A Year In Review: Client Victories Abound

The past year will be remembered as exciting for many tax, as well as non-tax, reasons. From the tax standpoint, we are happy to report that our clients had many victories. While most victories were achieved without the need to file a challenge in court and, therefore, are not publicly known, a number of successes were public.

In New York, we successfully litigated a combination case in Matter of Astoria Financial Corporation & Affiliates.¹ In that case, the New York City Department of Finance sought to combine Astoria Bank with its investment subsidiary that principally held non-New York mortgage loans.² The New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal ("Tribunal") affirmed the determination of the Chief Administrative Law Judge that held that the subsidiary had a business purpose apart from tax benefits, had economic substance, and conducted its transactions with Astoria Bank at arm's length.³ The Tribunal also held that the 2011 New York State Tax Appeals Tribunal decision