Ephraim André Lucas, Esq.

• Advise business owners on mergers, acquisitions, and dispositions, including entity structuring, due diligence, and purchase agreement negotiation for privately held companies.
• Represent clients in federal tax controversy matters, including partnership-level examinations under the centralized partnership audit regime and disputes before the IRS Independent Office of Appeals.
• Provide outside general counsel services to small and mid-sized businesses on corporate governance, contracts, and regulatory compliance.
• Counsel clients on tax-efficient structuring for business formation, sale, and succession planning.

• Specialize in tax litigation in the U.S. Tax Court, primarily involving tax issues impacting individuals, partnerships, S corporations, LLCs, LLPs and estate and gift.
• Provide legal advice and assistance to the IRS, Independent Office of Appeals and other Division Counsel concerning issues within their area of topical jurisdiction. Research, analyze facts and write legal opinions in response to questions.
• Prepare answers to petitions, replies, motions, and other documents relevant to the case. Responsible for ascertaining the legal correctness of the position(s) determined in the statutory notice of deficiency as well as preparation for the case for trial and settlement.
• Review pleadings and files and prepare defense letters to the DOJ, Tax Division, setting out the Commissioner’s position on defense of a suit involving merits of the tax.

• Assist counsel and other members of the legal department with discovery issues for matters in litigation.
• Work with e-discovery team to analyze documents utilized in litigation for relevancy purposes.
• Perform due diligence for merger and acquisition projects to meet project deadline.
• Draft, analyze and review legal contracts.

• Prepare and file individual, corporate and partnership tax returns using Drake Tax software.
• Provide expert advice to clients regarding new/updated local and federal tax laws that affect their business.
• Assess client’s tax situations and negotiate on client’s behalf with Internal Revenue Service.
• Consult with clients and individuals to obtain new business.

• Assist in the creation and development of estate plans by assessing client’s assets and goals, drafting various estate planning documents and advising clients how wealth and property is distributed upon death.
• Perform services to aid clients in estate administration. Complete all necessary inventories and tax-related forms and provide advice to executors and beneficiaries on the administration.
• Consult and advise fiduciaries in probate and trust administration and work with clients in connection with contested trust and tax matters and review estate and gift tax returns.
• Represent clients in the probate court, related superior court trusts practice, mediation and settlement.

• Provide tax planning & wealth preservation to small and mid-sized businesses and their ownership group.
• Served businesses and individuals alike by staying abreast on new tax legislative changes.
• Positioned taxpayers for short- and long-term tax optimization.

• Assisted in drafting opinions for cases tried before the U.S. Tax Court, including the opinion for Mark E. Huber & Coleen L. Huber v. Comm’r, T.C. Summary Opinion 2015-63.
• Substantiation of deductions on financial statements and tax returns.
• Conducted meticulous research on numerous issues tried before the U.S. Tax Court to develop resolution to current issues.
• Conferred with Judge Vasquez and his clerks concerning intricate tax legal matters to conclude unity of legal decision and analysis.

• Processed legal claims against British Petroleum regarding damages relating to the Gulf Coast oil spill of 2010 to determine if claims fall within the legal parameters of class action suit.
• Investigated and analyzed financial statements (i.e. profit & loss statements, bank statements, balance sheets, and tax returns) to determine claimants’ eligibility and merit of their claim(s).
• Utilized Excel to test for anomalies, data manipulation, and any discrepancies in claimants’ financial statements to determine potential fraud.

Education

Bar Admissions & Licenses

• State Bar of Georgia
• Northern District of Georgia
• United States Tax Court

Representative Docket History

Docket History for Ephraim Andre Lucas, Esq. | 283 Total Matters
There may be additional cases that Ephraim Andre Lucas, Esq. has docketed that are not shown. The following is a reverse-chronological selection of docketed matters reflecting the breadth of Mr. Ephraim Andre Lucas’ litigation and Tax Court practice, compiled from United States Tax Court-Dawson, Westlaw Litigation Analytics, and Bloomberg Law docket records.