State and Local Tax Implications for Solar Development

John is a Member in Stoll Keenon Ogden’s Evansville office and has been with the firm since 1998. He serves as the chair of the firm’s Mineral & Environmental practice, which includes attorneys who are renowned for their success in handling transactions involving coal, gas and oil interests. John is also part of the firm’s Tax Law and Trusts & Estates practice groups.

John is an Eagle Scout who demonstrates leadership and a commitment to service on a daily basis, both through his interactions with clients at SKO and his work with local community organizations.

Mineral & Environmental Law: Knowledgeable on all aspects of the mineral industry, including environmental regulations and financing, John has achieved wins for clients that range from securing acreage with millions of tons of coal to overseeing joint ventures among major oil and natural gas producers. He has served as lead deal counsel, performed due diligence and prepared documents for energy clients with projects in the region and nationwide.

Tax Law: John assists corporate and individual clients in understanding and navigating the intricacies of federal, state and local tax laws. He is an expert on taxation and title issues related to his mineral law practice and has led seminars on the subject at industry conferences.

Sean is of counsel in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the probate and tax group. He counsels clients on utilizing tax credits, economic development incentives, abatements, economic development financing mechanisms, public-private partnerships and special economic development entities to assist in the development and redevelopment of property and the creation of jobs and economic growth.

Prior to joining Vorys, Sean worked as the legal counsel and ethics officer at the Ohio Development Services Agency (ODSA). In this role, he helped oversee the department’s $1 billion economic and community development funds. Sean also routinely counseled ODSA leadership on business and legal issues related to loans, grants, tax credits and ethics. Before joining ODSA, Sean spent five years serving as president and general counsel of a private equity firm/family office. In this role, he provided legal counsel throughout the United States on real estate and development projects including hotels, data centers and multiple residential projects. Sean also spent nine years working at large national law firms and assisting clients on real estate and corporate matters.

Outside of his legal practice, Sean has spent more than five years as a director of Professional Bank in Coral Gables, FL.

Sean received his J.D. from University of Michigan Law School and his B.A. from the University of Richmond.

As an experienced and respected tax attorney, Craig focuses his practice on developing strategies to maximize profit through tax planning and guidance on available federal, state, and local tax incentives. Craig assists his clients in a variety of industries including oil and natural gas producers, midstream companies, coal, chemical manufacturing, non-profits, gasoline transport companies, retailers, and renewable resource companies.

Raymond Pepe has a varied practice that includes the representation of clients before a wide variety of state agencies, particularly involving adjudicative, regulatory and government affairs matters, as well as general corporate representation and litigation. His clients include financial institutions, public utilities, health care providers, real estate developers and non-profit associations. His practice focuses on the regulation of financial institutions, legislative and regulatory analysis and advocacy, state and local taxation, unclaimed property, political action committee regulation, lobbying registration and reporting, professional licensure, environmental regulation, and government contracts.

Prior to beginning the private practice of law in 1986, Raymond served as legislative and regulatory counsel to former Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Tax Commission, Director of the Governor’s Office of Regulatory Relief, as a member-designee for the Governor’s General Counsel on the Pennsylvania Board of Finance and Revenue, counsel to the Pennsylvania House Republican Floor Leader, and as an economic consultant.

Since 1983, Raymond has served as a Pennsylvania delegate to the Uniform Law Commission pursuant to successive appointments by Governor’s Thornburgh, Casey, Ridge and the President Pro Tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate. As a Uniform Law Commissioner, he has chaired committees developing uniform asset forfeiture, emergency health care, and notarial laws; served a member of the 1995 and 2016 committee updating the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act and on drafting committees that prepared the Uniform Directed Trust Act, the Uniform Consumer Leasing Act and that proposed repeal of Article 6 of the Uniform Commercial Code.

In 2015 and 2016, Raymond served on the PA Supreme Court’s Task Force on Elder Protection Law.

Scott is a partner in the Vorys Columbus office, where he leads the firm’s national economic development incentives practice, which is one of the largest law firm-based incentives practices in the country. He focuses his practice on the utilization of economic development incentives, tax incentives, economic development financing mechanisms, public-private partnerships and special economic development entities to assist developers, operating businesses and political subdivisions in developing and redeveloping property and creating jobs and economic growth throughout the United States. He also has substantial real property tax valuation litigation experience and significant experience with other aspects of state and local taxation, including oil and gas tax matters.