Born in New York City in 1958, James L. Sharmat is a product of NYC public education, and has been a wayward youth, musician, and bicycle messenger. After moving to California, I worked at my father’s film tax shelter company in 1970s Hollywood and after graduating from U.C. Santa Cruz with Honors, I worked at an independent film company and became the head of its Legal and Business Affairs Dept. before even becoming an attorney. When my bosses found out, I was replaced and all of the company’s outside attorneys told me I had to go to law school. I was enjoying it too much. They got me into Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

James has been a California licensed attorney since 1990. After graduating from Loyola Law School in the top 20%, I engaged in a sole practice involving personal injury, environmental and entertainment law. In 2000 I was let go from a middle management position at Warner Brothers for being “too intelligent” and decided I would rather help regular folks with tax problems than rich folks that did not want ideas or the truth.

I helped found United Tax Relief, worked at Tax Inc., US Tax Shield, Tax Lifeboat and Leading Tax Group. My most recent job has been at American Tax Solutions since 2019. I am 67 years old and I am starting my own tax resolution office. I hope to keep my clientele inventory to a manageable roar. I have done everything in tax resolution from installment agreements to Offers in Compromise to Appeals to US Tax Court and the FTB Office of Tax Appeals. I deal with state, payroll and sales tax. I have done California Chapter 7 bankruptcies and business dissolutions. I especially enjoy taking businesses with outstanding payroll/sales/income taxes, dissolving them, getting the Trust Fund Recovery penalties assessed against the individual owner and then (after a little tweaking) getting the taxation agency in charge to accept an Offer in Compromise.

I am also interested in just about anything else you can throw at me. I have a lot of entity formation and off-shore experience, have formed and reinstated non-profits, have maintained an interest in tax-incentivized financing deals for high tech, green tech, and real estate/conservation easements. I love Start-Ups.

And I have also litigated personal injury, products liability environmental/CEQA, trademark, copyright and entertainment contract cases.

Let’s talk.

Best Regards,

James L. Sharmat