Joining Greene Radovsky in 1989, Ed practices primarily in the area of tax controversies, compliance issues and administrative tax matters at the federal, state and local level. He has successfully represented clients in a wide variety of income tax issues, in addition to transferee liability, payroll tax, sales tax, offshore disclosure, and conservation easement matters. Ed began his legal career serving eight years with IRS Chief Counsel’s office in San Francisco, litigating cases before the Tax Court and advising the Examination Division, as well as serving in management of the service’s tax litigation throughout the Western Region.
Ed represented the taxpayers before California’s Board of Equalization in Rago Development, a “swap and drop” section 1031 case in which the Board unanimously rejected the Franchise Tax Board’s long-standing position that such structured transactions did not qualify for tax deferral. The significance of this decision caused the Board to issue its first formal opinion in five years.
In the Tax Court, Ed successfully overturned the IRS’s position that the restrictions applicable to limited partners in the determination of material participation under the passive loss rules also applied to members of an LLC.
Ed is a past President of both the San Francisco Tax Club and the San Francisco Tax Litigation Club. He has been a regular speaker, appearing at conferences sponsored by the California State Bar Tax Section, the American Bar Tax Section, and by CalCPA.
Representative Transactions
- Structuring and defending claimed like‑kind tax-deferred exchanges.
- Defending against personal payroll liability for taxes, gambling excise taxes.
- Defending against assertions of transferee liability.
- Defending eligibility and valuations claimed for charitable conservation easement donations.
- Advising clients in expatriation matters and all aspects of the IRS’ Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs.
- Representing clients in Sales and Use Tax audits, participation in multi-state voluntary disclosure programs.
- Representing clients in establishing activities are “for profit” and material participation in passive activity determinations.
- Obtaining Private Letter Rulings and Section 501(c) tax-exempt status.
- Representing clients in California residency audits.
J.D. (with honors), 1981, University of San Francisco School of Law
B.A., 1975, University of California, Berkeley