James S. Carlin

Jim is a founding partner of the firm and has over 40 years of tax planning and consulting experience serving private companies and high net worth individuals. Jim’s approach to tax planning is to address the needs of the business and business owner in an integrated manner to identify opportunities that will assist his clients in achieving their business and personal goals.

Jim has extensive experience serving clients in the real estate industry including real estate owners, developers, contractors, and construction-related service providers. He has significant experience in assisting clients with the complexities associated with property transactions including financing, entity selection, and structure of operations. His industry experience also includes entertainment, production companies, technology, software development, and manufacturing. Jim’s business clients are primarily structured as pass-through entities (S corporations and partnerships). 

In serving high net worth individuals, Jim evaluates tax implications in their entirety, including the impact on the business, investments, real estate holdings, and estate issues. His knowledge of sophisticated partnership structures, typical asset holdings of high net worth individuals, and complex corporate structures allows Jim to address the most complex tax planning and compliance needs of high net worth individuals. Jim brings the depth of the firm’s subject matter tax specialists to his engagements. These include state and local, trusts, gifts, estate, and international tax specialists.  He seamlessly manages these resources to help deliver integrated solutions for his clients.

Jim serves on the firm's Executive Committee. He began his career in public accounting at KPMG. He is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. Jim also holds a Master of Business Taxation from the University of Southern California. Jim is considered a thought leader and has published articles and has been asked to comment on industry-specific issues by media organizations including the Los Angeles Times, Tax Notes, and the Los Angeles Business Journal. Jim serves on the board of directors of a private company in the entertainment industry. He is active in his community and is an avid golfer.

Professional Experience

KPMG LLP

Professional and Community Involvement

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
California Society of Certified Public Accountants