Overview
(March 13, 2019, New York) — Steptoe & Johnson LLP is pleased to announce that David A. Fruchtman has joined the firm's Tax Group as a partner. Based in the New York office, Fruchtman will focus his practice on state and local tax (SALT) matters.
Over a 30 year career, Fruchtman has assisted clients in all 50 states on matters involving income taxes, franchise taxes, sales and use taxes, real property transfer taxes and a variety of other state and local taxes. He has represented clients listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ, as well as those privately held.
Fruchtman divides his practice equally between tax planning and tax controversy. His planning work includes tax-efficient structuring of businesses and transactions, and frequently requires working with tax authorities to obtain favorable letter rulings. He also advises foreign companies that are expanding into the United States, and has successfully represented clients before courts and administrative tribunals across the country.
In welcoming Fruchtman to the firm, Steptoe Chair Phil West commented: "David's multistate practice will expand our existing SALT practice and provide it with a strong East Coast anchor. His arrival is of timely importance to clients following recent federal tax reform, which has increased state and local revenue pressure and resulted in more aggressive state enforcement activities."
Fruchtman remarked: "I have long admired Steptoe for having one of the premier federal and state tax teams. I'm delighted to be joining a practice with such deep roots and am particularly excited about the opportunity to grow the state and local sales tax practice into a national practice."
Steptoe's SALT practice litigates complex and varied state and local tax matters, including income, sales and use, and property tax issues, in administrative proceedings and state and federal courts, and helps clients seek legislative solutions to industry-wide issues. The team counsels clients on the multistate tax implications of their business transactions, including constitutional, corporate income tax, excise tax, and multistate taxation and nexus issues.
Fruchtman has been repeatedly named to the Illinois and New York Super Lawyers list. He filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., 585 US (2018), and is the author of the Bloomberg Tax Portfolios' "Income Taxes: Definition of a Unitary Business" and the upcoming "Income Taxes: Consolidated Returns and Combined Reporting." He previously lectured at NYU's Summer State and Local Tax Institute for 13 years, and was the chairman of the Income and Franchise Taxes Subcommittee of the American Bar Association's state tax committee. For more than 20 years, he has been co-author of the Illinois chapter of the ABA's Sales and Use Tax Deskbook. Fruchtman has lectured on state tax issues at the Tax Executives Institutes, ABA meetings, the Chicago Tax Club, the Israel Export Institute, the Israel-America Chamber of Commerce, and numerous law schools. In 2003, Fruchtman served as special deputy attorney general to the state of Hawaii.
Fruchtman earned his J.D. from Harvard and his B.B.A., with distinction, from the University of Wisconsin.
About Steptoe
In more than 100 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.