Katten’s Tax Controversy Practice combines the skills of seasoned litigators with the nuanced knowledge of attorneys who focus on tax planning, tax-exempt bonds, estate and gift tax, and employee plans. Our attorneys represent clients through all stages of sophisticated criminal and civil tax investigations and litigation, including sensitive audits and examinations, search warrants, grand jury subpoenas, negotiated resolutions at all levels within the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice, trials in both federal district court and Tax Court, sentencings, and appeals. We work efficiently to resolve disputes once they exist and also provide guidance to minimize the issues that become the focus of government scrutiny.
Our attorneys have extensive experience both trying cases and resolving disputes outside the courtroom, and we stand ready to employ the strategies that will most effectively achieve our clients’ objectives. We have strong working relationships with the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice, and have earned the respect of those who will be sitting across the table or on the bench.
Effective representation throughout the stages of a tax controversy not only increases the likelihood of an advantageous resolution without litigation, but also sets the stage for a far greater chance of success if a case must go to trial. We encourage clients to adopt an approach that gives due consideration to how each decision in the process could impact the final resolution. When our tax controversy practitioners get involved at the initial stages of an audit, we have an opportunity to identify significant issues, develop strategies, provide advice in responding to information requests and summonses, establish procedures to identify and protect privileged documents, prepare witnesses the IRS seeks to interview, and establish appropriate document retention procedures to preserve evidence. Sometimes it makes sense for us to take a lead role in communicating with the IRS examiners, but strategic reasons often make it more beneficial for us to remain in the background while providing advice that increases our clients’ opportunities for a successful result through negotiation or litigation.
In addition to representing individual taxpayers, our tax controversy practitioners represent publicly traded and privately held corporations, trustees of defined contribution plans including leveraged and non-leveraged ESOPs and other ERISA plans, partnerships, limited liability companies, executors, tax-exempt entities, municipal bond issuers, borrowers, underwriters, and advisors, and swap and investment providers.