Dr. Tefera Beyene is the Senior Tax Controversy Advisor at Donovan Legal PLLC. With more than 35 years of experience spanning federal tax administration, academia, and private advisory practice, he is among the most extensively credentialed tax professionals in the country, holding a Ph.D. and an MBA together with the CPA, EA, CGMA, CFOS, CWM, and MCSI designations.

His career rests on three foundations. For more than two decades he served as an auditor and manager in the Internal Revenue Service’s Large Business & International (LB&I) Division, where he led audit teams, directed complex dispute-resolution proceedings, and applied federal and international tax law to some of the highest-stakes examinations in the country. That firsthand understanding of how the IRS builds, tests, and resolves a case gives the firm’s clients an advantage few advisors can offer.

In parallel, Dr. Beyene has spent nearly two decades as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles; Azusa Pacific University; and St. Thomas University, bringing real-world tax and financial expertise into the classroom and training the next generation of tax professionals.

As Senior Tax Controversy Advisor, he provides executive-level counsel to individuals and businesses across federal, state, and international tax matters — from compliance and strategy through IRS audit defense and dispute negotiation. His controversy work supports the firm’s representation of clients facing IRS and state examinations, appeals, and complex tax disputes.

Dr. Beyene is not an attorney. He supports the firm’s practice under the direct supervision of Mr. Donovan, and all legal advice is rendered solely by an attorney admitted to practice.