Meaningful Statute of Limitations for Unclaimed Property Audits and Enforcement Actions? Michigan Court of Appeals Says Yes!

Eric D. Carstens focuses his practice on state and local tax matters, assisting clients with state tax controversy, compliance and multistate planning across all states for a variety of tax types and unclaimed property. Eric engages in all forms of taxpayer advocacy, including litigation, legislative monitoring and audit defense. He works closely with several of the Firm’s taxpayer coalitions focused on specific state tax policy issues such as the taxation of digital goods and services and unclaimed property. Eric has co-authored a number of articles in publications such as State Tax Notes and the Journal of Multistate Taxation and Incentives on various state tax issues and is an active contributor to the Inside SALT blog.

Stephen (Steve) P. Kranz is a tax lawyer who solves tax problems differently. Over the course of his extensive career, Steve has acquired specific skills and developed a unique approach that helps clients develop and implement holistic solutions to all varieties of tax problems. He combines strategic thinking with effective skills for the courtroom, the statehouse and the conference room. Steve helps clients prevent and resolve tax problems throughout their life cycle, starting with tax planning, compliance, financial statement implication analysis, audit defense and litigation, legislative monitoring and advocacy, and the formation and leadership of taxpayer coalitions. Steve developed many of these techniques as a litigator for the US Department of Justice, Tax Division, as chief counsel for the District of Columbia’s Office of Tax and Revenue, and further refined them during his tenure as general counsel for the Council on State Taxation (COST). Today, Steve practices at the forefront of state and local tax issues, including developments in the world of cloud computing and digital goods and services. He helps clients understand tax threats and opportunities, and develop holistic solutions, no matter the tax issues or jurisdiction. He also brings this same skill set to the highly challenging world of unclaimed property. Steve represents Fortune 100 companies in litigation while working to address the larger tax policy questions through state legislatures, the US Congress, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Governors Association, the Multistate Tax Commission and the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. His background has taught him that standalone litigation is not always the most efficient manner of solving a tax problem or preventing its spread – thus, he often works to address problems by taking advantage of tax policy points of entry offered by state and local governments. Steve has authored articles for professional publications, speaks at national conferences and is interviewed frequently by journalists covering state and local tax developments. On March 12, 2014, he appeared before the US House Judiciary Committee as an expert on alternative approaches to the Internet Sales Tax issues, and has appeared in a similar capacity before other government agencies. Steve serves as outside counsel on state tax and unclaimed property matters for the Entertainment Software Association, the National Retail Federation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association and CompTIA.

Diann Smith focuses her practice on state and local taxation and unclaimed property advocacy. Diann advises clients at any stage of an issue, including planning, compliance, controversy, financial statement issues and legislative activity. Her goal is to find the most effective method to achieve a client’s objective regardless of when or how an issue arises. Diann emphasizes the importance of defining a client’s objective – whether it is finality of a frequently audited issue, quick resolution of a stand-alone tax liability, or avoiding competitive disadvantages in the application of a tax. The defined objective then governs the choice of the path to a solution. Her clients span a broad range of industries, including transportation, retail, government contractors, information services, emerging technologies, financial services, health care, digital and cloud computing services, and oil and gas. Diann has represented clients on nexus, tax base, business/non-business income classification, apportionment and ASC 740-10 compliance issues. She has also counseled clients on multi-state unclaimed property compliance and voluntary disclosure opportunities, and has contributed as a co-author for a cert petition filed before the US Supreme Court. She serves as outside counsel on state tax and unclaimed property matters for the Entertainment Software Association and the National Retail Federation. Diann has significant experience representing clients before the Multistate Tax Commission (MTC). Previously, she was counsel at another international law firm, where she also focused on state and local taxation. She also served as general counsel for the Council on State Taxation (COST). While at COST, Diann worked on nearly every major state and local tax issues confronting multi-state businesses. From 1998 to 2005, she was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center for the LLM in Taxation program. While in law school, Diann was an editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable Alan E. Norris of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1991 and 1992. Diann is a frequent contributor to various external publications, and has co-authored Bloomberg BNA Tax Portfolios – Income Taxes: Principles of Formulary Apportionment (Portfolio 1150), a significant volume of research.