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Victoria Gu

Associate
About

Victoria Gu advises and represents corporations, partnerships, estates, and high net-worth individuals in federal, state, and local civil and criminal tax controversies on a wide range of issues related to international, corporate, partnership, and estate and gift taxation.

Before joining DLA Piper, Victoria was a Senior Trial Attorney at the IRS's Office of Chief Counsel in San Francisco. Victoria represented the IRS as the lead attorney in cases before the United States Tax Court and provided technical guidance to examining agents, collection officers, and appeals officers on substantive and procedural federal tax law issues such as partnership taxation, virtual currency, employment tax pyramiding, and civil fraud.

Victoria taught a course on the taxation of property dispositions as an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco.

Victoria was a judicial extern for the Honorable Dolly M. Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Bar admissionsCalifornia
CourtsUnited States Tax CourtUnited States District Court for the Northern District of California

EXPERIENCE

  • Representing large partnerships and corporations in federal and state tax audits involving sourcing rules, accounting method issues, license versus sale issues, qualified small business stock exclusion issues, and penalty abatement related to information reporting.
  • Representing clients in connection with estate and gift tax controversies, including complex valuation issues.
  • Representing high net-worth individual clients in connection with individual federal civil and criminal tax controversies involving penalty abatement, civil fraud, and criminal tax evasion, among other issues.
  • Representing large accounting firm in matters involving their ethical obligations and their obligations under federal and state tax laws.
  • Advised public company on Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) filing obligations of the company and its officers and directors.
Education
  • J.D., University of Southern California Gould School of Law
  • B.A., University of California, Berkeley

Awards

The Legal 500 United States

  • Rising Star, US Taxes: Contentious (2024)
  • Recommended, US Taxes: Contentious (2023)

Pro Bono

  • Incorporated and successfully applied for federal and California tax exemptions for a non-profit organization dedicated to providing pro bono legal, media, and advisory services to low-income and underprivileged victims of anti-Asian violence and discrimination.
  • Obtained favorable settlement of wrongful levy suit in the Northern District of California on behalf of a low-income client whose social security benefits were wrongfully collected to satisfy her deceased husband's business's tax liabilities.

Publications

Seminars

  • ABA 2024 Midyear Tax Meeting, Ethical Issues Involving Communications with Return Preparers (January 2024)
  • Tax Executives Institute, Region 10 Annual Conference, Ethics (April 2023)
  • Tax Executives Institute, San Diego Chapter, Recent Trends in Tax Controversy (September 2023)
  • Tax Executives Institute, Orange County Chapter, Tax Controversy Updates (October 2022)

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