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ABOUT MARK BERNSLEY
Mark Bernsley holds a J.D. (law) degree from the New York University School of Law, where he took both J.D. and LL.M. tax courses. He received a B.S. in Business Administration (Accounting/Finance), summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California. Mark is admitted to practice law before the courts of New York, Massachusetts, and California, as well as the United States Supreme Court and lesser Federal Courts (including the United States Tax Court and United States Claims Court). He has consistently held an “AV” lawyer Peer Review Rating (highest rating in legal ability and ethical standards) from Martindale-Hubbell®.
After graduation from law school, he worked as a staff attorney for the IRS District Counsel's Office in Los Angeles, where his duties included representing the IRS in the United States Tax Court, advising the Department of Justice in tax refund suits, reviewing proposed civil and criminal action of the IRS for legal justification and factual development, and proposing legal action to protect and collect United States tax claims.
After leaving the IRS, his practice continued to emphasize the resolution of tax disputes. In addition to handling numerous tax cases before trial and bankruptcy courts, he has successfully argued tax cases before the United States Court of Appeals, including the seminal case of Scar v. Commissioner, 814 F.2d 1363 (9th Cir. 1987), now cited in almost all tax procedure treatises and textbooks, which confirmed limits on IRS authority to issue deficiency notices, and he authored the amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Energy Resources Co., Inc., 110 S.Ct. 2139 (1990), which addressed debtor allocation of tax payments in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy context. He also acts as a general counsel to businesses.
He has been a UCLA Extension Instructor of Federal Tax Procedure and has presented in-house seminars on tax procedure topics to local accounting firms.
He has been a member of the Court Procedures Committee of the American Bar Association Tax Section, the Procedure and Litigation Committee of the State Bar Tax Section, and a past Chair of the Procedure and Litigation Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Tax Section, where he also acted as the Liaison/Coordinator for the Committee's Round Table discussions with the IRS (Los Angeles District) Collection Division.
His publications include "Nine Ways to Coordinate More Effectively with Attorneys in Tax Disputes," The Practical Accountant, "CA-9 Bars Deficiency Notice Bearing No Relation to Return," The Journal of Taxation, "New Developments in Tax Procedure and Litigation," (co-author), Materials for Twelfth Annual Conference of Current Developments in Taxation, Income Tax Committee of Los Angeles County Bar Association Tax Section, "An Alternative Approach to Compliance," Tax Notes, and "Energy Resources and Tax Payment Allocations: The Continuing Need to Correct the Analytical Failures of Recent Judicial Precedent," Vol. 21 California Bankruptcy Journal No. 2. He also was the primary author and sole presenter of the Proposal for Adoption and Implementation of Pilot Project for Inclusion of Collection Issues in the Resolution of Income Tax Disputes, a bar association tax committee paper presented to the National Office of the Internal Revenue Service.
Unfiled tax returns?
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Received a Notice of Deficiency?
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Litigating Tax or Tax-Related Issues?
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