Law Office of James Hastings PC

Throughout his practice, James has advised closely held businesses and technology startups with corporate structures, executive compensation and tax advantaged transactions. This includes raising early funds from investors and counseling owners with growth stage transactions. He has first hand experience as a founder, as well, having taken a two year sabbatical from law practice in 2017 to start Engage for CPAs, a company that built a practice management application for accountants.

Tax litigation starts with a tax notice showing an unfavorable change. The process continues through a labyrinth of administrative procedures and is sometimes resolved only in court. James has represented clients with matters in all stages including the IRS Office of Appeals, the U.S. Tax Court, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the California Superior Courts.

Tax issues are inherent in estate and trust matters and are especially important to legal disputes. Tax expertise can be a powerful litigation device. In addition to representing both beneficiaries and trustees, James advises high net worth families with complex multi-generational estate planning and consults on estate and trust litigation issues.

James also advises other attorneys and their clients with particularly complex tax matters. This might include an evaluation of pleadings and settlement agreements to find tax opportunities, helping estate planning attorneys to determine the tax consequences of estate and trust transactions or contingencies, and advising companies on investment and transactions.

$18.5M tax abatement, U.S. Tax Court

Litigated an innocent spouse claim before the U.S. Tax Court. The IRS Office of Chief Counsel conceded and the court dismissed the case with prejudice, eliminating $18.5M of income tax liabilities, penalties and interest. Pareto Media, Inc., Et Al. v. Commissioner (Consolidated)

$1M estate tax recovery, IRS Independent Office of Appeals

Engaged to contest late payment penalties assessed to multi-million dollar estate, arguing that the tax should be abated due to the client's reasonable reliance on the advice of a tax professional. Successfully petitioned the IRS to remove the penalties and refund more than a million dollars of excess payments.

Accountant's professional negligence, San Francisco Superior Court

Represented the plaintiff with a tax preparer malpractice claim and ten other causes of action related to negligent performance of tax services in connection with delinquent IRS payroll tax and responsible person Trust Fund Recovery Penalties. The case settled for an 11.4x multiplier of the proved special damages. Durham v. Jeffrey Johnston, Game on IRS! (2022)

Accountant's professional negligence, San Francisco Superior Court

Represented the plaintiff with a tax preparer negligence suit related to negligently prepared amended tax returns claiming false or incorrect income tax deductions, creating large tax refunds. The amended returns were reversed in audit, resulting in repayment of the prior income tax refunds created by the false deductions, late payment and accuracy penalties. Recovered a 7.5x multiplier of the proved special damages. Calef v. Jeffrey Johnston, Game On IRS! (2016)

Accountant's professional negligence, San Francisco Superior Court

Represented the personal representative and sole beneficiary who engaged the decedent's CPA to prepare the estate tax return. Identified several significant errors and referred the case to a plaintiff's attorney. Served as both an expert litigation consultant and a fact witness to the litigation and recovered the maximum value of the claim.

Shareholder dispute, breach of fiduciary duty, San Francisco Superior Court

The majority member of an limited liability company tendered an offer to purchase the minority interest. The minority interest holder countered with a suit alleging breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract, among other claims. Represented the majority shareholder in litigation, ultimately resulting in a settlement agreement to purchase the minority interest for less than the original buyout offer. McNally v. Symbiosystems, LLC, Et. Al.

Litigation consulting, taxation of settlement proceeds, San Francisco Superior Court

Assisted litigation counsel with the pleading, discovery and settlement negotiations to ensure the settlement proceeds were non-taxable to the defendant, resulting in more than $1M of income tax avoided.

Multi-generational transfer, appreciated real property, San Francisco County, CA

Represented the beneficiaries of an estate with the transfer a $16M property into subsidiary trusts and used non-taxable transactions and partial disclaimers to structure a tax-advantaged, multi-generational transfer while preserving the original property tax basis.

High-net worth estate planning, conservation easement, Monterey County, CA

Represented the surviving spouse with restructuring investment real estate holdings; prepared supplementary post-mortem estate planning to preserve original property tax basis and avoid capital gain of more than $6M through fractional ownership and conservation easement discounts.