Mr. Jones primarily handles all aspects of federal income taxation, with emphasis on the affairs of charitable and other tax-exempt organizations, corporate reorganizations, partnership and limited liability company issues, and large and small business planning.
In the course of Mr. Jones' career he has been involved in a number of ground breaking federal income tax matters, including the following:
- In the early 1980's Mr. Jones obtained, on behalf of a charitable organization, the first ruling ever issued by the Internal Revenue Service that permitted a charitable organization to participate as a general partner in a limited partnership. This was a breakthrough at the time (an article appeared on the front page of The Wall Street Journal), because such participation gave charitable organizations access to substantial amounts of private capital that effectively could be put to use in charitable endeavors. On this occasion, he successfully persuaded the Internal Revenue Service that its prior unequivocal opposition to the desired activity was incorrect for both legal and policy reasons.
- In the early 1990's the Kansas City Royals Baseball Corporation and two charitable organizations worked together to obtain private letter rulings from the Internal Revenue Service that were needed to put into effect Ewing Kauffman's innovative succession plan for keeping the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City. Mr. Jones devised the strategy to be pursued in making the principal ruling request to the Internal Revenue Service, wrote this request, and prepared and directed the efforts of others in obtaining affidavits of government officials and other evidence that together with the ruling request constituted the submission made to the Internal Revenue Service. This successful submission (which because of its breakthrough nature has also been the subject of substantial publicity in the tax press), involved a creative extension of the Internal Revenue Service's general position that any activity that lessens the burdens of government is charitable.
- Prior to the enactment of attorney’s fees provisions in the Internal Revenue Code, successfully obtained attorney’s fees in a federal income tax refund case under the Equal Access to Justice Act.
- Successfully defended the President/Chief Executive Officer and the Treasurer of a defunct trucking corporation against the imposition of the 100 percent penalty for trust fund taxes, based on the theory that the actions of these officers were not “willful.”
- On behalf of a wealthy family with numerous investment partnerships, sought and obtained a private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service that favorably resolved several esoteric tax accounting issues and had the effect of permitting the family to achieve substantial savings by combining several investment partnerships in a complicated roll-up transaction. This ruling is believed to be the first of its kind granted to a taxpayer other than a regulated investment company.
In addition to handling federal income tax matters, Mr. Jones has substantial experience in dealing with state and local income, sales and use, and other taxes. Notable matters in which Mr. Jones has been involved include the following:
- On behalf of a large national manufacturer, successfully challenged the validity under the United States Constitution of a Kansas City, Missouri license tax ordinance.
- On behalf of a consortium of hazardous waste recyclers, successfully challenged the application of certain environmental taxes and, in the course of so doing, persuaded the court to invalidate the applicable agency regulations. The case was unusual because the taxes at issue were administered by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, rather than the Department of Revenue, and the application of the procedural provisions of Missouri tax law were uncertain.
