David E. Colmenero, J.D., LL.M., CPA
Mr. Colmenero has extensive experience in litigation and practices primarily in the State Tax Controversy and Litigation and State Tax Planning areas. He represents individuals, closely held businesses, and large corporations in all forums for Texas tax litigation, including the State Office of Administrative Hearings, District Court, the Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court. He has also represented clients in IRS audits, appeals, and litigation in the United States Tax Court, Federal District Courts and the United States Court of Federal Claims, U.S. Courts of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Colmenero was previously a tax auditor for the State of Texas and, as a lawyer, has successfully represented taxpayers in contested proceedings involving sales and use tax, franchise tax, motor fuels tax, motor vehicle tax, mixed beverage taxes, employment tax and others. Mr. Colmenero represents taxpayers through contested Texas tax proceedings including audits, Independent Audit Review Conferences, administrative proceedings before the State Office of Administrative Hearings and in State court litigation. Mr. Colmenero has been extensively involved in challenging various aspects of Texas Comptroller franchise tax assessments and refund denials and in planning business structures and business transactions to mitigate exposure to the revised franchise tax.
Through the course of his federal tax practice, Mr. Colmenero has represented taxpayers in complex and contentious federal tax matters through various stages of examination, appeals and litigation, some of which have involved high profile taxpayers and high profile legal issues. Representative matters include constructive dividends disputes, accumulated earnings tax assessments, hobby loss, passive activity loss and Section 465 challenges by the IRS to loss deductions, digital currency characterization issues, employment tax disputes, penalty assessments, assignment of income claims, statute of limitations disputes, trust fund assessments, partnership adjustment disputes, refund claims and voluntary disclosures to name a few. Mr. Colmenero has also represented taxpayers and partnerships in proceedings falling under the “TEFRA” provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and has been actively involved in speaking and drafting comments on the new federal partnership audit rules recently enacted into law by Congress. In September 2017, Mr. Colmenero testified before the IRS and U.S. Treasury on behalf of the Texas Society of CPAs on recently proposed regulations addressing the new partnership audit rules.
Mr. Colmenero is a Certified Public Accountant and maintains active involvement in various professional legal and accounting organizations. Mr. Colmenero was recognized in the 2021 Edition of Best Lawyers in America for the practice areas of Litigation and Controversy-Tax. He previously served as Chair of the Tax Section of the State Bar of Texas. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Texas Society of CPAs, is current chair of the Comments Subcommittee for the Federal Tax Policy Committee of the Texas Society of CPAs, and is a member of the Texas Comptroller's Taxpayer Advisory Group. He is a past chair of the Dallas CPA Society and past chair of both the State and Local Tax Committee and the Tax Controversy Committee of the Tax Section of the State Bar of Texas. He helped form the Leadership Academy for the Tax Section of the State Bar of Texas and served as its Program Director for several years. He frequently speaks on substantive and procedural tax issues involving both federal and state tax matters.
Mr. Colmenero was admitted to practice in Texas in 1997.
