Law Office of Williams & Associates, P.C.

Focus and practice areas

The firm works in one field: tax law. It represents individuals and businesses in federal and California state matters, and its stated work covers audits, appeals, protests, and settlements. It also handles tax litigation and criminal tax defense.

Tax law changes often, and it splits into federal and state layers that often diverge. A practice that works only in tax deals with those layers every day. For a client who has just received an audit notice, that steady focus can matter.

Collection problems make up a large share of the practice. The firm works on liens and levies, installment agreements, offers in compromise, penalty abatement, and refund claims. On the business side, it advises on employment tax, worker classification, sales and use tax, California residency and nexus questions, and entity formation and dissolutions. The site also lists cryptocurrency compliance, a newer area for many tax practices.

Agencies and courts the firm works in

Tax disputes often move across several venues, and the firm's stated reach covers many of them. It appears before the IRS, the California Franchise Tax Board, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the State Board of Equalization, the Employment Development Department, and the California Office of Tax Appeals.

Each of those bodies handles a different slice of tax. The IRS covers federal tax. The Franchise Tax Board handles California income tax. The Department of Tax and Fee Administration and the State Board of Equalization deal with sales and use tax and related fees. The Employment Development Department looks at payroll and worker classification. The Office of Tax Appeals hears California appeals once an agency has ruled. A firm that works across all of them can follow a client's problem wherever it lands.

For matters that reach court, the firm's attorneys litigate in the U.S. Tax Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and California Superior Courts. That range has practical value. A tax case can begin as an administrative audit and end as a courtroom trial, and the two settings ask for different skills.

How the team is built

The site names three attorneys. Betty Williams founded the firm and holds admission in California and Washington, D.C. Her work covers civil and criminal tax matters, including appeals and settlements involving income tax, employment tax, sales and use tax, and excise tax. She also handles multi-state and residency nexus questions, and she has represented clients before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Anita Falk represents clients in IRS, FTB, BOE, and CDTFA audits and appeals. Her listed work includes installment agreements, offers in compromise, lien releases, innocent spouse claims, penalty abatement, and refund claims. She has also represented clients in the IRS and FTB offshore and domestic voluntary disclosure programs.

Michael Pearson works on transactional corporate tax, including entity formation, daily operations, sales, and liquidation. He represents borrowers and commercial lenders in real estate financing, and he has drafted tax opinions for initial public offerings and legal opinions for tax-free reorganizations. He also handles federal and California tax audits.

What the record shows

A few points stand out from the firm's own pages. Some of its lawyers previously served as trial attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division and the California Employment Development Department. In my opinion that background is worth weighing, because lawyers who once argued for the tax authorities understand how those cases get built.

The firm states it has represented clients from 49 states and numerous countries. It also reports being named a Tier 1 Tax Litigation firm by U.S. News & World Report each year since 2013. Both figures come from the firm, and as a reviewer I pass them on as the firm's own account.

What a tax dispute usually involves

For readers new to tax controversy, some general context helps. An IRS or FTB audit usually starts with a letter and a request for records. If the taxpayer disagrees with the result, the next step is an administrative appeal inside the agency, where an appeals officer reviews the file. Many disputes close at that stage.

Others move to litigation. The U.S. Tax Court hears many federal disputes before the tax is paid, while other courts handle refund suits after payment. Criminal tax matters follow their own path, and they can involve the Department of Justice and penalties beyond money. A practice that handles both civil and criminal tax work, as this firm states it does, can keep one team on a matter if a civil audit turns serious.

Collection cases have a rhythm of their own. Once a tax debt is final, the agency can file liens and issue levies. An offer in compromise asks the agency to accept less than the full amount, and it requires detailed financial disclosure. An installment agreement spreads payment over time. Penalty abatement asks the agency to remove penalties where the taxpayer shows reasonable cause. These are the tools the firm lists for clients who owe more than they can pay at once.