Randal T. Evans

Of Counsel

• revans@steptoe.com
• vCard
• Phoenix Office

Randal T. Evans is a member of the Tax Practice group in the Phoenix office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP. Mr. Evans focuses his practice on federal, state and local tax; exempt organizations; business transactions; and American Indian law.

State and Local Tax
Mr. Evans advises businesses and individuals on a wide range of multi-state and local tax issues, including income, sales, use, and excise tax matters, and he represents clients during tax audits and in administrative appeals and tax litigation, and advises and represents clients on state and local tax collection issues. His practice includes counseling clients on the application of state and local tax laws to their business activities and transactions, preparing refund requests, obtaining private taxpayer rulings, structuring managed audits, and arranging for tax amnesty agreements and voluntary disclosures. Mr. Evans also advises clients on multi-state tax issues, including nexus-establishing activities, use tax collection obligations, unitary combination issues, allocation and apportionment of income, and business/non-business income questions.

Exempt Organizations
Mr. Evans advises and represents exempt organizations on corporate, tax, regulatory, and transactional matters. Mr. Evans’ exempt organizations clients include large private foundations, family foundations, corporate foundations, public charities, healthcare organizations, business leagues, property owners associations, religious organizations, civic leagues, social welfare organizations, lobbying organizations, and political action committees.

Mr. Evans has set up new organizations, advised organizations on the most appropriate structure to obtain their goals and objectives, and helped clients acquire and maintain tax-exempt status. Mr. Evans has extensive experience drafting corporate documents for new organizations, advising existing organizations on revisions and amendments to their corporate documents, and working with clients to prepare corporate policies.

He advises nonprofit corporations on corporate governance issues, including the rights and legal obligations of officers and directors, potential conflict of interests transactions, board policies, and contract matters, as well the full range of federal and state tax and regulatory matters, including unrelated business income, lobbying and political activities, reasonable compensation, charitable giving, managing business activities, and the specific rules governing private foundations.

Mr. Evans has structured transactions, drafted agreements, and established limited liability companies, taxable subsidiaries, and other affiliated entities, for a variety of corporate and tax planning objectives, including to protect tax-exempt status, reduce or eliminate unrelated business income tax (UBIT), compliance with private foundation rules, and to minimize risks associated with particular activities. Mr. Evans has set up affiliated lobbying organizations on behalf of exempt organizations and has established political action committees on behalf of individuals affiliated with nonprofit organizations as well as businesses.

Mr. Evans has established foundations on behalf of corporate clients, structured complex transactions involving corporate foundations, drafted trademark licensing agreements between corporations and corporate foundations, and advised retailers and exempt organizations on tax and legal issues relating to "embedded giving" and other non-traditional methods of raising funds to support charity.

Mr. Evans has extensive experience in forming, obtaining tax-exempt status for, and advising U.S.-based charities with grant-making programs and operations in foreign countries. He has advised foreign charities operating in the U.S., has structured U.S.-based affiliates of foreign organizations, and has advised U.S.-based charities on setting up foreign affiliates.

Federal Tax
Mr. Evans’ federal tax practice includes advising clients on employment taxes, excise taxes, and other federal tax matters, and he represents exempt organizations, businesses, individuals, and American Indian tribal governments in federal tax controversies involving the Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Evans has represented private foundations and other exempt organizations in IRS audits, and has represented American Indian tribal governments in IRS employment-tax audits. He has also worked with individuals on IRS collection matters and has helped clients obtain payment plans, installment agreements, and offers-in-compromise. Mr. Evans regularly advises corporate clients and other attorneys on the federal tax implications and tax reporting requirements of settlement agreements.

American Indian Law
Mr. Evans provides representation and legal advice to American Indian tribes, tribal members, and non-tribal clients on a broad range of tax, business, and regulatory issues, including tribal sovereignty issues; federal and state taxation of tribal businesses and tribal members; employment tax matters; federal, state, and local taxation of tribal enterprises operating off-reservation; tax issues relating to non-Indian enterprises doing business on Indian reservations; structuring Indian tribal enterprises, including section 17 tribal enterprises; structuring business enterprises and joint ventures involving American Indian tribes and tribal members; housing, home ownership, and mortgage lending matters; business and employment preference laws; setting up and registering corporations and other business entities; and forming nonprofit organizations under tribal laws, acquiring tax-exempt status for tribally-formed nonprofit organizations, and structuring charitable giving activities and programs.

Mr. Evans is admitted to practice law in Arizona, New Mexico, and in the courts of the Navajo Nation.

Mr. Evans frequently speaks for professional groups and educational seminars and is involved with a number of community organizations and activities.

Noteworthy & Success Stories

• Tax Team Scores Major Victory for APS, Arizona's Largest Utility

News, Seminars & Events

• Tax Group Scores Victory for Arizona Utility
• Fifth Annual Construction Tax Issues Seminar, June 4, 2008, (A Steptoe Sponsored Event)
• Fourth Annual Construction Industry Tax Issues Seminar, June 14, 2007, (A Steptoe-Sponsored Event)
• Third Annual Construction Industry Tax Issues Seminar, June 15, 2006, (A Steptoe-Sponsored Event)
• State & Local Tax Update Seminar, February 23, 2006, (A Steptoe-Sponsored Event)
• Construction Industry Tax Issues, May 19, 2005, (A Steptoe-Sponsored Event)
• Nonprofits and Sarbanes-Oxley: A Phoenix Seminar, September 21, 2004, (A Steptoe-Sponsored Event)

Publications & Speaking Engagements

• Arizona Tax Update
  New Prime Contracting Transaction Privilege Tax Developments
  January 2008
• Taxation of Design-Build Contracts: Legislation Clarifies that Design Fees are Not Subject to the Arizona Transaction Privilege Tax Even When Undertaken by a Contractor
  July 2004, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, News Alert
• Letter Ruling Alert: CRUT Avoids UBTI by Investing Through a Foreign Corporation
  February 2003, 39 The Exempt Organization Tax Review 204
• Taxation of Employment Related Settlements, Arizona Bar Association
  September 2001, Labor and Employment Law Section
• Recent Developments in Contractor's Sales Tax, July 13, 2007, Construction Financial Management Association Meeting
• Sales and Use Tax in Arizona, Lorman Education Services, October 26, 2006
• Construction on Indian Reservations, Arizona Society of CPA's Annual Construction Conference, October 19, 2006
• Exempt Organizations: A Legal Guide, National Business Institute, June 28, 2006
• State and Local Tax Update: Current Issues Affecting Arizona’s High-Tech, Bio-Tech & Manufacturing Industries, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, February 1, 2006
• Nonprofits: What Should You Be Doing About Sarbanes-Oxley?, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, September 2004

More Speaking Engagements »

Professional Affiliations

• Federal Bar Association (Tax and Indian Law sections)
• State Bar of Arizona (Tax, Business, and Indian Law sections)
• Maricopa County Bar Association