State & Local Tax Conference – Portland

Sonjia is a seasoned state and local tax (SALT) professional with over 22 years of experience in providing consulting services to
clients across various industries. As the SALT Director at Perkins & Co, Sonjia leads the SALT practice. Drawing on her Big 4, Top 5,
and Washington Department of Revenue experience, Sonjia oversees the delivery of high-quality tax solutions that help clients
minimize their tax liabilities and comply with complex tax regulations.

Jake Schnur

Jake Schnur is the current interim Audit and Accounting Manager with the City of Portland Revenue Division. Jake has been with the
Division for three years, starting as a Senior Revenue Auditor, and later becoming a supervisor on the Business Income Tax team, and
then eventually Audit Section Manager. Prior to his time at the Revenue Division, Jake worked in public accounting for five years. He
holds a bachelor's degree in Accounting from the University of Portland, and earned his Certified Public Accountant license in 2016.

edited 12/13/24

Harriet Strothers has nearly 40 years of experience in providing state and local tax advisory and compliance services to large multi-state and multinational companies. With extensive experience managing tax compliance and audits for all areas of state taxation as well as IRS LMSB "Large Case" audits, Harriet also performs state and local due diligence related to mergers and acquisitions.

Harriet spent almost half of her career in industry with The Ryland Group, a Fortune 500 home builder and mortgage lender that operates in 28 states. Upon her return to public accounting in 2007, Harriet observed that there was a need for business leaders to better understand how State and Local Taxes affected their financial decision making. Rather than developing an industry-specific concentration, Harriet focused on state tax minimization through planning and remediation strategies for taxpayers who operate in multiple states. These strategies include multi-state income/franchise tax refund engagements and reverse sales/use tax audits, as well as state voluntary disclosures to mitigate past tax liability. Harriet's experience in industry included extensive audit defense. She has leveraged that experience into numerous successful audit strategies that she regularly employs when defending clients under audit by taxing authorities.

A frequent presenter on multi-state tax issues, Harriet has managed many large multi-state income/franchise tax refund engagements and reverse sales/use tax audits. She has managed and delivered numerous voluntary disclosure services and audit defense services in almost every state. Harriet has substantial experience advising clients on product sales/use taxability for different types of transactions and on nexus-related issues in 50 states.

After a two-year stint at Schnitzer Steel, Harriet worked with Moss Adams for six years before joining the team at Delap in 2014.

(3/3/21)

Adam Abplanalp serves as Managing Partner & CEO at Cobalt, P.C., a real estate-focused CPA firm located in Portland, Oregon and Honolulu, Hawai'i, which he founded in 2015. Adam's practice focuses on providing tax, accounting, and advisory services, primarily to real estate owners, investors, managers, brokers, and developers. 

As part of his public accounting practice, Adam is a recognized expert in Oregon, Washington, and Hawai'i state and local tax laws, tax planning, and compliance, and he routinely testifies before and works with the Oregon Legislature, Oregon Department of Revenue, City of Portland Revenue Division, and various other state and local tax authorities. Adam is a frequent speaker on real estate and state and local taxation, both for CPAs and for real estate industry professionals. Since 2018, Adam has also served on the City of Portland's Revenue Division Appeals Board. 

In addition to being a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Oregon, Hawai'i, New York, and Washington, he holds a Chartered Professional Accountant license in British Columbia, Canada, is a Certified Fraud Examiner, and is licensed as a Real Estate Principal Broker in Oregon and Managing Broker in Washington. 

Adam has been an OSCPA member since 2010, has served as a leader on various OSCPA committees, and is the 2024-25 OSCPA Board Vice Chair.

(3/19/24)

Stephanie Taylor

Stephanie R. Taylor is a principal with the law firm of Randall | Danskin, P.S., where she practices in the areas of estate planning, probate and trust administration, trust and estate dispute resolution, and closely held business planning. Ms. Taylor is licensed to practice in Idaho, Florida and Washington. She is a frequent speaker on estate planning, trust administration and taxation. Ms. Taylor is a former adjunct professor for Gonzaga University School of Law where she taught Estate Planning. Ms. Taylor is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Council (ACTEC). Ms. Taylor received her B.S. degree from Lewis-Clark State College, her MBA from Gonzaga University School of Business, her law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law and her LL.M. in Taxation from the University of Florida, Leven College of Law. She is a member of the Washington State Bar, the Spokane County Bar Association, the Florida Bar, the Idaho Bar and the American Bar Association. Ms. Taylor has previously served on the Executive Committee of the WSBA Real Probate Property and Trust Section, as well as the Inland Northwest Community Foundation’s Gift Planning Committee and is a past President of the Spokane Estate Planning Council. Ms. Taylor is married to J. Todd Taylor, also an attorney with Randall | Danskin, and together they have two children, Jax and Bryn.

Dallas Thomsen

Dallas Thomsen is a member of the corporate and securities practice group at Snell & Wilmer in
Portland, Oregon. He counsels clients on corporate and securities, mergers and acquisitions, tax-general
federal, tax-private client services, estate planning, private client services, probate, trust and estate. He
received his BA in Accounting at Washington State University, his JD at Gonzaga University and his LLM
in Taxation at the University of Florida.

Scott Schiefelbein

Scott Schiefelbein, a Managing Director in Deloitte’s Washington National Tax practice, has practiced business and tax law for over 25 years. Scott has also led Deloitte’s Portland multistate tax practice since 2008. Scott serves as the firm’s Jurisdictional Technical Lead for all Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico and Oregon tax questions. Scott also is a member of Deloitte’s multistate tax controversy practice and represents taxpayers in audits and also before the Oregon Tax Court – Magistrate Division. 

Scott joined Deloitte in 2008 after spending eight years with Portland-area law firms where he practiced tax and business law. Scott represented clients in disputes with both the Internal Revenue Service and state tax agencies. 

Scott is a frequent speaker at Deloitte-sponsored seminars and trainings as well as external speaking events in addition to writing articles for various tax publications. Scott also serves on the Oregon State Bar Laws Committee. Scott graduated from the Duke University School of Law and graduated with Honors and Highest Distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

(9/25/20)

Michael Locascio

Michael is a Managing Director in our State and Local Tax practice (SALT) and is based in our San Francisco office where he leads thefirm's Bay Area SALT practice.

Education: M.S., Taxation, Seton Hall University; B.S., Accounting, New York University

edited 12/13/24