| Legislative and Regulatory |
Clients’ legislative and regulatory concerns are best served by legal counsel with the deepest possible knowledge of the relevant channels of government. Accordingly, members of our legislative and regulatory practice have held prominent positions at the US Department of the Treasury and on congressional tax staffs. In legislative and regulatory matters, we:
- Advise clients and provide updates on IRS regulations and rulings in a variety of areas, including corporate tax, consolidated returns, pass-through entities, tax accounting, employee compensation, international taxation, excise taxes, financial institutions and exempt organizations
- Serve as legislative counsel to clients with respect to proposed federal tax legislation
- Represent clients in seeking favorable guidance from the IRS by obtaining private letter rulings regarding particular transactions or business structures, assisting clients with voluntary compliance and closing agreements, and submitting comments on proposed regulations
Our experience extends to state and local levels, permitting a comprehensive approach to these issues. For example, we recently worked with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue to secure the adoption of favorable employee benefits provisions that had been adopted federally but not by the Commonwealth. In another instance, we convinced state officials to place a cap on fees charged to Massachusetts corporations for the issuance of new shares of stock.