Top Tax Lawyers Near Me in Salt Lake City Area

Stephen J. Mayfield is an attorney at York Howell & Guymon, practicing in the areas of corporate law, asset protection, estate planning, federal tax law, charitable giving and trust and probate administration.  Stephen advises businesses and individuals on various tax issues within the context of corporate transactions, emerging entities, and estate plans. He assists entrepreneurs form limited liability companies and corporations, and he advises medical professionals with practice administration, compliance and restructuring. Stephen represents clients regarding mergers and acquisitions, leases, non-disclosure agreements, non-compete agreements, and purchase agreements.  He also assists companies and individuals with succession planning and preparation of buy-sell agreements.  Stephen has also successfully represented clients before the Internal Revenue Service.  Stephen is licensed in Utah and in Nevada where he practiced for a prominent Las Vegas law firm for five years before returning to Utah in 2013.  He continues to represent Nevada clients and others who seek to utilize Nevada’s favorable asset protection laws and devices.  Stephen currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Food and Care Coalition located in Provo, Utah.. Stephen is a graduate of the University of Utah and the Chicago-Kent College of Law (Illinois Institute of Technology).  He earned his LLM in Taxation from Denver University.  Stephen lives in American Fork, Utah with his wife and three children where his son Neil is currently a member of the nationally recognized American Fork High School Marching Band.  Stephen speaks Japanese having lived in Japan for three years, including one year studying on scholarship at the University of Shinshu in Nanago, Japan.  He is also an avid cyclist and skier.

Shauna Stewart is a graduate of Western State College of Law and has been a practicing attorney for the past five years. As a former prosecutor she worked in Utah’s busiest district, fighting against some of the toughest and most dangerous opponents imaginable. Shauna has years of experience as a tax resolution attorney. She has successfully resolved hundreds of cases against the IRS and has dynamic solutions for extremely difficult tax resolution issues. Shauna is the best attorney to take your case, her experience has forged her into a fierce advocate ready to fight for you.

S. Robert Bradley is a member of the Durham Jones & Pinegar's Estate Planning and Business & Finance sections. Before entering the practice of law, he was a university professor of zoology for nine years. His practice focuses primarily on business planning, including acquisitions and other business transactions, structuring tax aspects of business transactions, formation of business entities, licensing, and distribution agreements, as well as sophisticated estate planning. Mr. Bradley maintains an “AV” rating with Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest rating awarded to attorneys for professional competence and ethics.

S. Mark Barnes has more than 35 years of tax controversy experience. He graduated for the University of Utah College on law in 1987, and spent 30 years as a trial attorney for the Internal Revenue Service. He left the Service in 2017, and has represented clients in private practice since that time. He currently practices for the firm Expert Tax Law. While representing the IRS he spent decades litigating before the the United States Tax Court and the United States Bankruptcy Court. During his 30 years with the government, he represented the service in both small and large cases. He served on several large litigation teams, including some of the largest litigation projects undertaken by the government. Mark also developed expertise in international tax and expertise in large valuation cases. He was known for his expertise in cases that required expert witnesses and dealt with sophisticated financial instruments and complex valuations. After leaving the government, his litigation experience covers both small and large tax cases, including international tax, financial products and valuation related issues. His tax practice includes both civil and criminal cases, at both the federal and state levels.. Mark strongly believe that in any significant tax controversy case, you need a tax litigator. In his thirty years with the IRS, agents and IRS attorneys were very aware of which tax representative could litigate, and which representatives would eventually be forced to cave. When push comes to shove, too many representative are simply forced to concede, because they do not have the credentials or the ability to litigate the case. If you want your case taken seriously, hire one of the few tax attorneys in Utah capable of trying a case. In most cases, the goal is not to litigate, but to reach a favorable settlement. However, you are much more likely to obtain a favorable settlement if the IRS or the State Tax Commission take your representative seriously.

Russell K. Smith is a shareholder and chair of Durham Jones & Pinegar's Business & Finance Section. Mr. Smith represents private companies in a broad range of industries and sectors, including venture capital, life sciences, software, internet, real estate, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications and energy (including oil and gas).. Mr. Smith regularly advises start-up and emerging-growth companies from formation through liquidity event in matters including governance, debt and equity financing, equity incentive compensation, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Smith also represents venture capital firms, strategic corporate investors, and angel investors in their investments in start-up companies. Many of his clients are partnership and LLCs for whom he provides sophisticated management, capital strategy, and partnership tax advice.. Mr. Smith has been directly involved with LLC and partnership legislation in California and Utah. Most recently, Mr. Smith played a prominent role drafting and helping to pass Utah’s version of the Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act. The Business Section of the Utah Bar Associate honored Mr. Smith as the 2012-2013 Distinguished Business Law Practitioner of the Year.

I started Common Law after leaving a large Salt Lake firm. My goal is to provide effective and efficient expertise in the resolution of tax and financial disputes. I have done my job when I have reduced the stress of dealing with the government and the legal system, and I have helped you find a resolution that works for you.. I’ve been practicing law for over twenty years. I have litigated numerous cases at city, county, and state tax agencies, at all of the IRS administrative levels, and at the trial court level in both the state and federal courts of Utah, courts in other states, and the United States Tax Court.. I also have substantial appellate court experience, including before the Utah Court of Appeals, the Utah Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and the United States Tax Court.. Although my emphasis is tax, I have litigated cases in numerous commercial areas of law, including real estate disputes, insurance coverage disputes, corporate and contract disputes, and financial transaction disputes.. I am admitted to practice before all Utah State Courts, the U.S. District Court for Utah, the U.S. Tax Court, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. I earned an LLM in Tax from Georgetown University and my law degree from the University of Utah. I have been recognized in 2017-2021 as one of the Best Lawyers in America in the area of Commercial Litigation and Tax Law by Best Lawyers.. In my free time, I’m a telemark skier, a trail runner, and a dad with two kids and a Siamese cat.

I specialize in real estate transactions, development and financing, commercial leases, landlord and tenant, guarantees (collection and defense) eviction, foreclosure, defense of challenges to trust deed foreclosures, wrongful liens, condominium and time share, real property title issues, commercial transactions, appeals and alternative dispute resolution. I have been Chairman of the Real Estate Section of the Utah State Bar, Chairman of the Environmental Control Committee, and served as a Bar Examiner for the Utah State Bar.. My real estate practice has included representing landlords, developers, and negotiating leases with Albertson’s, Inc., Wendy’s, Big 5 Sports, and others. I have represented lenders and borrowers.

I have worked in the Chief Counsel's Office of the Internal Revenue in Washington DC.. I have represented clients in tax audits, IRS collection matters, tax fraud cased and tax litigation.   I worked in the tax department of Deloitte Touche in New York City, I have practiced law in Salt Lake City, Utah for over 35 years.. I have represented clients before both the Internal Revenue Service, the Utah State Tax Commission, the US Tax Court, the Utah District Court, the US Federal District Court, the US Court of Federal Claims, the Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.. I am the past president of the Salt Lake Estate Planning Council.  I have done estate planning for bank presidents, professional athletes, business owners, and private individuals.. CONSIDER OUR RATES AND OUR EXPERIENCE.

I enjoy helping people who need quality and affordable legal representation. I enjoy spending time with my family and enjoy  coaching, football, baseball, basketball, flyfishing, and the outdoors.. I love the quote:. "Good, better, best, never let it rest, until your good is better and your better is best. "

I am licensed in Arizona and Utah where I have almost exclusively practiced law as a tax attorney since 2006. In addition to working for the General Counsel at the Arizona Department of Revenue, I worked for over 12 years in Big 4 public accounting firms as a tax attorney where I helped lead their state and local tax controversy practices. I have represented clients with diverse business operations in nearly every state. I have an incredible depth of knowledge of Arizona and Utah's tax laws as I ran the state and local tax practices for PwC out of their Phoenix and Salt Lake City markets.In addition to being a state and local tax attorney, I have also spent several years working in private practice as a tax attorney representing clients in the most difficult Federal tax controversy matters befor the IRS and in Federal Tax Court. Also, due to specializing in tax law during law school, I was pulled into PwC's federal tax practice where I provided significant federal tax consulting services for corporations and partnerships in addition to my state and local tax practice.. My law firm also has a deep bench and rich history of providing legal services as a tax law firm. We pride ourselves as being the law firm that other tax attorneys, estate planning attorneys, business attorneys, litigation attorneys, retired judges and experienced CPAs / EAs refer work to.

Gregory N. Barrick is a shareholder of the firm, past director of the firm, and current chair of the firm’s Estate Planning Section. Mr. Barrick represents clients with respect to family wealth, estate, and asset preservation planning, probate and estate administration matters, charitable giving, and sophisticated business and estate tax planning matters.

Gary R. Thorup is a Shareholder at Durham Jones & Pinegar. For more than thirty years, Mr. Thorup’s practice has focused on federal, state and local taxation, administrative law and government affairs.. Mr. Thorup is a frequent speaker/presenter at local and national tax-related conferences. He has authored articles and made numerous presentations related to his practice areas.. He has also served on and chaired numerous practice-related and community service boards including his current service as the immediate Past Chair of the National Association of State Bar Tax Sections, an ABA Tax Section liaison organization, and as a member of advisory boards for the University of Utah’s College of Social and Behavioral Science and College of Science.. Gary Thorup recently returned from Washington, DC where he attended the annual tax conference sponsored by the National Association of State Bar Tax Sections (NASBTS).  Mr. Thorup is Past-chair of NASBTS and continues to sit on its Executive Board.  At the Washington, DC conference, Mr. Thorup arranged for and moderated a session entitled the “Affordable Care Act – Issues and Concerns” and was a presenter at a session entitled “Federal and State ‘Responsible Person’ Liability Determinations”.

For 31 years, David W. Steffensen has provided high level transactional and litigation services for his clients. He is committed to providing effective solutions for his clients’ needs.. Mr. Steffensen understands business, not only from forming and representing hundreds of businesses for clients, but also because he has personally created, owned and operated several businesses.  For example, in 2000, Mr. Steffensen formed and operated development and general contracting companies which developed over 2,000 residential lots and build 100 homes.  Mr. Steffensen also holds real estate broker licenses and his brokerage companies had over 100 agents and sold over $100,000,000 in properties.. Mr. Steffensen has extensive litigation experience and regularly represents his clients in court, including jury trials.  For example, Mr. Steffensen recently won an $881,000 jury verdict for his client in a complex partnership breach of fiduciary duty and fraud case.  Mr. Steffensen further recently has obtained favorable results in non-competition covenant, foreclosure, title, construction defect, estate, guardianship, landlord/tenant, mechanic’s lien, trust deed foreclosure and tax litigation disputes.  Mr. Steffensen also represents clients in bankruptcy and white collar criminal matters.

Areas of practice include tax and estate planning, corporate law and business transactions.  Mr. Bennett serves as an advisor to numerous entrepreneurs and various sized business enterprises.  He serves on the board of trustees of various charitable and philanthropic organizations. Mr. Bennett was admitted to the Utah State Bar in 1990.  He is the founding partner of Bennett Tueller Johnson & Deere.. Mr. Bennett was the principal draftsman of the Utah Limited Liability Company Act and the co-draftsman of the Utah Limited Liability Partnership Act.  He is a Certified Public Accountant.

Areas of practice include estate planning, estate administration and probate, taxation, exempt organizations and business law. Mr. Margetts counsels and assists clients with the design and implementation of comprehensive estate plans, utilizing simple and sophisticated techniques to meet their unique objectives. He also assists clients in all phases of estate and trust administration, including the appointment of guardians and conservators for incapacitated individuals, probate of decedents' estates, preparation and review of fiduciary accountings, and will and trust contests.. Mr. Margetts also advises and assists individuals and businesses in various state and federal tax matters and represents them in the resolution of tax controversies before the IRS and the Utah State Tax Commission. His business practice involves entity selection, formation, and acquisition, as well as the negotiation and drafting of related business agreements, including limited liability company operating agreements, buy-sell agreements, and deferred compensation plans.. Mr. Margetts assists clients in the formation of public charities and private foundations, including applications to the IRS for recognition of tax-exempt status. He also advises existing exempt organizations in matters of compliance with applicable state and federal laws.

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