Stefanie E. Kavanagh

• Representing multinational companies on unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral advance pricing agreements (APAs) involving the IRS and other tax authorities.
• Assisting companies in maximizing the benefits of tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, including transfer pricing implications. 
• Sustaining the deductibility of Sec. 174 research expenses in a post-Tax Cuts and Jobs Act amortization environment.
• Secured favorable discretionary relief from the IRS under tax treaty limitation on benefits provisions.
• Advised companies on transfer pricing planning, including related to the base erosion anti-abuse tax, cost allocation approaches, and ESG initiatives. 
• Advised clients on federal tax issues concerning the effect of COVID-19 and related supply chain disruptions, including deductibility of expenses, shut-down issues, net operating losses, and the impact on APAs.
• Secured favorable competent authority agreements to eliminate double taxation in controversies involving the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, and the UK.
• Assisting multinational companies in the implementation of complex intercompany agreements.
• Advised multinational companies on restructuring projects and tax treaty planning.
• Represented issuers and underwriters in billions of dollars of offerings of REIT securities.
• Represented numerous REITs on mergers with other REITs, including an industry-leading mortgage REIT on its merger with a specialty finance REIT that focuses primarily on investments in residential mortgage-backed securities.
• Counsel to the worldwide leader in automotive safety during an internal reorganization and spinoff of its electronics business into a new, separate public company.

Stefanie Kavanagh is a senior associate in the Federal & International Tax Group and focuses her practice on transfer pricing, tax planning and structuring for domestic and international business entities. She is also a member of the firm’s REITS and Real Estate Funds tax team. She assists multinational corporate clients to secure advance pricing agreements and competent authority relief from the IRS and foreign tax authorities. She also advises REITs (both privately owned and publicly traded) on numerous tax issues and assists with taxable and nontaxable acquisitions and dispositions, and public offerings of equity and debt securities. Stefanie was identified as “One to Watch” by The Best Lawyers in America^© in Tax Law.

Before joining Alston & Bird, Stefanie was an intern with the financial institutions and products division of the Office of Chief Counsel of the IRS while completing her LL.M. in taxation at the Georgetown University Law Center. She received her J.D. from the Vanderbilt University Law School and her B.A. in economics and political science, summa cum laude, from Westminster College.

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• Maryland

Education

• Georgetown University (LL.M. Taxation, 2015)
• Vanderbilt University (J.D., 2014)
• Westminster College (B.A., 2011)

Memberships