The Advantage of Government Know-How and Business Focus

 

Clients also appreciate the benefits of working with lawyers recognized in government for their integrity and professionalism, a distinction that makes us particularly effective in representing our clients' positions and achieving precise and efficient solutions to their issues with regulatory and legislative bodies.  Our long-standing reputation with the IRS, the Treasury Department and other government entities, coupled with the experience of the many Miller & Chevalier lawyers who have held senior government posts, is a distinct advantage to our clients.

 

Our lawyers are pragmatic business professionals who never lose sight of our clients' business objectives.  Clients appreciate our ability to work easily within their organizations, and to integrate seamlessly with their team of internal and external specialists.  They also appreciate the fact that they have ready access to senior members of their Miller & Chevalier team.

Audits, Administrative Solutions, and Litigation

 

Miller & Chevalier has a formidable reputation for successfully resolving tax controversies for the world's largest multinational corporations.  We've been a firm of choice for clients with challenging and complex tax controversies since our founding in 1920 as the first federal tax practice in the U.S.  Our tax controversy group has advised clients with disputes in every significant area of federal taxation, from the audit level and IRS appeals to court litigation.  We are expert in negotiating favorable administrative solutions, and equally skilled at trial. 

 

We have unparalleled experience matching clients with the precise administrative programs best suited to their needs.  Whether addressing Competent Authority Relief or Advance Pricing Agreements, we resolve important and difficult matters quickly and on terms favorable to our clients.  We've helped clients navigate the LMSB Industry Issue Focus program and have used its Fast Track Settlement program to successfully resolve transfer pricing and other international tax issues.

 

When circumstances require litigation, many businesses with multi-million-dollar amounts in controversy choose Miller & Chevalier.  Our clients know that we will go to trial only if it is in their best interests and that we are forceful, vigorous and persuasive advocates.  Clients choose us for our expertise, our approach to litigation, and our record of achievement in court. 

Global Tax Optimization

 

Managing their worldwide effective tax rate efficiently is crucial to our multinational corporate clients.  Our lawyers typically look beyond the U.S. tax consequences of a given transaction to help our clients achieve global tax rate efficiencies.  We use such strategies as special foreign tax regimes, tax efficient fiduciary techniques, accessing the U.S. tax treaty network, rationalizing a company's holding company, addressing supply chain and distribution structures, and maintaining the benefit of U.S. tax deferral for foreign entities.

Transfer Pricing

 

Transfer pricing issues are among the most challenging and resource-intensive issues facing multinational companies today.  Our Transfer Pricing practice brings deep experience and a multi-disciplinary approach to clients' planning and controversy matters.  In the planning context, our clients benefit from our broad knowledge and experience working with the U.S. tax treaty network, anti-deferral regimes such as subpart F, source of income and foreign tax credit rules, and repatriation.  We ensure that a company's transfer pricing policies fit within its overall tax picture and further its business objectives.  We have worked with the Advance Pricing Agreement program almost since its inception, and have used that program in numerous cases to provide certainty and predictability to clients.  Our tax controversy practice is among the largest and most successful in the country, and our expertise and experience in the defense and resolution of transfer pricing controversies is recognized by both U.S.- and foreign-based multinational companies.  Many of the cases we have handled involved potential deficiencies in the hundreds of millions, and sometimes billions, of dollars.  Indeed, our track record includes the single largest transfer pricing case ever litigated to decision in a U.S. court.  No penalty has ever been sustained in any transfer pricing matter we have handled.

Cash Management Planning

Cross-border cash flow raises a host of issues from a U.S. tax perspective.  These include the broader issues of foreign tax credit pooling and planning questions, subpart F/anti-deferral considerations, tax arbitrage opportunities, income tax treaty issues, and foreign currency implications.  Our lawyers have substantial experience in cash management, financing, deployment, and repatriation issues.  We also help our clients with the concerns raised by cash-flow management, including the creditability of foreign taxes (particularly taxes imposed in developing markets), timing and characterization of income and expenses, and sourcing and reporting issues.

Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions, Partnerships and Joint Ventures

 

Miller & Chevalier's transactional tax lawyers serve as U.S. tax counsel to major multinational companies in key public and private deals.  We routinely assist clients with the U.S. federal tax aspects of corporate transactions, including U.S. and international mergers and acquisitions, dispositions and spin-offs.  We handle transactional financings, leveraged buy-outs and initial public offerings as well as private placements of equity and debt issues; we deal with liquidations, and international and cross-border investment vehicles.

 

We assist our clients in partnership and S corporation tax planning, including partnership allocations, disguised sales, master limited partnerships and TEFRA partnerships, and issues related to investment funds and real estate partnerships.  We've structured a wide variety of multinational joint ventures for clients across the world.

 

We regularly serve as tax counsel in transactions that entail novel tax issues or are especially tax-sensitive.  We negotiate and draft the tax aspects of merger and acquisition agreements, partnership agreements, joint venture agreements, and related agreements. 

 

We work with our wide network of trusted local tax experts to assist clients in structuring foreign transactions and operations.  Clients welcome our lawyers' considerable experience coordinating the work of multiple parties in complex transactions - law firms, accounting firms and other professionals, both domestic and foreign - in their multi-faceted arrangements.