Biography:

James Pickett is a Director in our Tax Controversy practice, where he is responsible for helping clients manage their tax disputes involving both field and correspondence audits, post-audit issue resolution including representation in IRS Appeals, IRS penalty and collection notices, claims, and other tax compliance-related matters. He is a former IRS manager with extensive tax compliance experience conducting complex tax audits and supervising and training IRS agents.

Prior to joining Bennett Thrasher, James worked for the Internal Revenue Service for over 29 years in which he served in various positions in the three largest divisions of the IRS. During the last six years of his IRS career, he was a Team Manager in the Large Business and International (LBI) Division where he supervised a team of Revenue Agents conducting the largest corporate IRS audits throughout several states. At the IRS, James worked in multiple assignments as a Revenue Agent conducting corporate income tax, employment tax, and individual income tax audits. In addition to his extensive compliance experience, he also served in several non-compliance assignments with the IRS in which he conducted tax training events, helped write and produce various IRS publications, provided IRS assistance to the public, and handled media relations.

James also had a parallel career as an Army Reserve officer retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel after 28 years of service. In addition to his IRS career, he also has prior employment experience in the banking, pharmaceutical, and consumer product industries. James graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Auburn University and later earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Auburn University at Montgomery. James is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).