Profile

Jennifer W. Karpchuk is co-chair of Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s state and local tax practice.  She represents companies and individuals in all aspects of state and local tax litigation, controversy, compliance and planning.  She has extensive experience handling state and local tax matters involving corporate income taxes, franchise taxes, gross receipts taxes, personal income taxes, sales and use taxes, business privilege taxes, and real estate taxes. 

Jennifer advises clients in all aspects of state and local tax compliance and litigation, including:

• Challenging taxing authorities' determinations of nexus creating activities;
• Challenging taxing authorities' imposition of sales tax to evolving digital goods and services;
• Challenging audit determinations and assessments; Seeking refunds from state and local governments;
• Handling administrative appeals at both the state and local levels; Litigating unresolved disputes in state and local courts;
• Handling post-trial appeals at all appellate levels; and Reducing interest and penalties associated with past due taxes through the use of state and local amnesty, voluntary disclosure programs and administrative appeals.
• Challenging property tax assessments including valuation and lack of uniformity. 

In addition, she handles transactional planning for clients and has experience:

• Determining nexus and potential nexus for sales and use tax, income tax, and gross receipts tax purposes;
• Advising clients on the tax implications of pending and past transactions;
• Planning for and mitigating tax burdens;
• Maximizing available tax opportunities or credits; and
• Reviewing nexus and developing strategies to minimize exposure.

Jennifer serves in a number of leadership roles. She is the current Secretary-Treasurer of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Tax Section. Jennifer is also the past Chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s State and Local Tax Committee, as well as an elected member of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Tax Council. Additionally, Jennifer is the current Vice Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Tax Section. Jennifer is part of the American Bar Association’s State and Local Tax Committee’s executive committee, serving as co-chair of the Sales and Use Tax subcommittee and Miscellaneous Taxes subcommittee. During 2021, Jennifer was appointed by Philadelphia’s Mayor Kenney and City Council to the city’s 2021 Tax Reform Working Group.

Jennifer writes a quarterly article for Tax Notes State and is a frequent contributor to The Legal Intelligencer, Law360, and Bloomberg Tax. She is also co-author of The Legal Intelligencer’s Pennsylvania Tax Handbook and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Bar Association’s Property Tax Deskbook.

Jennifer is ranked in Chambers and named as a US News Best Lawyer in America for 2021.  She was listed as a “Super Lawyers Rising Star” in tax for 2016 through 2021.  She was also designated by The Legal Intelligencer as a 2021 Lawyer on the Fast Track.

Experience

• Represented multistate corporations in challenging Pennsylvania’s Cost of Performance sourcing methods;
• Represented multistate corporations in litigating whether they had a taxable nexus in the City of Philadelphia or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania;

• Successfully argued to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that taxpayers were entitled to a credit on overpayments of estimated Philadelphia Business Privilege Tax which resulted from adjustments made through a Revenue Agent Report pursuant to an Internal Revenue Service audit. The City of Philadelphia unsuccessfully argued that the three- year statute of limitations should apply both to refunds and to credits. Ruling in the taxpayers’ favor, the Court accepted Jennifer’s argument that the statute only provided for a statute of limitations for refunds, not credits, and therefore the taxpayer was entitled to credits for the overpayments; and

Successfully argued that a local Business Privilege Tax imposed on fees paid by Pennsylvania franchisees to an out-of-state company’s regional office in the township was unconstitutional because it was not fairly apportioned. The court found that the township taxed all of the charges from franchise stores in Pennsylvania, even though the activity that generated the Pennsylvania charges resulted from economic activity from both in and outside Pennsylvania.

Seminars & Presentations

• Where Are We? Remote Work Issues: Tax & Employment Law View, October 1, 2021
• Tax Executives Institute, Inc. Philadelphia November SALT Conference, November 20, 2020
• Chamberlain Hrdlicka Virtual Annual Tax and Business Planning Seminar - November 10-12, 2020
• 2020 ABA/IPT Advanced Tax Seminar, March 16, 2020
• Mid-Atlantic SALT Update, Philadelphia, PA
• Local Taxes and New Frontiers Including Constitutional Restraints, October 23, 2019
• The Way Forward After Wayfair, May 29, 2019
• The Aftermath of Wayfair, May 21, 2019
• Tackling Tax Law, May 9, 2019
• Procurement Cards and Sales Tax Compliance: Mastering the Complexities, Avoiding State Sales Tax Traps and Compliance Challenges, Navigating Audit Issues, March 21, 2019
• Apportionment: Deep Dive into Determining Where the Benefit is Received, New Orleans, LA, March 12, 2019
• Mid-Atlantic SALT Update, Philadelphia, PA, November 14, 2018
• What’s the Future for COP, Phoenix, AZ, October 25, 2018
• Avoiding Small Business Tax Liabilities Under the New Tax Law, October 16, 2018
• Wayfair and the Way Forward, Atlanta, GA, October 4, 2018
• Quill is No More: State Tax Nexus After Wayfair, July 24, 2018
• 2018 ABA/IPT Advanced Tax Seminar, March 19, 2018
• SALT Attorneys Present at Tax Executives Institute, Jennifer Weidler Karpchuk and Adam Koelsch talk state and local tax law at regional TEI seminar
• Chamberlain Hrdlicka Hosts SALT Law Update, September 8, 2017
• Jennifer Weidler Karpchuk to Present at ABA/IPT Tax Seminar, Chamberlain Hrdlicka state and local tax lawyer to address issues common to income tax cases, January 29, 2016
• Chamberlain Hrdlicka Attorney to be Featured Speaker at NJSEA Multi-State Seminar, State and local tax lawyer Jennifer Weidler Karpchuk to discuss hot Pennsylvania tax topics
• Chamberlain Hrdlicka Attorney to Reveal the ‘Top 10 Mistakes Philadelphia Businesses Make’, State and local tax lawyer Jennifer Weidler Karpchuk to discuss best practices in CLE
• Philadelphia Tax Lawyers Discuss Location-Based Tax Issues, Chamberlain Hrdlicka attorney Stewart M. Weintraub presented two CLEs on nexus and its impact on state and local taxes, January 6, 2014
• Hot Topics in Federal, State, and Local Taxation, The Four Seasons Philadelphia, May 30, 2012

Publications

• "Hashing out rates Taxing marijuana without extinguishing it", Accounting Today, November 6, 2018

• "Farewell Physical Presence: Was the U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision Way Off, or Way…Fair?" ABA Tax Times, Aug. 3, 2018

• "Life After Physical Presence: Implications for Pennsylvania Post-Wayfair" State Tax Notes, Aug. 6, 2018       

• "Does Pennsylvania’s Bonus Depreciation Disallowance Violate Uniformity?” State Tax Notes, Mar. 19, 2018
• “Fireside Chat with Pennsylvania Revenue Secretary C. Daniel Hassel,” State Tax Notes, Jan. 22, 2018
• “Hashing Out SALT Issues Related to Pennsylvania’s Legalization of Medical Marijuana,” State Tax Notes, Nov. 13, 2017

• “Pennsylvania Proposes Remote Seller Bill, but Is It Effective?” State Tax Notes, June 12, 2017

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Publications