Having previously served as Director of the SC Department of Revenue, a Judge on the SC Administrative Law Court, and Director of the SC Attorney General’s Tax Division, Ray Stevens now represents state and local tax (SALT) clients in tax controversies, tax planning, and tax incentives for economic development. He is a partner in Columbia SC with Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein where he serves as head of the firm’s State and Local Tax practice.
Mr. Stevens is an experienced tax litigator. He has briefed and argued before the United States Supreme Court, represented clients in Federal District Court and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, tried numerous tax cases in state circuit courts, and argued more than thirty cases in state appellate courts. Mr. Stevens originated and defended in the SC Supreme Court the theory of law taxing out-of-state royalty income from intangibles, a theory now simply known in SALT matters as a “Geoffrey issue.”
He served in SC Governor Mark Sanford’s cabinet as the Director of the South Carolina Department of Revenue and served on the South Carolina Tax Realignment Commission (TRAC) in its study of SC’s taxing system resulting in the submission to the SC General Assembly of a comprehensive tax restructuring plan.
Prior to being Director of the Department of Revenue, Mr. Stevens decided adjudicated tax controversies as a judge on the South Carolina Administrative Law Court. Prior to being a judge, he served as the Director of the South Carolina Attorney General’s Tax Division litigating tax controversies at both the trial and appellate levels. He served as a member of the SC Coordinating Council for Economic Development and Chairman of the SC Enterprise Zone Subcommittee.
He is a former Advisory Board Member of Vanderbilt University’s Paul J. Hartman State & Local Tax Forum and a frequent speaker at conferences in both the private and public sectors. He has written articles for State Tax Notes, the Journal of Multistate Taxation, the Interstate Tax Reporter, and is the principal author for Bloomberg BNA’s South Carolina Corporate Income Tax Portfolio.
Education:
LL.M., College of William and Mary School of Law
J.D. University of South Carolina
M.B.A., University of South Carolina
B.S., Accounting, University of South Carolina
Bloomberg BNA Tax Management Portfolios:
South Carolina Corporate Income Taxes (co-author)
South Carolina Pass-Through Entity Navigator (co-author)