Christa Haas Bierma is a principal in Ernst & Young LLP’s National Tax Department in Washington, DC. Christa advises clients on technical tax issues that arise in connection with employee benefit and compensation arrangements, including executive and deferred compensation, employer-sponsored health and welfare plans, fringe benefits, and tax-qualified retirement plans.

Christa has more than 19 years of experience in tax and employee benefit issues. Prior to joining Ernst & Young LLP, Christa was engaged in private law practice, advising plan sponsors and fiduciaries concerning a wide scope of issues relating to benefits and compensation, and representing their interests in state and federal courts nationally. Christa returned to Ernst & Young LLP in 2017 following three years of service as an Attorney-Advisor in the US Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy, where she was responsible for employment tax, health care, and executive compensation issues in the Office of Benefits Tax Counsel.

Christa is a frequent writer and speaker on taxation matters and serves as an adjunct professor in Georgetown Law’s LL.M. program. Christa is licensed to practice law in Virginia and the District of Columbia as well as numerous federal courts. Christa holds a B.A. from Hope College and a J.D. from Washington & Lee University School of Law. Following her graduation from law school, she clerked for the Honorable Mary Stanley in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.