pay installment agreement pays down the balance at a monthly amount below full payment, with the remainder potentially expiring at the CSED. Currently-not-collectible (CNC) status pauses collection while your financial situation remains below IRS Collection Financial Standards. A Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing, requested on Form 12153 within 30 days of a levy notice, is the formal checkpoint to contest collection and propose alternatives.

Most OICs get rejected because the financial analysis was not done correctly before filing — the IRS keeps the 20% non-refundable deposit regardless of outcome. The right starting point is a realistic RCP analysis before filing anything. I do that analysis in-house, and I represent San Diego clients through the full collections process. See our page on IRS collections and tax debt resolution.

IRS Criminal Tax Referrals

When IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) opens a case, the matter is no longer a civil dispute — it is a federal law enforcement investigation with the potential for prosecution by the DOJ Tax Division. CI special agents are armed federal officers with arrest authority; their conviction rate historically runs above 90%. San Diego falls within the IRS CI Los Angeles Field Office's coverage area for Southern California.

Cases that start as IRS audits can become CI referrals if the examiner documents what looks like willful fraud — substantial unexplained income, two sets of books, fabricated deductions. An eggshell audit is the name for a civil examination where criminal exposure is already present but CI has not yet been formally involved. The handling of an eggshell audit is entirely different from a routine exam: the goal is to resolve the civil matter without generating a criminal referral, which requires understanding exactly what CI would see as evidence of willfulness and structuring the audit response accordingly.

If a CI special agent has contacted you, coordinate with a criminal tax attorney before responding to investigators or producing any documents. I handle CI defense from the preliminary investigation phase through DOJ Tax Division review. See our practice page on IRS Criminal Investigation defense.

California State Tax in San Diego

FTB Audits and Collections

The California Franchise Tax Board audits personal income tax and corporate income tax returns, and San Diego County residents are subject to FTB examination the same way Los Angeles or Bay Area taxpayers are — California taxes its residents on worldwide income. FTB audit selection can be triggered by a federal adjustment (the IRS audits your return and FTB receives a copy of the change), by a Schedule CA inconsistency, or by a residency question.

Residency audits are a particular issue for San Diego taxpayers who spend time in Nevada, Arizona, or elsewhere and claim to have changed domicile. California's FTB has an audit unit specifically focused on high-income individuals who claim non-residency — the burden of proof to establish a change of domicile is on the taxpayer, and the FTB looks at a specific set of factors: location of closest contacts, location of real property, voter registration, driver's license, and the "closest contacts" analysis under California tax code. Getting this wrong means paying California taxes on years of income that should have been taxed at a lower rate elsewhere.

FTB disputes that cannot be resolved at audit go to the Office of Tax Appeals (OTA). I represent San Diego clients at the audit, appeals, and collections level for FTB matters. See our full page on FTB audit defense.

EDD Payroll Audits — Worker Classification

California's Employment Development Department has audit authority over payroll taxes, and its primary audit focus for San Diego businesses is worker classification — the question of whether individuals paid as independent contractors should have been treated as employees under California law. The standard in California under AB 5 is the ABC test: a worker is an employee unless the hiring entity can demonstrate (A) the worker is free from control, (B) performs work outside the usual course of the business, and (C) is customarily engaged in an independently established trade.

An EDD reclassification audit can result in assessment of all payroll taxes — employer-side FICA, SDI, UI — going back multiple years, plus penalties and interest. For industries common in San Diego — construction, tech staffing, healthcare, real estate services — the misclassification exposure can be substantial. EDD audits also run parallel to IRS examinations in some cases, where the federal and state agencies share information.

I represent San Diego businesses in EDD audits and appeals. The administrative appeal goes to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (CUIAB). See our practice page on EDD defense.

CDTFA Sales Tax Audits

The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) administers sales and use tax in California, and CDTFA audits are common for San Diego retailers, restaurants, contractors, and businesses that sell both taxable and exempt goods. A CDTFA audit begins with a Notice of Determination and typically covers three years, though the CDTFA can go back eight years for fraud or non-filing. The audit methodology often involves statistical sampling — the CDTFA selects a sample period and extrapolates the deficiency across the full audit period, which can produce assessments that bear little relationship to the actual underlying liability if the sample is not representative.

CDTFA disputes not resolved at the audit level go to the OTA for formal appeal. I represent San Diego clients in CDTFA sales tax audits, protests, and OTA appeals. See our practice page on CDTFA defense.

Why Local Representation Matters

Being based in San Diego is not a credential — but it is a practical reality that affects how I work with San Diego clients.

I know the IRS San Diego Field Office. The revenue agents and revenue officers who work there have patterns — some are methodical and respond well to organized document production; some are more aggressive and need a firmer response early. That is not something you learn from a website; it comes from having represented clients before those agents over years. The same is true for CDTFA auditors and EDD field representatives who handle San Diego cases out of the local district offices.

For federal court matters, San Diego falls within the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California at 333 W. Broadway. Federal criminal tax cases brought in San Diego are prosecuted in that court. For U.S. Tax Court petitions, the nearest regular session city is Los Angeles — Tax Court sessions are held in Los Angeles, and I appear there for San Diego clients whose cases go to trial or need hearings before the Court.

There is also the attorney-client privilege point. A CPA who is not an attorney cannot invoke privilege. Anything your CPA knows about your matter — your unreported income, your account structure, the advice you were given — can be subpoenaed in a civil or criminal proceeding. When I take on a case, communications with me are protected. If I need to work with an accountant, I can retain them under a Kovel arrangement that extends privilege to their work product. That matters in any case with complexity, and it matters more when criminal exposure is in the picture.

The practical point: you want someone who has handled cases like yours, knows the local agencies and their people, and can be in the room — or on the phone — with the right authority when it counts. That is what local San Diego representation means in practice.

About Sam Brotman

Samuel C. Brotman, Esq., CPA, is the managing attorney of Brotman Law, a San Diego tax law firm he founded in 2013. He holds a J.D. from California Western School of Law, an LL.M. in Taxation — the postgraduate tax law degree — and a California CPA license. The combination of attorney, LL.M., and CPA in a single practitioner is uncommon, and it is directly relevant to the kinds of cases the firm handles.

Since 2013, Brotman Law has represented over 400 clients in IRS audits and related tax matters and has resolved more than $1B in taxes, penalties, and interest on behalf of clients. Those numbers come from real cases — IRS field examinations closed favorably, Offers in Compromise accepted, criminal investigations resolved without charges, and collection cases closed through negotiated agreements. The firm is focused exclusively on tax — this is not a general practice that also handles tax matters on the side.

• California State Bar — licensed attorney, admitted to practice in all California courts, including U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California; member of the State Bar's Tax Section
• Certified Public Accountant (CPA) — California-licensed CPA; the dual attorney-CPA credential is uncommon at the managing-attorney level
• J.D., LL.M. in Taxation, MBA — the LL.M. in Taxation is the specialized graduate degree for tax lawyers, beyond the J.D.
• IRS Representation Authorization — authorized to represent clients before all IRS divisions under Form 2848, including Examination, Appeals, and Collection
• San Diego office since 2013 — 12636 High Bluff Drive, Suite 400, San Diego, CA 92130

If you want to talk through a tax matter — IRS, FTB, EDD, or CDTFA — the free 15-minute call is the right place to start. We can figure out what you are actually dealing with and whether it makes sense to work together.