Taylor Porter Partner and Tax Practice Group Leader John McDermott has been appointed to chair the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council’s Small Business/Self-Employed and Wage & Investment Subgroup, a chapter of the IRSAC, focusing on small business and individual taxpayer issues. McDermott will meet with the Commissioner of the IRS, John Koskinen, and with the commissioners who are responsible for SB/SE and W&I divisions of IRS.

The IRSAC currently has three subgroups: Large & Mid-Size Business Subgroup; Small Business/Self-Employed and Wage & Investment Subgroup, and Office of Professional Services Subgroup.

Since January 2015, McDermott has served as a member of the IRSAC, which provides an organized public forum for IRS officials and representatives of the public to discuss key tax administration issues. Members are selected to represent the taxpaying public, tax professionals, small and large businesses, academia and the payroll community. The council provides the IRS commissioner and division leadership with important feedback, observations and suggestions.

As an advisory body designed to focus on broad policy matters, the IRSAC reviews existing tax policy and/or recommends policies with respect to emerging tax administration issues. The IRSAC suggests operational improvements, offers constructive observations regarding current or proposed IRS policies, programs, and procedures, and advises the Commissioner with respect to issues having substantive effect on federal tax administration.

McDermott has more than 35 years of experience in taxation, with his primary areas of practice including tax planning and advice, including business and individual income tax, payroll tax, franchise tax, excise tax, ad valorem tax, sales and use tax and gift and estate tax. McDermott is a Board Certified Tax Law Specialist, Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization, and he is a certified public accountant. He served on the examination committee for the Tax Law Advisory Commission of the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization and is an assistant bar examiner for the Louisiana State Bar Association. McDermott is ranked among Louisiana Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in Tax Law.

He has assisted tax exempt organizations make application for and obtain status under IRC section 501(c). He has represented individuals, business entities, trusts and estates with controversies before the IRS at the examination level, with appeals, in Tax Court and U.S. District Court. He has made applications to the Taxpayer Advocate, assisted clients in collections, and with preparation and presentation of offers in compromise, installment payment arrangements, and with tax liens and levies.

In addition to his primary practice of taxation, McDermott handles succession, probate, and estate administration matters. McDermott has been a CPA since 1985. He is a member of the Baton Rouge and Louisiana State Bar Associations, National Lawyers Association, Baton Rouge Estate and Business Planning Council, and The Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants.  McDermott holds a B.S. in Business Administration and a J.D. from Louisiana State University and an LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University.   

Before pursuing the practice of law, McDermott practiced in the tax department of an international CPA firm for five years in New Orleans and Washington, D.C. 

​The Taylor Porter tax and estate planning practice provides representation in business formations, acquisitions, mergers, reorganizations and dissolutions, including structuring to minimize tax and liability exposure. In addition to counseling clients, the firm represents clients before local, state and federal tax authorities, including the Louisiana Department of Revenue and Taxation, the Board of Tax Appeals, the Internal Revenue Service, Tax Court, and all other Louisiana and Federal Courts. Some of the examples of Taylor Porter’s representative experience include: handling multimillion dollar estates including representation of the estate in federal estate tax audits; developing a plan for the merger of multiple health care practices into a single health care provider with minimum tax consequences; and creating private and non-private foundations and obtaining favorable determination letters of charitable, tax-exempt status.