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Tax · Primary practice

Business and personal tax, handled with the same care from your first filing to your next big move.

We plan and file for founders, business owners, and globally-mobile individuals — business and individual returns, multi-state filings, entity and equity planning, and the cross-border reporting that rides along. One licensed CPA, whichever side of the border you’re on.

or call (703) 656-6224

Three situations, one CPA who has seen them before.

Founders & startups

Pre-formation through priced rounds: equity comp, 83(b) elections, R&D credits, and the filings a fast-moving cap table creates.

Owners & established SMBs

Multi-entity and multi-state businesses that want proactive planning, clean compliance, and a senior person who returns the call.

Cross-border individuals & foreign nationals

U.S. citizens abroad, inbound founders, and dual-status filers who need treaty positions and foreign reporting done right.

Business Tax Compliance

The year-round engine that keeps your business filed, estimated, and current in every state it touches — with a real person who picks up the phone when a notice arrives. Federal and state returns are the spine; the cross-border reporting that rides along is handled in-house, not referred out.

Federal & state business returns

Your 1120, 1120-S, or 1065 each year, plus the state returns that go with it, in every state where you actually have a filing obligation — not just where you’re headquartered.

Multi-state nexus & apportionment

Where you owe, where you don’t, and apportionment that holds up — so a remote hire or a new warehouse doesn’t turn into a surprise notice two years later.

Quarterly estimates

Entity-level estimates sized off real numbers as the year unfolds, so the tax bill is something you plan for rather than discover in April.

Periodic planning check-ins

A few times a year we review your effective tax rate, your accounting method, and the law changes headed your way, and adjust while it still counts.

Notices & tax-bill support

If a federal or state notice or balance-due letter lands, we read what’s actually being asked and respond on time, so a routine letter stays routine.

Business audit representation

If your business is examined, Hazel — a licensed CPA — can act as power of attorney for the entity, the same representation we provide on the individual side. No outcome is ever guaranteed.

Foreign-owned & cross-border entity reporting

For U.S. entities with foreign owners, subsidiaries, or related-party dealings: Forms 5471, 5472, 8865, 8938 and FinCEN 114, filed accurately and on time alongside the main return.

Tax Accounting Advisory

Ex-Big-Firm income-tax-provision and tax-department depth, sized for private companies and smaller firms. We prepare provisions and advise — we don’t audit the same companies, so your auditors stay independent.

ASC 740 income-tax provision

Turn-key annual and interim income-tax provisions for your financial-statement audit — the income-tax accounting, the deferreds, and the workpapers your auditors will ask to see, prepared so the close stays on schedule.

Co-sourced tax function

Hazel runs your tax function alongside your team when you have no tax director — the calendar, the provision, and the filings — drawing on an external specialist network where added depth is needed.

Outsourced tax-director function for CPA firms

For accounting firms without senior tax depth in-house, Hazel steps in as the tax-director-level reviewer and technical resource on the engagements that need it, behind the scenes.

Effective-tax-rate review & forecasting

We pull apart what’s driving your effective rate and model where it’s heading, so the number that lands on the financials is one you understand and can plan around.

Cross-border provision items & foreign tax credits

Where your provision touches foreign operations, we work the cross-border pieces into the rate reconciliation — foreign tax credits (Forms 1116/1118), GILTI, and Subpart F — so the international tax shows up correctly in the numbers.

Individual Tax & Audit Representation

Your personal and owner returns filed in step with the business, plus a licensed CPA who can stand between you and the IRS or a state agency when a notice, an audit, or a balance-due letter arrives.

Individual & owner returns

Federal and state individual returns (Form 1040 and the state returns that go with it), filed in step with your business so the company and the people who own it tell one consistent story.

Estate & gift returns

Federal estate and gift filings (Forms 706 and 709), annual-exclusion and lifetime-exemption gifting, portability elections, and basis step-up — the returns and the tax modeling, alongside your estate-planning attorney rather than in place of one.

Cross-border & dual-status individuals

Returns for U.S. citizens abroad and foreign nationals moving in or out: dual-status years, the foreign earned income exclusion and housing, and the FBAR/FATCA reporting (FinCEN 114, Form 8938) that comes with assets overseas.

Treaty positions & residency

Reading the right treaty so income is taxed once and not twice, plus substantial-presence and tie-breaker analysis and exit-tax exposure for the year you arrive or leave.

FIRPTA on U.S. property sales

For non-U.S. sellers of U.S. real estate: §1445 withholding, Form 8288-B reduced-withholding certificates, Forms 8288/8288-A, ITIN applications, and pursuing the refund where too much was withheld.

Estimates, withholding & planning meetings

Personal and owner estimates, a withholding check on K-1, equity, or self-employment income, and a mid-year and year-end conversation before the decisions you can still make close.

Notices, assessments & liens

We read the letter, work out what’s actually being asked, and respond on time — then handle assessments, balance-due notices, and liens or levies, including installment agreements and other collection alternatives.

Full audit representation

As a licensed CPA and Circular 230 practitioner, Hazel can act as your power of attorney before the IRS, and before state agencies where she’s authorized, handling the examiner’s questions and meetings so you’re not in the room alone. No outcome is ever guaranteed.

Penalty relief & getting current

Penalty abatement and back-year filings to bring you current — including FBAR catch-up and, where the facts support it, the IRS streamlined procedures for those who fell behind while living abroad.

Tax Planning & Modeling

The forward-looking work — structure, equity, and big moves modeled before they happen, where our startup and cross-border planning depth does the most for you.

Choice of entity, modeled

A side-by-side comparison of how a C corp, S corp, partnership, or LLC would actually tax your situation, with the numbers run rather than a rule of thumb, so the structure fits your stage and your exit.

S-corp election, revocation & conversion

Making, unwinding, or converting an S election cleanly — including the reasonable-compensation framing and the timing and paperwork that keep the election valid.

QBI / §199A maximization

Structuring income so the qualified business income deduction is preserved and maximized, watching the thresholds, wage-and-property limits, and specified-service traps that quietly shrink it.

Equity, QSBS & §1202 planning

Equity compensation and 83(b) timing, and qualifying, tracking, and documenting the §1202 / QSBS exclusion from formation onward, so the exclusion is preserved when you exit.

R&D tax credits

Identifying and documenting qualified research so the federal and state credits you’re entitled to are claimed with support that holds up — not left on the table.

Cross-border & residency-change planning

Modeling the tax side of a move before it happens: the nonresident-to-resident shift, treaty positions, foreign tax credits, and exit-tax exposure, so a relocation is planned rather than discovered on a return.

M&A & transaction tax

Working the tax issues in a sale, acquisition, or restructuring — asset versus stock, structure trade-offs, and what changes after-tax proceeds — ideally before the terms lock, with a hand-off to our valuation practice when a number is needed too.

Taxable-income projection & life-event modeling

Projecting taxable income across scenarios and modeling the tax on a major change — a status change, retirement timing, an exit or equity windfall, or an inheritance — so the bill is known in advance and the timing is yours to choose.

Need a valuation too?

We also do defensible 409A, business, and M&A valuations. They help when a cross-border restructuring or a new round changes what your equity is worth.

Simple, fixed-scope, no surprises.

Free consultation

A 30-minute call. We map your situation, including any foreign income, accounts, or moves, and flag what’s worth pursuing.

Clear plan & quote

A fixed-scope plan with transparent pricing before any work begins — domestic, cross-border, or both.

We file & plan ahead

Filings, foreign reporting, and proactive advice through the year, not a once-a-year scramble.

Common tax questions, answered.

Do you handle business returns and multi-state filing — 1120, 1120-S, 1065?

Yes — federal and state business returns are the core of what we do. We prepare your 1120, 1120-S, or 1065 and the state returns that go with it, in every state where you have a filing obligation, with quarterly estimates and proactive planning so the bill is never a year-end surprise.

Do you also do domestic startup tax: R&D credits, QSBS, multi-state?

Yes — that’s core work. We handle business returns (1120, 1120-S, 1065), multi-state nexus, R&D credits, §1202/QSBS, equity comp, and year-round planning for purely domestic founders and owners. Cross-border is a specialty we add when your situation crosses a border; none of the domestic work requires any foreign exposure.

What happens if I get an IRS notice or audit?

Bring it to us. Led by a licensed CPA, we can act as your power of attorney before the IRS, and state agencies where we’re authorized, answering notices, handling the exam, and sorting out penalties or a balance due. You don’t face the agency alone — whether it’s a routine domestic notice, a multi-state assessment, or a foreign-reporting penalty letter.

How do you price an engagement?

Bespoke and case-by-case. There’s no price list, because no two situations are alike. You get a fixed-scope quote before any work begins, with no hourly meter running in the background. The free consultation is how we get to that quote.

I’m a U.S. citizen living abroad. Do I still have to file?

Almost certainly yes. U.S. citizens and green-card holders file on worldwide income regardless of where they live. The good news is that the foreign earned income exclusion, foreign tax credits, and treaty provisions usually mean little or no U.S. tax owed. The filings still have to happen, though, and missed foreign-account reports (FBAR/FATCA) carry steep penalties. We get you current and keep you that way.

What’s the difference between FBAR and FATCA, and do they apply to me?

They’re two separate foreign-account regimes with different thresholds and forms. FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) covers foreign financial accounts over an aggregate threshold; FATCA (Form 8938) is filed with your return and has higher, residency-dependent thresholds. Many people owe both. We’ll figure out which apply during the consultation.

Can you handle a foreign founder moving to the U.S. (or a U.S. founder moving out)?

Yes. Inbound and outbound moves are core work. That spans residency start and end dates, treaty tie-breakers, entity and holding-company structure, equity comp across borders, and exit-tax exposure for those giving up U.S. status. We plan it before the move when we can, and clean it up when we’re brought in after.

I’m a foreign owner selling U.S. real estate. What is FIRPTA withholding?

Under FIRPTA (§1445), when the seller is a foreign person (an individual or an entity) the buyer is generally the withholding agent and must withhold 15% of the amount realized (usually the sale price) and remit it to the IRS, even if your actual gain, and the tax on it, is far smaller. We can apply for a withholding certificate (Form 8288-B) before or at closing to ask the IRS to reduce the hold to the expected tax, coordinate Forms 8288/8288-A with the closing team, sort out the ITIN you’ll need, and reconcile everything on your U.S. return so any over-withheld amount can be claimed back as a refund.

Can you guarantee I’ll save money or eliminate my tax bill?

No, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What we can do is take well-supported positions, claim the credits and exclusions you’re entitled to, and file everything correctly so you’re not overpaying or exposed to penalties.