Complex tax. Clear strategy.
A boutique practice built on one idea: you should understand your own tax position. We handle preparation, planning, and disputes with the IRS and California taxing authorities, plus the estate work that keeps it all intact.
A note from the attorney
Most people find a tax attorney after something has already gone wrong: a notice in the mail, an audit, a home sale that turned out to be taxable. I built this practice so my clients find me before.
I am an attorney and an Enrolled Agent. The person preparing your return is the person who can defend it, and the person drafting your trust knows exactly what it will do to your family's tax bill.
The firm is small on purpose. You work with me directly, in plain language, all year. When something changes in your life, I already know the rest of the picture.
Tiffany
Attorney at Law · Enrolled Agent · U.S. Tax Court
The practice
Four disciplines,
one advisor.
Tax preparation
Returns prepared with an eye on next year, not just this one.
- Individuals, families, and business owners
- Partnerships, S corporations, and corporations
- Estates, trusts, and gift tax returns
- Multi-state and prior-year filings
Strategic tax planning
Decisions made before December cost less than deductions found in April.
- Entity selection and new business formation
- Owner compensation and distribution planning
- Real property sales, exchanges, and installment structures
- Year-round advisory, not a one-time memo
Resolution & controversy
Notices, audits, and balances that have been waiting for attention.
- IRS and California FTB notices and examinations
- Offers in compromise and installment agreements
- Currently not collectible status and penalty abatement
- Representation through appeals and the U.S. Tax Court
Estate & legacy planning
Trusts and wills drafted by the same person who knows what they do to your taxes.
- Revocable living trusts and will-based plans
- Powers of attorney and health care directives
- Funding, deeds, and transfer documents
- Probate and trust administration support
Most people meet their tax attorney when something has gone wrong. Our clients meet theirs before.
Your attorney, directly
Your matter is handled by the attorney who took your intake, not routed through a queue.
A paperless practice
Secure electronic access to your documents, whenever and wherever you need them.
Plain language, all year
Calls returned, questions answered without the legalese, and availability outside filing season.
Transparent fees
Minimums are published and additions are priced per item, so the cost tracks the work.
Estate & legacy planning
The plan, and the tax
consequences of the plan.
Most estate documents are drafted by someone who will never see the return they affect. Here, the attorney drafting your trust is the one who knows what it does to basis, to withholding, and to the next generation's tax bill.
Plan A · For most families
Revocable living trust
Keeps the house and the accounts out of probate, with the deed and funding work actually completed, not left as homework. Eleven documents.
What is includedPlan B · Smaller or simpler estates
Will-based plan
A will, the powers of attorney, the health care directive, and the authorizations that let someone act when you cannot. Six documents.
Compare the twoAlso:Specialty trustsProbate & trust administrationThe full estate practice
Fees & engagement
You pay for the work,
not for a package.
Minimums are published so you know where an engagement starts. What it ends at depends on what the work involves, and you hear about that as it happens, not on the invoice.
- i.
A published floor
Every service has a stated minimum for the scope described. That number tells you whether to book the appointment.
- ii.
Additions priced per item
A rental, a stock sale, a second entity, a trust that needs restating: each has its own price, added when the work is added.
- iii.
Costs passed through
Filing fees, recording fees, court costs, and third-party charges such as appraisals are billed at cost, never marked up.
Tax Yap · Guide No. 01
Before You Sell Your Primary Home
Section 121 · Basis · Depreciation
Installment sales · Trusts · Withholding
32 pages · First edition
From the Tax Yap library
The $250,000 question, answered before you list.
Most sellers assume the gain on a primary home is simply tax-free. Sometimes it is. Often it is partly taxable, because of a rental period, a home office, depreciation already claimed, a spouse's death, or a move that came too soon.
This guide walks the exclusion tests in plain language, shows what happens when the sale is taxable, and includes a worksheet you can fill in before you call anyone.
Common questions
Before you call.
Do I need an attorney, or will a CPA do?
For a straightforward return, a preparer is often enough. You want an attorney when the facts are contested or the stakes are legal rather than clerical: an audit or examination, a balance you cannot pay, a transaction whose treatment is genuinely uncertain, or a matter that may end up in Tax Court. Attorney communications also carry privilege protections that a preparer relationship does not.
What happens at a first appointment?
We identify the actual question, tell you what it will take to answer it, and what that work starts at. If your matter is outside what this firm handles, you will hear that in the first meeting rather than the third.
I am several years behind on filing. Is that a problem you take?
Yes. Clients come in anywhere from one to ten years behind. The sequence is the same: establish what is actually owed, get the filings current, then address collection through an installment agreement, currently not collectible status, an offer in compromise, or penalty abatement, depending on the facts.
Is estate planning open to new clients?
Estate and legacy planning is handled as a longer-term advisory relationship, separately from standard tax appointments, and may require an initial review before engagement. Packages, what each one includes, and stand-alone documents are described on the estate planning page.
Are you only available during filing season?
No. The planning work that changes outcomes happens in the other ten months. The firm is available year-round.
How do fees work?
Published figures are minimums, the starting point for the scope described, not a flat rate. Tax preparation in particular is priced from what is actually in the return: additional income, schedules, credits, and forms each carry their own price, and they are frequently added after the engagement begins. Controversy matters and complex planning are usually hourly at a stated rate. Probate compensation is set by statute rather than by the firm. The fees and engagement page shows where each type of engagement starts.
Correspondence
Bring the notice.
Bring the question.
Most matters begin with a single appointment and a clear answer about what it will take.
1010 Hurley Way, Suite 195 · Sacramento, California 95825
(916) 668-5525 · info@guillemaudlaw.com