Renn Neilson is the firmwide Chair of the State and Local Tax Section and a member of the Targeted Disputes and Oil and Gas M&A Teams at Baker Botts; his practice focuses on state and local taxation, incentives and unclaimed property. He helps clients restructure their holdings, acquire and dispose of assets and structure financing transactions to minimize tax exposure. Mr. Neilson regularly defends taxpayers in property, franchise/income, and sales tax controversies. Chambers recognized him as a "Band 1" State and Local Tax Lawyer. The Survey reports clients as saying: "he [Renn Neilson] is a strong leader who gives effective guidance to the team; he is thorough in his thought process, and helps counsel me through difficult decisions." - Chambers USA, 2021; and that: "As far as state tax lawyers, he is as good as it gets." - Chambers USA, 2020.
His recent experience includes representing large corporations in negotiating and documenting state and local incentives for various industrial projects with a total projected value of $300 billion; he also represents clients in major statewide property tax litigation and sales and franchise tax controversy matters spanning multiple states; he currently advises clients on unclaimed property issues; drafts Texas tax legislation; helps structure capital intensive development projects; handles multi-state nexus and liability planning; bundled sales and service transactions; intercorporate service transactions; managed audits; numerous state-level taxability inquiries (rulings) and related negotiations with state and local tax authorities.
Recognized in Chambers USA, 2016-2023
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward & White, Inc.), 2010-2022
Recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer (Thomson Reuters), 2006-2010, 2013-2022
