Betty J. Williams

Managing Shareholder Betty Williams has a broad range of experience in civil and criminal tax matters, including IRS, FTB, CDTFA, BOE, and EDD audits, appeals, settlements, and litigation of income tax, employment tax, sales and use tax, and excise tax matters. She has defended criminal tax matters and negotiated plea agreements in areas such as structuring, tax evasion, and the failure to file a tax return. She has assisted many clients in the U.S. and abroad with the various IRS and FTB offshore voluntary disclosure programs and represents foreign financial institutions regarding Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) procedures. Betty has represented clients before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Tax Court, the International Chamber of Commerce, in Superior Courts, and before the California Office of Tax Appeals. She has served as an expert witness in tax matters and has obtained a favorable IRS private letter ruling. Betty has worked extensively on multi-state and residency nexus issues. She works with clients in rapidly changing fields including Marijuana Related Businesses and Cryptocurrency. Betty has obtained penalty abatement relief for her clients from the thousands into the millions.  

Betty is admitted to practice by the State Bar of California and before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Tax Court, the Supreme Court of California, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Districts of the United States District Court in California.  

Betty serves on the U.S. Tax Court Appointments Committee of the American Bar Association; she is the President of the California Lawyers Association, and a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel. Betty is also a member of the California Office of Tax Appeals’ external advisory committee, and serves on the CJA Trial Panel for the Office of the Federal Defender. Previously, Betty has served as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Taxation Section of the State Bar of California. She previously served as Chair of several state and county taxation sections as well as having served as the Chair of the Sacramento Regional Human Rights/Fair Housing Commission and other local commissions.  Betty regularly presents seminars throughout the United States on a variety of tax matters. She is the recipient of numerous awards, and her firm was named a Metropolitan Tier 1 Tax Litigation “Best Law Firm” by U.S. News and World Report for each year since 2013.

Betty received her Master of Laws in Taxation from Washington School of Law and graduated with distinction from the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law.  

Prior to practicing law, Betty worked for the State of California Workers' Compensation Insurance Fund and owned her own business as an artist. Betty is an avid cyclist and ballroom dancer.