Policy’s Essential Role in a Proactive Tax Strategy
Businesses and their internal tax advisors are keenly aware of the value of a thoughtful tax strategy to their success. Aggressive competition, global growth demands, and mounting economic uncertainty require making the most of every available resource. Proactive tax strategies can play a key role in minimizing today’s challenges and maximizing tomorrow’s opportunities.
Tax policy is an indispensable element of an integrated tax strategy. A powerful complement to comprehensive tax management, tax policy informs the range of an enterprise’s strategic needs, from tax planning, to resolving tax controversies, to proactive change through legislation or regulations. In the growing intricacy of the Internal Revenue Code, companies are finding fewer shared issues and more -- and tougher -- challenges specific to each. In this highly-charged environment, a multi-faceted tax strategy that maximizes the abundant potential of tax policy is an essential business tool.
A Formidable Mix of Talent in Tax and Tax Policy
Our Tax Policy practice is fully integrated with all aspects of our nationally recognized Tax practice. Consistently rated among the top echelon of tax law counsel, Miller & Chevalier has been helping our clients achieve their business objectives in Congress, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) since our founding as the first federal tax practice in the United States. During that time, our lawyers have participated in the development and implementation of every significant piece of federal tax legislation, winning the respect of legislators for our integrity, technical capabilities, and policy acumen. Our formidable combination of government experience and tax proficiency, in particular, distinguishes our practice and offers a distinct advantage to our clients.
Our clients include the world’s largest multinational corporations, U.S. and foreign-based, as well as trade associations, industry coalitions, foreign governments, and tax-exempt organizations. They are sophisticated and discerning entities who value our proven leadership in tax policy and our record of achievement on behalf of our clients. They rely on us to resolve their toughest issues, to anticipate the potential challenges and business opportunities associated with legislative or regulatory change, and to influence changes in policy that affect their interests. We represent clients across many industries, including manufacturing, energy, agriculture, high-technology, consumer products, financial services, and pharmaceuticals.
We represent our clients’ interests before Congress, the Treasury Department, and the IRS as laws are enacted and as guidance is developed to implement those laws. We help clients achieve sound and practical business solutions in highly technical matters, as well as with major policy issues that have national and international implications. Our thorough understanding of the workings and decision-making processes of Congress, the Treasury Department, and the IRS enables us to match our clients’ interests and needs with opportunities that are precisely suited to their objectives.
The Advantage of Legislative and Regulatory Know-How
Creating and implementing strategies to enact, modify, or oppose tax legislation is a major part of our practice. We analyze legislation on behalf of our clients and alert them to risks and opportunities. We assist them in crafting strategies to present their positions effectively to decision makers, and we prepare crucial materials to promote and support those strategies. These include position papers, testimony for Congressional hearings, proposed statutory language, and proposed legislative history and revenue estimate requests.
Once legislation has been enacted, we represent our clients’ interests before the Treasury Department and the IRS as they develop regulations and other administrative guidance. We provide suggested guidance to Treasury and IRS officials, as well as written comments and public testimony.
Our long-standing relationships with the Congressional tax-writing committees, the Treasury Department, and the IRS add to our ability to represent clients effectively and to achieve favorable solutions to their issues. We reinforce this with the experience of the many Miller & Chevalier lawyers who have held senior tax policy-making positions in the U.S. government.
A Leading Role in Tax Policy Research
Miller & Chevalier is at the forefront of tax policy issues. Each year, as part of our ongoing effort to better understand client concerns and explore industry issues, we commission a tax policy survey. Our current study -- the 2010 Tax Policy Forecast Survey -- measured the perspective and attitudes of leading corporate executives on the direction of tax policy. |