2025 California All-Tax Conference

Jackie Zumaeta is the Deputy Chief Counsel of the General and Specialized Tax Administration and Procedure Bureau at the Franchise Tax Board (FTB).  Ms. Zumaeta earned her JD and LLM in Taxation at the University of San Diego School of Law, where she participated in the Tax Appeals Assistance Program for a year and fell in love with tax.  After finishing school, Ms. Zumaeta started her career at the Franchise Tax Board and was eventually selected to serve as the franchise and income tax liaison to the Chair of the Board of Equalization for two years. Ms. Zumaeta served as a manager at PwC before leaving to become the first Assistant Chief Counsel at the newly formed Office of Tax Appeals in December of 2017.  In July 2019, Ms. Zumaeta returned to FTB and was appointed to her current role in November, 2024.  Ms. Zumaeta is passionate about participating in the tax community and began working with the Taxation Section by chairing the Sacramento chapter of the Young Tax Lawyers. She went on to serve on the State and Local Tax Committee and then on the Executive Committee, serving as secretary, chair of the Sacramento Delegation, Eagle Lodge West, and California Tax Policy Conference, and as chair of the Executive Committee in 2022-2023.  Ms. Zumaeta feels incredibly fortunate to continue to serve on the Taxation Executive Committee as an advisor.  In her free time, Ms. Zumaeta enjoys traveling with her husband and cooking. 

Dennis Perez has extensive experience in the representation of clients in civil and criminal tax litigation and in tax disputes and controversies before the Internal Revenue Service and all the California taxing agencies. Mr. Perez was formerly a senior trial attorney with District Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Perez is a Certified Tax Specialist, California State Bar Board of Certification and is also a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel. He frequently lectures on advanced civil and criminal tax topics at seminars and before national, state and local bar associations and accountancy groups. He is a co-author of the BNA Portfolio, Tax Crimes, has served as the Chair of the Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine Editorial Board and is the first recipient of the Los Angeles Lawyer Sam Lipsman Service Award for outstanding service to the Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine. He is past Chair of the Tax Procedure and Litigation Committees of the Taxation Sections of the State Bar of California and the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Mr. Perez is past President of the Alumni Board for the UCLA School of Law and has served as an Adjunct Professor, Golden Gate University, Graduate School of Taxation.