Tax Policy & Regulation

Tax law is driven by politics, policy, and process. Regardless of the context—whether it be tax reform, deficit reduction, revenue raising, or simplification efforts—the decisions of tax policy makers impact every sector of the economy and every size and type of business, whether domestic or multinational. We position our clients to stay ahead of developments and be proactive on both positive and defensive strategies—whether you are seeking to retain favorable tax provisions, modify current policies, or defend against proposals that would impose additional tax burdens.

Our tax policy and regulatory team is experienced across a full range of efforts and industries, including representing individual companies, formal and ad hoc coalitions, and trade associations before Congress and the Administration. Our practice is anchored by two former congressional tax committee leaders— Hon. Earl Pomeroy, nine-term Congressman and senior Ways and Means Committee Member, and Carolyn Smith, who brings more than 20 years of experience in the formulation of tax policy as the former associate deputy chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation. Other members of our group include former staff and officials of the Ways and Means and Finance Committees, White House, IRS, and Treasury, supported by deeply experienced and highly technical tax lawyers with decades of knowledge across the full range of federal tax issues.

Our integrated team structure places us in a select league of firms that can deliver the best results from a policy, political, and technical tax perspective.

Accolades

• Alston & Bird was named “Law Firm of the Year” in Tax Law in the 2020 edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms.”
• Our tax team is described by Chambers USA as a “respected practice advising clients on a wide variety of tax matters.”
• Chambers USA has ranked our legislative and public policy group in the top tier of firms for government relations every year since 2009.
• We are consistently ranked among top lobbying firms by The National Law Journal, Roll Call, and The Washington Business Journal.

• Our tax policy and regulatory team is experienced across a full range of efforts, including representing formal and ad hoc coalitions, trade associations and individual companies before the Congress and the Administration. 
• Tax reform, deficit reduction, and the extension of expiring tax provisions are ongoing issues in the Congress. We position our clients to stay ahead of developments and are proactive on both positive and defensive strategies—whether seeking to retain favorable tax provisions, seeking modifications in current policies or defending against proposals that would impose additional tax burdens. 
• The Affordable Care Act imposes billions of dollars of new taxes relating to the provision of health care. We have successfully represented clients on a variety of tax issues arising during the consideration of the Act and regulatory implementation efforts to date, including the following: 
  • We were successful in efforts to structure the tax on medical devices in a manner advocated by our clients, including statutory exemption from the tax for certain products. 
  • Initial proposals during consideration of the Act would have eliminated the tax exclusion for flexible spending accounts. Working with an ad hoc coalition, favorable tax treatment for such accounts was preserved, enabling millions of Americans to continue to be able to use such accounts to pay for medical expenses. 
  • Working with an organization with over 1,000 member companies representing third-party administrators, retailers and payment processers, we obtained a reversal of an IRS ruling that, if implemented, would have prohibited the use of payment cards to process many health benefit plan transactions. As a result of these efforts, the ability to continue to use payment cards was preserved. 
• In the international tax arena, our efforts include working with key clients on successful legislative and regulatory proposals regarding advance pricing agreements, IRS withholding tax regulations and tax treaties matters. 
• We advise investor groups on tax legislative and regulatory matters, providing high-level information to assist our clients in the appropriate targeting of investments. 
• We assisted clients in efforts with other stakeholders to obtain pension funding relief, thereby freeing cash flow for other purposes.