Year-end tax policy update and current tax issues for real estate

Lynn Kawaminami

Lynn is a tax partner in the Atlanta office of Deloitte with more than 18 years of experience serving significant real estate, REIT, partnership and private equity clients. She has structured numerous real estate transactions, including mergers, spin offs, joint ventures, investment funds, down REITs, and captive REITs involving real estate assets throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

Jeff Kummer

Jeff specializes in US tax policy. He oversees a team of tax policy professionals who monitor US tax legislative and regulatory developments to develop articles for Deloitte Tax’s weekly newsletter, Tax News & Views, and in-depth publications on issues such as the US deficit and US tax reform. He also provides insights on these same developments to tax leaders throughout the US. His Capitol Hill experience includes working on tax and budget issues for former US Senator and Senate Finance Committee member Steve Symms, R-Idaho. Jeff is a frequent speaker at Deloitte-sponsored tax and industry events, as well as events sponsored by industry groups such as Tax Executive Institute, American Petroleum Institute, and Financial Executives International. Jeff holds a BS in political science from University of Idaho and an MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

Mark Van Deusen

Mark focuses on tax issues faced by real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other real estate investors. In previous positions, he has represented REITs and investment banks in a large number of REIT initial public offerings and secondary stock offerings. He has also advised targets and acquirers in REIT mergers and acquisitions transactions and advised REITs in tax-deferred and taxable spin-off transactions. In addition to transaction-related engagements, Mark has successfully obtained private letters rulings and closing agreements from the Internal Revenue Service on REIT-related matters. Mark has represented REITs in all asset classes but has spent a significant portion of his career advising mortgage REITs and hotel REITs. Prior to joining Deloitte, Mark was a partner with an international law firm. Mark also has extensive experience advising clients on partnership tax issues. He has structured “UPREIT” and “DownREIT” tax-deferred contribution transactions, and he advised on the structuring of a number of joint venture transactions. He has also served as the tax advisor to two publicly traded partnerships. Mark speaks regularly on issues related to REITs and investments in real estate, and his articles on REIT taxation have been published in Taxes and Journal of Real Estate Taxation. Mark is also the program chair for the William & Mary Tax Conference. Mark received his JD from William & Mary School of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and an articles editor of William & Mary Law Review. He received his BA magna cum laude from Washington & Lee University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Joseph Vetting

Joe specializes in taxation of partnerships and their partners for domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, financing transactions, and restructurings. He has a special interest in the intersection of subchapter k and the international tax rules, often helping clients to navigate complexities arising from coordinating two disparate principles-based systems. Joe re-joined Deloitte’s Washington National Tax practice after working as an attorney advisor at the Internal Revenue Service, Office of Chief Counsel, International where he worked closely with the Office of the International Tax Counsel on several regulations packages and other guidance. Before joining Deloitte the first time, Joe was an attorney advisor at the United States Tax Court. Joe was also an adjunct professor at George Washington University for over a decade where he taught classes in partnership taxation and tax research. Joe received his B.G.S. from the University of Michigan, his JD from DePaul University, and his LLM from the Georgetown University Law Center.