Paul R. Morcom

Profile

Paul has more than nineteen years of experience regarding state and local tax litigation.  Paul began his tax litigation career as an intern with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General’s Tax Litigation Section, where he researched state and local tax issues and prepared settlement memoranda.  After law school, Paul was Staff Counsel to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Treasury Department’s – Board of Finance and Revenue (“BF&R”) for over four years.  While at the BF&R, Paul focused on reviewing tax appeals and writing briefs for Board members regarding corporate taxes, sales and use taxes and PURTA taxes.  After the BF&R, Paul was a Senior Tax Analyst with a Fortune 1000 Corporation’s Tax Department, where he was responsible for all state and local tax planning, compliance and audit management involving corporate income and franchise taxes in all 50 states.  Recently, Paul practiced at a small Harrisburg state and local tax litigation firm for almost seven years, where he focused his practice on sales, use, income, franchise and property tax litigation issues.

Highlights of his experience include:

• Successfully obtaining sales and use tax relief for clients on issues including those related to public utility, manufacturing, computer services, realty and building machinery and equipment.

• Negotiating favorable settlements regarding corporate net income and franchise tax issues for clients.

• Helping clients obtain significant tax savings through property tax assessment reductions before county boards and courts of common pleas.

• Receiving tax exempt status for charitable institutions for both property tax and sales and use tax.

Recent Successes:

• Successfully cleaned up 20 years of Pennsylvania PURTA tax issues for a railroad at both the state and local level.
• Drafted and negotiated PILOT agreements for a large non-profit hospital system in multiple taxing jurisdictions throughout the Commonwealth.
• Successfully negotiated an $84,609,800 reduction in assessed value for an industrial property in Blair County. Saved company $1,100,000 of property taxes per year.
• Successfully negotiated an $85,862,500 reduction in assessed value for a retail store in downtown Philadelphia. Saved company $1,150,000 of property taxes per year.
• Successfully negotiated exempt status for two properties owned by a nursing home in Montgomery County.  Resulting in $981,000 of refunds for real estate taxes paid in years deemed exempt and $337,400 of tax savings per year going forward.

Because Paul has had the opportunity to experience state and local tax issues from three different perspectives, he brings a value added skill-set to his client’s tax issues that is both unique and comprehensive.