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Gary P. Kaplan, a director with the firm, is Chair of the Business Department and Chair of the Tax Strategies & Planning and International Groups. Specializing in international business transactions, Mr. Kaplan represents United States and foreign clients in connection with cross-border mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic relationships. He also regularly provides tax advice to closely held and public companies regarding structures for conducting global business and investment activities.

Mr. Kaplan's outbound experience includes a wide range of activities. He has structured operations of United States multinationals including developing international expansion plans, setting up international holding companies, establishing foreign representative offices, branches and subsidiaries, creating equity compensation plans for non-U.S. employees, and preparing intellectual property cost-sharing and buy-in agreements. He has created transfer pricing and intercompany strategies including use of low and no-tax jurisdictions, tax holidays and special enterprise zones, as well as foreign tax credit and profit repatriation plans. He has established offshore investment funds and foreign estate and asset protection plans for high-net worth United States families including expatriation, foreign foundations, foreign insurance and annuities and offshore trust planning.

For "one-stop shopping," Mr. Kaplan associates with highly qualified and nationally respected lawyers outside the United States Mr. Kaplan has collaborated with colleagues in Russia to interpret the decree taxing the Russian-based activities of non-Russian persons and has assisted the government of a North African nation in drafting its national income tax law.

Mr. Kaplan represents non-U.S. companies engaged in a wide variety of U.S. business and investment activities. Many of these companies have listed or are planning to list shares in the United States. Mr. Kaplan also undertakes FIRPTA planning for non-U.S. real estate developers and investors.

In addition, Mr. Kaplan has substantial experience representing corporate and individual clients in federal and state tax disputes and has frequently appeared before the United States Tax Court. He represented a non-U.S. financial institution involved in a significant tax controversy in U.S. Federal Court.

Mr. Kaplan taught for many years as an adjunct professor in the graduate tax program at New York University School of Law and has served as guest lecturer in tax at Stanford Law School. He has taught tax treaties, foreign tax, tax accounting, real estate planning, bankruptcy tax and taxation of debt discharge, has written numerous articles in many of these areas and is a frequent lecturer at national and international tax seminars.

Mr. Kaplan was born in London, England and attended school in Germany and Switzerland. He served as a law clerk to Judge S. K. Seymour on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Education

  • J.D., University of Michigan Law School, 1978
  • LL.M., New York University School of Law (Taxation), 1980
  • B.A., University of Florida, 1975

Admitted

  • California

Memberships

  • State Bar of California, Taxation and International Law Sections
  • International Bar Association
  • Bar Association of San Francisco, Taxation Section
  • International Lawyers Network, a global association of 80 law firms, Board of Directors

Selected Publications

  • “Everything You Wanted to Know about Qualified Subchapter S Subsidiaries, Chapter 6,” University of Southern California Law School’s Fiftieth Annual Institute on Federal Taxation – Major Tax Planning for 1998, co-author (1998)
  • “Section 1202: Incentive to Invest in Small Business,” New York University's Third Institute on Federal Taxation, published by Matthew Bender & Company, Inc. (1995)
  • “The Ratable Inclusion Rule of the Proposed ACRS Regulations,” Journal of Partnership Taxation, co-author (Fall 1984)
  • “Partnerships and S Corporations: Has the Tax Gap Been Bridged?” Journal of Partnership Taxation, co-author (Spring 1984)
  • “Demise of the Tax-Motivated Personal Service Corporation,” Journal of Copyright, Entertainment and Sports Law, Tennessee Bar Association, co-author (December 1982) 

Awards & Honors

Mr. Kaplan is currently listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the field of Tax Law. He was also recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer in 2004, 2006 through 2008 and in 2010, and is an AV-rated attorney, a peer-awarded honor given by Martindale-Hubbell.