Attorney
Kevin has more than 30 years of experience in tax controversy and civil and criminal tax litigation. He has represented Fortune 100 companies, foreign corporations, partnerships, trusts and individuals in large federal tax controversies, and he has handled civil matters from IRS audits, administrative appeals before the IRS Office of Appeals, and tax litigation in Tax Court, district courts, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and various Circuit Courts.
Prior to becoming an attorney, Kevin worked with the IRS as a Revenue Agent and in the IRS Appeals Office in Philadelphia, bringing an insider’s view to his tax controversy practice and is well versed on IRS practice and procedure. He is active in the ABA Tax Section and is a past chair of the Administrative Practice Committee and a former member of the Philadelphia Bar Tax Counsel.
Representative examples of tax controversy and litigation issues handled by Mr. Johnson include hostile takeover expenses, transfer pricing adjustments, cross-border debt issues, foreign tax credits and repatriation issues, Subpart F issues, worthless stock deductions, fuel credits, bad debt expenses, conservation easement donations, captive insurance matters, suspensions from the IRS E-Filing program for accounting firms and tax practitioners, and hobby loss deductions relating to racehorses
Kevin is a frequent speaker on a variety of tax issues before the American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation, the Tax Executives Institute, the Federal Bar Association as well as state and local bar associations and other organizations. He is a former member of the faculty for Bloomberg’s Tax Controversy and a former contributor to Forbes’ IRS Tax Watch blog.
NOTABLE MATTERS AND RESULTS
- Sunoco Inc. v. United States, 128 Fed.Cl. 345 (2016). Lead trial attorney. Obtained ruling that the IRS was not entitled to deference for an IRS notice issued after the litigation commenced.
- Black & Decker Corp. v. United States,340 F. Supp. 2d 621 (D. Md. 2004), aff’d in part, rev’d in part and remanded, 436 F.3d 431 (4th Cir. 2006) – Trial team member for taxpayer claiming $560 million capital loss from the sale of stock in a contingent liability health care subsidiary. (Case settled on remand from 4th Cir.)
- VF Corp. v. Commissioner, No. 7584-02 (U.S. Tax Court, filed Apr. 19, 2002) – Trial team member. Obtained full IRS concession in Tax Court case involving the question of whether $59 million cost of providing retail display to retail customers is currently deductible or must be capitalized.
- American Stores v. Commissioner 114 T.C. 458 (2000) case settled prior to appeal to the 9th Circuit on issue of the deductibility of costs incurred to integrate a subsidiary after a stock acquisition.