Photo of Martin T. Hamilton

Martin T. Hamilton is a partner in the Tax Department. He primarily handles U.S. corporate, partnership and international tax matters.

Martin's practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, cross-border investments and structured financing arrangements, as well as tax-efficient corporate financing techniques and the tax treatment of complex financial products. He has experience with public and private cross-border mergers, acquisitions, offerings and financings, and has advised both U.S. and international clients, including private equity funds, commercial and investment banks, insurance companies and multinational industrials, on the U.S. tax impact of these global transactions.

In addition, Martin has worked on transactions in the financial services, technology, insurance, real estate, health care, energy, natural resources and industrial sectors, and these transactions have involved inbound and outbound investment throughout Europe and North America, as well as major markets in East and South Asia, South America and Australia.

Martin also regularly represents clients in tax controversies and other matters before the U.S. tax authorities.

I.          Introduction

On January 30, 2025, Mike Crapo (R-ID), the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee released a discussion draft of the “Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act” (the “bill”), a bipartisan taxpayer rights bill intended

Introduction

On December 2, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) published final regulations (the “Final Regulations”) on section 752[1] regarding the allocation of partnership recourse liabilities in situations in which multiple partners and related parties bear part or all of

I. Introduction

On January 17, 2025, news sources reported that Republican members of Congress circulated a detailed list of legislative policy options, including tax proposals. This blog post summarizes some of the tax proposals and corresponding revenue estimates mentioned in the list.

II.        Individuals

(a)        SALT Reform Options

The

On January 17, 2025, multiple news outlets and other sources reported the existence of a memorandum circulated by the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee to the House Republican Caucus (the “Memorandum”) containing an extensive list of budget proposals that may be considered in connection with the new Congress’s widely expected budget reconciliation legislation. The Memorandum, which is publicly available via link from a number of news outlets,[1] contains approximately fifty pages of proposals covering a wide range of policy areas and enumerating scores of potential specific legislative proposals (along with estimated budget effects in most cases), some of which are seemingly mutually exclusive. Included in the memo are a number of tax-related proposals, including tariff proposals, which are briefly set forth below.

On January 20, 2025, the White House issued a memorandum (the “Memorandum”)[1], announcing that the “Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Tax Deal” (the “Global Tax Deal”) has “no force or effect in the United States” and disavowing “any commitments” previously made by the United States

I.          Introduction

With clear Republican victories in the White House and the Senate, and a very slim majority for either side in the House of Representatives, we can expect tax legislation in the coming year. It is expected that the President elect will likely seek to enact his economic agenda

The IRS has announced a new audit campaign targeted at the use of private aircraft, a/k/a “corporate jets”.  This has been an intensifying area of focus by the IRS over the last few years as a result of recently-increased tax benefits for private aircraft.  Clients who use airplanes for business

1. Introduction.

      On July 12, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued proposed regulations that would classify “basket contract transactions”, which are derivatives (i) with a term of more than a year (or that spans two taxable years), (ii) that reference a

      On June 17, 2024, the IRS announced the formation of a dedicated group in the Office of Chief Counsel specifically focused on developing guidance on partnerships, which is expected to work with a new “passthrough working group” being established in the Large Business and International Division of the IRS. At the same time, Treasury and the IRS launched an attack on a specific partnership strategy involving so-called “basis bump” or “basis shifting” transactions involving related parties through a combination of guidance challenging the substance of such arrangements and declaring such arrangements to be “transactions of interest” that are subject to the strict disclosure requirements of the “reportable transaction” rules.1

      On March 11, 2024, the Biden Administration released the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget, and the “General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2025 Revenue Proposals,” which is commonly referred to as the “Green Book.” The Green Book summarizes the Administration’s tax proposals contained in the Budget. The Green Book is not