Washington, DC (July 19, 2011) – Morrison & Foerster LLP announced that Philip M. Tatarowicz has joined the firm's State and Local Tax (SALT) practice in the Washington, D.C. office. Mr. Tatarowicz is a highly respected tax lawyer with over 32 years of experience advising major companies on tax-related matters. He joins Morrison & Foerster as Of Counsel from Ernst & Young, where he established that Big Four firm's State and Local Tax group, which has grown to over 700 professionals.
Mr. Tatarowicz has deep experience providing tax advice to many of the world's largest corporations across multiple industry groups, including industrial products, retail, consumer goods, aerospace, health care, entertainment and utilities. He has handled every major aspect of corporate state and local tax matters, with a primary focus on corporate income, property, payroll, sales and use, gross receipts and other transaction-based taxes.
In addition to his work assisting corporations in tax advice and multistate and multitax planning, he has served as an expert witness and technical advisor in numerous disputes involving SALT issues before federal and state courts. He has helped craft legislative and administrative tax proposals, testified before government agencies and officials, and served on prominent industry and state and local tax reform commissions. In 2007, Mr. Tatarowicz was appointed to the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council, which offers recommendations on policies, programs and procedures, as well as tax administration issues. He is the first and only SALT professional appointed by the IRS to chair the full Advisory Council.
"As states seek to increase tax revenues, tax issues have become critically important for every corporation, particularly those with operations in multiple locations around the country," said Craig Fields, chair of the firm's State & Local Tax Group. "Phil is a terrific addition to our practice which is known for its 'any state, any tax, any time' approach. His vast knowledge of tax laws complements the firm's existing tax litigation expertise and brings added scope to our tax planning capabilities."
Mr. Tatarowicz said, "Morrison & Foerster has long been one of the preeminent State and Local Tax practices in the country, successfully handling many large and complex SALT matters around the country. I look forward to the opportunity to work with these excellent practitioners and continue to address the most challenging State and Local Tax issues for corporations."
Since 1984, Mr. Tatarowicz has served as an adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center where he has taught its State and Local Tax Course and a Comparative Laws Seminar focused on SALT issues; currently, among other things, he is teaching a constitutional law course that addresses Federal Limitations on the Taxing Powers of State and Local Governments. He is a faculty advisor to The Tax Lawyer and The State and Local Tax Lawyer, and has served for the last 30 years as the Chair and Moderator of the Continuing Legal Education Department's Advanced State and Local Tax Institute. He also co-authors a monthly column for Multistate Taxation on SALT issues.
Mr. Tatarowicz earned his LL.M. in Tax from the Georgetown University Law Center (1983), his J.D. from Northern Illinois University College of Law (1978) and his B.A. from Benedictine University (1975).