The full picture.
An advisory-first CPA firm. Year-round partners for business owners, private clients, real estate owners, and the structures behind them.
Who we serve
Business owners, private clients, real estate investors, professional practices, and multi-entity families navigating growth, complexity, succession, and significant financial decisions. Choose the path that best matches your situation.
Entity, compensation, succession, and the years before a buyer is at the table.
Tax-deferred exchanges under Section 1031, Delaware statutory trusts (DSTs), cost segregation, and keeping property separate from the operating company.
Controlled foreign corporations (CFCs), FIRPTA withholding on U.S. real estate sales, treaty elections, and a US-side partner while principals are abroad.
Practice operations, compensation, multi-location groups, and succession when it is time.
The Framework
The OP Total Net Worth Framework. Assess, Model, Structure, Execute, File, Optimize. The tax return is one output of a year-round relationship.
Structural inventory of entities, assets, jurisdictions, stakeholders, and capital events.
→ A complete picture of where you standModel how the current structure performs as the business grows, ownership changes, assets move, or a significant liquidity event approaches.
→ Find the cracks before the event exposes themEntity restructuring, timing elections, qualified small business stock (QSBS) under Section 1202, installment sales, tax-deferred exchanges under Section 1031, and trusts.
→ The structural moves that produce the resultsQuarterly roadmap meetings. Elections, structure changes, compliance alignment on a timeline.
→ Ongoing guidance as your business evolvesWe file returns after the strategy is built and stress-tested.
→ Returns are an output of strategyPre-LOI support. Post-sale capital redeployment. 1031s, DSTs, §453 installment sales, opportunity zones.
→ We stay on the file through close and afterWhere could planning make a difference?
Three questions. We flag areas worth a conversation.
For informational purposes only. Results are not tax advice and use of this tool does not establish a CPA-client relationship.
What did you pay in federal + state tax last year?
1 / 3Where does most of your tax exposure live?
2 / 3How is your business structured?
3 / 3Starting points based on what you told us.
What this is
A short list of planning areas that often apply to the profile you described. Real work is specific to your entities, basis, states, holding periods, and documents.
Track Record
Flagship engagements. Individual results vary. See all results for the fuller set.
Three years before the sale, we restructured entities, timed elections, and positioned the owner's real estate portfolio alongside the business exit. When the $30M offer came, every dollar moved through a structure that was already in place.
General contractor, Riverside County. $30M exit. $5.8M saved.Case result. Outcomes vary.
The founder's C-corp stock qualified under §1202, but their previous CPA had never flagged it. One conversation uncovered $2.32M in tax-free gains on a $12.5M exit, money that would have gone straight to the IRS.
Founder, Irvine. $12.5M exit. $2.32M QSBS benefit identified.Case result. Outcomes vary.
A seven-figure IRS penalty notice. We built a reasonable cause argument grounded in the client's specific circumstances, represented them through the full process, and the penalty was eliminated entirely. Not reduced. Eliminated.
Executive, San Diego. $1.1M IRS penalty eliminated.Case result. Outcomes vary.
Trust strategy plus Roth conversion timing saved $4.1M in projected estate taxes. The business stays in the family.
Family office, Palm Desert. $4.1M projected estate tax reduction.Case result. Outcomes vary.
FIRPTA withholding reduced from 15% to under 4% via treaty election and timely 8288-B filing.
Canadian seller. FIRPTA withholding reduced from 15% to under 4%.Case result. Outcomes vary.
A commercial property owner ready to step away from active management. We structured a tax-deferred exchange under Section 1031 into DST holdings with counsel, deferring $1.78M on a $5.6M sale while keeping monthly cash flow. We do not place DST securities.
Property owner, Inland Empire. $5.6M sale into a DST. $1.78M of gain kept off the table.Case result. Outcomes vary.
Capabilities
We are an advisory and compliance CPA firm for business owners and private clients, including those with more complex tax needs. The areas below are where the firm has extra depth. They are not the only work we do.
Exit and succession planning
When a sale or handoff is on the calendar, we map the tax and entity work onto that timeline: installment sales, ESOPs, and stock-qualification questions that belong in the plan, not as a surprise at closing.
IRS and tax representation
Audits, notices, and penalty work when the file is already in motion. Reasonable cause, voluntary disclosure, and state matters including sales tax and Proposition 19. More than $18 million in penalties abated across the senior team.
Real estate tax strategy
Owners with rental, development, or sale activity: exchanges under Section 1031, cost segregation, and the filings that follow a large transaction. The return still has to be right after the deal closes.
Cross-border and multi-entity
Families and owners who file in more than one country or hold more than one entity. Treaty elections, foreign-account reports, foreign trusts, and dual-status returns, plus the domestic compliance that still has to land on time.
Estate and wealth transfer
Trusts, gifting, and conversion timing for families who want the next generation to inherit a plan, not a mess. The filing work sits next to the planning, not after it.
Tax advisory and compliance
The everyday work of a CPA firm: returns, books, entity choice, owner compensation, payroll, and state filings. That is the core. The specialty areas around it are extra depth, not a smaller shop.
The Firm
Decades of senior-level experience across tax, business advisory, valuation, and real estate.
Entity structuring, business valuations, and exit strategy. Before O'Brien & Panchuk, Tom spent years at Oracle Consulting. If you're selling, restructuring, or trying to figure out what your business is actually worth, Tom maps the path.
Cross-border perspective across 18+ countries. Treaty elections, FBAR, foreign trusts, dual-status returns. Creator of the Total Net Worth Framework.
Founding Partner of Folkers and Associates CPAs, now part of O'Brien & Panchuk. Decades advising real estate owners in Orange County across tax-deferred exchanges under Section 1031, DSTs, and cost segregation, with continuity from Folkers.
“Your referrals are the lifeblood of our business. We always have time for you, your friends, and your family. Please don't keep us a secret.”
Tom, Max and TimWhere we serve
Two markets. One firm. Palm Desert and Irvine, with clients worldwide.
Palm Desert Office
44751 Village Court, Suite 300 · CA 92260
Private clients, business owners, and families with complex real estate, estate, cross-border, and tax matters, including succession and exit planning when the time is right.
Irvine Office
18818 Teller Ave, Suite 275 · CA 92612
Irvine continues the Folkers practice with the broader O'Brien & Panchuk platform behind it. Private clients, operating businesses, professional practices, multi-entity groups, and real-estate owners seeking integrated tax, accounting, advisory, succession, and transaction support.
From the firm
Written for the owners and families we serve. Each piece should help you see the problem, then start an Assessment if the work fits.
After OBBBA, qualifying stock issued after July 2025 can reach a $15M federal exclusion. The Assessment checks whether the stock actually qualifies under Section 1202.
Read article →A reasonable cause argument that turned a seven-figure penalty into zero.
Read article →Withholding is 15% of the amount realized, not the gain. The work starts before escrow closes.
Read article →Explore tax-deferred real-estate strategies following a significant transaction.
Read article →The Engagement
Advisory first. Compliance follows strategy. A predictable monthly engagement based on agreed scope. Designed for substantial business owners, multi-entity families, and private clients who benefit from year-round planning and coordinated execution.
Our advisory relationships focus on opportunities across entity structure, tax elections, accounting, transactions, and long-term planning where proactive involvement can materially improve outcomes.
Year-round access to the professional team. Advisory and compliance on an agreed scope, with a predictable monthly engagement fee. The Assessment is how we determine whether that relationship is the right fit.
We take on a limited number of new advisory relationships, the ones where the model creates meaningful value. Multi-entity owners, real estate investors, professional practices, and families who want a year-round partner.
An introductory conversation
We start with a 15 minute call, or a 30 minute meeting in person or by video, to determine fit and whether we can help. If your needs require a more in-depth scope assessment, where we must review prior returns or additional documents, an assessment fee of $495 applies. The fee is fully credited toward your first engagement if you become a client. Those diagnostic assessments typically result in a formal written proposal covering advisory and compliance services.
Ready to Begin
Start with an Assessment, or call an office. Concierge is extra coverage, not a substitute.
Verified outcomes
Founder, Irvine. $12.5M exit. $2.32M qualified small business stock (QSBS) benefit identified under Section 1202.
Case result. Outcomes vary.
Founder, service industry. $30M sale. Employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) plus installment sale under Section 453.
Case result. Outcomes vary.
Executive, coastal California. $1.1M IRS penalty eliminated.
Case result. Outcomes vary.
Property owner, Inland Empire. $5.6M sale into a DST. $1.78M of gain kept off the table.
Case result. Outcomes vary.
Mission-critical operator, Southern California. Walked away from a low LOI after three years of prep. ESOP succession underway.
Case result. Outcomes vary.