Scott D. Michel

Mr. Michel has worked on cutting-edge tax enforcement cases his entire career.  He has advised individuals, families, corporations, tax professionals, fiduciary and trust companies, and others on five continents in criminal and civil tax enforcement and compliance matters. His client representations since the early 1980s have paralleled the criminal and civil tax enforcement priorities of the IRS and the Department of Justice, including cases of unreported income or false deductions or credits; actions brought against Americans who have failed to report foreign assets, accounts and/or complex structures; criminal tax shelter, Employee Retention Credit, conservation easement, and Malta Pension Plan cases; and employment tax, cash-reporting, or cryptocurrency reporting failures.  Additionally, Mr. Michel has assisted many thousands of individual and corporate taxpayers in effectively returning to tax compliance through the voluntary disclosure process, and he is routinely consulted by other practitioners on sensitive ethical questions as they arise in tax practice.

In specific, his practice encompasses the following types of cases:

• Counseling individual taxpayers, companies, and advisors and professionals on criminal tax matters arising from grand jury or administrative criminal tax investigations conducted by the U.S. Justice Department and IRS Criminal Investigation. In the some of these cases, Mr. Michel and his colleagues have litigated nationally important issues relating to the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition against compulsory self-incrimination and the attorney-client and work product privileges.
• Advising on highly-sensitive civil tax examinations of individuals or companies where potential fraud issues may arise (so-called “eggshell audits”).
• Assisting clients in criminal investigations or civil tax examinations specifically arising from unreported foreign accounts, assets or structures such as trusts or controlled foreign corporations, including addressing difficult criminal sanction and/or monetary tax or FBAR penalty issues.
• Working with international families with complex financial footprints in the U.S. and other countries to address U.S. tax compliance issues.
• Representing clients in connection with recently enacted qui tam provisions enabling private persons to bring claims for potential violations of District of Columbia and New York tax requirements, including cases that arise from allegations relating to a taxpayer’s state of domicile or residence.
• Helping to bring into compliance U.S. individual and corporate taxpayers and professional services firms worldwide who have tax reporting failures in prior years, whether intentional or accidental, including inaccurate or unfiled U.S. income tax returns, cash transaction reports, and international information returns.
• Participating in corporate internal investigations of tax and finance-related matters.
• Handling cases involving marketed tax shelters, employment taxes, conservation easements, and cryptocurrency, including criminal and civil penalty examinations of promoters and professionals drawn into such cases.
• Providing sensitive advice on ethical issues to tax practitioners.
• Advising in non-tax white collar and “inside the Beltway” cases raising sensitive, high-profile issues.

• Acting as criminal tax counsel in IRS or DOJ investigations, with the objective of steering the case back into a civil context where it might be resolved confidentially and without a criminal sanction. These matters often raise the issue whether the government can establish that a taxpayer under investigation acted willfully, an essential element as to all criminal tax charges that the government may bring. The cases also can entail complex tax issues, as to which Mr. Michel works with Caplin’s technical specialists to counter arguments that tax may be due. Many of Mr. Michel’s representations have resulted in non-public decisions by the U.S. government not to bring criminal charges and eventually a confidential civil disposition. 
• Handling sensitive offshore-related civil examinations and IRS Appeals for businesses, advisors, high-net-worth families, athletes, and others residing around the world, often working in the background behind civil practitioners. A number of these cases were resolved quietly and confidentially for a fraction of the amounts initially sought by the IRS.
• Helping families, individuals and companies come into U.S. compliance by correcting prior tax non-compliance.. These  cases include U.S.-centric tax issues where an individual, a family or a business needed to correct material errors on prior tax returns, the failure of an individual or company to comply with information reporting or cash reporting rules, or international matters arising because of the failure of the U.S. taxpayer to report foreign accounts or other substantial offshore assets.  Under applicable IRS policies, most such cases can be resolved out of the public eye with a civil payment and a closing agreement.
• Resolving cases for a banks and other financial services firms with the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division arising from their business in handling U.S. taxpayer accounts. These representations usually resulted in non-prosecution agreements between the institution and the DOJ, or no action taken.
• Advising tax professionals and professional services firms on sensitive and ethical practice-related issues.

Bar & Court Admissions

• New York
• District of Columbia
• District of Columbia Court of Appeals
• U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
• U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Columbia
• U.S. Tax Court

Education

J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 1980, Order of the Coif

B.S., Northwestern University, 1977, with highest distinction

Clerkships

• Law Clerk, Honorable Joyce Hens Green, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, 1980-1981

Honors & Recognitions

• Chambers USA, 2009-Present
• Chambers High Net Worth Guide, USA, Tax: Private Client, 2022
• The Legal 500, Recommended 2014-Present; Leading Lawyer, 2010-2013, 2017-Present
• Best Lawyers in America, 2006-Present; Lawyer of the Year, 2023
• Super Lawyers, Top 100 in D.C., 2015; Washington, D.C., 2008-Present
• American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), International Justice-Sector Education and Training (IJET) Program International Pro Bono Award, 2018
• The American Lawyer's Global Legal Award, Global Dispute of the Year: Investigations, Swiss Tax Settlements, 2015
• The Washingtonian, Top Lawyers, 2011-Present; Lifetime Achievement Lawyer, 2022
• Martindale-Hubbell® AV® Preeminent™

Professional Activities

Mr. Michel has been active in the American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation his entire career.  He served as Chair of Section during 2023-2024, and is currently the Immediate Past Chair of the Section. Mr. Michel also served as the Vice-Chair for Committee Operations from 2016-2018, a Section Council Director, and as the Chair of the Section's Committees on Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties and the Standards of Tax Practice.

He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law Graduate Program in Taxation, a current Fellow and former Regent for the Federal Circuit for the American College of Tax Counsel, a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Tax Policy Institute (APTI), and a member of the International Fiscal Association (IFA). 

Mr. Michel also served as a Mentor in the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ROLI), advising government officials responsible for tax enforcement in the Croatian Ministry of Finance. For his work in this regard, and that of his colleagues Cono Namorato and Mark Matthews, Caplin & Drysdale received the 2018 Pro Bono Award from ROLI. Mr. Michel previously performed a similar role in connection with ROLI’s predecessor organization in Poland in 1992.

Other Professional Affiliations

Former Chair, ABA Section of Taxation, 2023-2024

Former Vice-Chair, Committee Operations, ABA Section of Taxation, 2016-2018

Former Council Director, ABA Section of Taxation 

Former Chair, ABA Section of Taxation, Committee on Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties and the Standards of Tax Practice

Founder and Co-Chair, ABA Section of Taxation, Annual International Tax Enforcement and Controversy Conference, 2012-2016

Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law Graduate Program in Taxation

Fellow, American College of Tax Counsel

Former Regent, Federal Circuit, American College of Tax Counsel

Co-Founder and Director, Buildable Hours, Inc.

Mentor, American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative

Member, International Fiscal Association