David J. Warner

• Former IRS Senior Trial Attorney
• Former Department of Justice Special Assistant United States Attorney
• Former Lead Counsel of IRS Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) Cadre for Southern California
• LL.M. in Taxation, NYU
• Former Adjunct Law Professor at Loyola Law School, UCI School of Law, and Chapman University
• Extensive Tax Court Trial Experience
• Awarded IRS Counsel Litigation Bronze Medallion
• Former Elected Member of the Loyola Law School (Los Angeles) Alumni Association Board of Governors

David J. Warner is a Tax Attorney and Shareholder with Holtz, Slavett & Drabkin and the Managing Principal of the firm’s Orange County office.  David has over 16 years of experience practicing in all aspects of tax controversy including tax audits, collection defense, and litigation in the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. District Court, and the Court of Federal Claims. He represents taxpayers in cases involving income tax, estate tax, gift tax, employment tax, collection issues, innocent spouse, penalties, and bankruptcy tax issues. David also represents taxpayers before the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB), California Department of Fee and Tax Administration (CDTFA, formerly State Board of Equalization (BOE)), and California Employment Development Department (EDD).

David has particular expertise in complex tax litigation in U.S. Tax Court and U.S. District Court, as well as substantive tax matters such as audits of partnerships and S corporations and offshore tax compliance issues, including the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), civil fraud, and offshore information return penalties.  David also speaks extensively to groups of attorneys and accountants on IRS tax procedure and substantive tax topics.

David’s recent tax litigation victories include:

• Complete victory over the IRS in a $50,000,000 U.S. Tax Court complex fraud case involving intensive discovery, a multi-party 8-day Tax Court trial, and extensive briefing.  David was the lead trial attorney in a 3-attorney team representing individuals and trust taxpayers.
• Complete victory over the IRS and Department of Justice in a $3,000,000 U.S. District Court case involving extensive discovery and briefing and a 1-day U.S. District Court trial.  David was the lead trial attorney representing the trustee and beneficiary of a Qualified Personal Residence Trust.

Before joining Holtz, Slavett & Drabkin, David was a Senior Trial Attorney with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, Small Business Self-Employed Division (now Litigation & Advisory), in Laguna Niguel for 9 years. As an IRS attorney, he represented the IRS in over 500 cases before the U.S. Tax Court, including the most complex cases. As a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (SAUSA) for the U.S. Department of Justice, David litigated tax matters in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana and Riverside, including large tax claims. As lead counsel of the IRS Southern California FBAR Cadre, David was responsible for reviewing and approving hundreds of millions of dollars in FBAR penalties. David also advised the local Special Enforcement Program (SEP) and Large Business & International (LB&I) International Individual Compliance (IIC) revenue agents on complex domestic and international issues. As an expert inside the IRS on the taxation of partnerships and S corporations, David made presentations on these topics to hundreds of IRS attorneys across the country and was a founding member of the Southwest Area Partnership Cadre.

David was an Adjunct Professor of Law at Loyola Law School, University of California Irvine School of Law, and Chapman University Fowler School of Law, where he taught courses on tax practice and procedure, partnership tax, bankruptcy tax, and corporate tax.

David received an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law, where he was a graduate editor on the Tax Law Review and an M. Carr Ferguson Fellow in Tax Law. While at NYU, he won first prize in the Judge Tannenwald Writing Competition for the best article in the country on tax policy.

David earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where he ranked in the top five percent of his class and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. While at Loyola, David was the Chief Production Editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review and published an article on the Fourth Amendment and technology. He received his B.A. from the University of Minnesota where he majored in Political Science and History. David is a member of the State Bar of California and the Orange County Bar Association Tax Section.

David’s litigation victories include Hoyal et al. v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2024-84; United States v. Denise Dimacale et al., Case No. 2:21-cv-06012-CBM-RAOx (C.D. Cal. May 17, 2024); Brashear v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2020-122; Palsgaard v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2018-82; Pritchard v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2017-136; Holden v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2015-131; Alfaro v. Commissioner, T.C. Summ. Op. 2014-54; In re Gordian Medical, Inc., 499 B.R. 793 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. 2013).