David Shechtman

David Shechtman assists clients with a wide range of federal, state and local tax matters, including tax aspects of mergers, acquisitions and recapitalizations; S corporations and partnerships; and administrative appeals of federal, state and local tax controversies.

He has developed a national practice in the area of like-kind exchanges of real estate and other assets. In his capacity as counsel to taxpayers and various exchange intermediaries, David has structured and documented hundreds of like-kind exchange transactions for major oil and gas, telecommunications and transportation companies, as well as REITs and smaller real estate owners.

His forms of exchange documents are widely-used in the industry, and he has served as an expert witness in several lawsuits involving like-kind exchange issues. David frequently writes on tax topics and also lectures at American Bar Association meetings and various conferences on tax law.

He also is the author of the chapters on federal and Pennsylvania taxes in the West publication “Pennsylvania Forms and Commentary – Business Organizations” and edited the Checkpoint Catalyst volume on “Taxable Stock Acquisitions” (Topic 114).

David often speaks on the subject of like-kind exchanges and other tax topics and has been quoted frequently on tax issues in the Wall Street Journal and other business publications.

He has spoken at all 20 National Conferences on Like-Kind Exchanges sponsored by the Center for Professional Seminars and Wells Fargo Exchange Services, as well as various programs sponsored by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the NYU Federal Tax Institute. He also serves as an adjunct professor of tax law at the Beasley School of Law, Temple University.

David’s publications include: Like-Kind Exchanges and Corporations, Proceedings of the NYU Institute of Real Estate Taxation (2015); Someone Made Off With My Money, Now What?Taxations of Investments, Summer 2009; Like-Kind Exchanges and Bankrupt Intermediaries,Tax Notes July 6, 2009; IRS Provides Exchange Deadline Relief for Disaster Victims and (Perhaps) a Remedy for Others, Real Estate Taxation, Volume 32/Issue 4, Third Quarter 2005, Thompson Legal & Regulatory Group.

Experience :

• Like-Kind Exchanges
  • For a major oil and gas company, structuring as a series of safe-harbor “reverse” exchanges, an ongoing “raze and rebuild” program for existing gas station properties.
  • Obtaining a private letter ruling for one of the first “repetitive exchange programs” used by an auto leasing company for every disposition of its off-lease vehicles.
  • Structuring and obtaining franchisor approval for a reverse exchange program for franchisees of a major restaurant chain.
• General Tax
  • Assisting a home builder client in establishing a structure for equity-based employee compensation combined with tax efficient inter-company transfers of land.
  • Obtaining a private letter ruling on the tax consequences of a “structured settlement” of an employment discrimination claim.
  • Structuring a trucking company’s disposition of multiple S Corporations and retention of unwanted real estate in a tax efficient manner.

Education :

• Cornell Law School, J.D., 1977
• Swarthmore College, B.A., 1974, with high honors

Bar Admissions : Pennsylvania