ABOUT US
STATE AND LOCAL TAX CONTROVERSY REPRESENTATION
Prior to forming Cataldo Tax Law, Michael Cataldo was a tax attorney in the state and local tax group at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, a state and local tax manager at Ernst & Young, and Tax Counsel to the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB). Mr. Cataldo practices before the FTB, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA), the Office of Tax Appeals (OTA), the California State Board of Equalization (SBE), and the California Employment Development Department (EDD). He also represents clients before other state taxing agencies, and local taxing jurisdictions such as the City and County of San Francisco. Mr. Cataldo regularly publishes articles and is a frequent speaker on a broad range of state and local taxes. He has presented at the Annual California Tax Policy Conference, and before the Council on State Taxation (COST), the Tax Executives Institute (TEI), and the Institute for Professionals in Taxation (IPT).
Michael J. Cataldo
Education
LL.M., New York University School of Law, 2001
J.D., University of San Francisco School of Law, 1999
B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1994
Admissions
State of California
Courts
Federal District Court, Northern California
9th Circuit Court of Appeals
Biography
After earning his LL.M. in Taxation from New York University in 2001, Mr. Cataldo was hired as Tax Counsel to the California Franchise Tax Board, where he provided technical and policy advice, and represented the Board in various income and franchise tax administrative appeals and litigation. Mr. Cataldo left the Board in 2004 to become a state and local tax manager with Ernst & Young, where he continued to focus on California income and franchise tax matters while expanding his expertise to multistate income and franchise taxes. In 2006, he left Ernst & Young for a position in the state and local tax group at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. During his 12 years as a state and local tax attorney at Pillsbury, Mr. Cataldo continued to focus on California income and franchise tax matters and expand the depth and breadth of his expertise in multistate income and franchise taxes. While at Pillsbury, he also developed an expertise in sales and use tax, excise tax, property tax, payroll tax, and local business taxes imposed in California and in states and localities throughout the country. In 2018, Mr. Cataldo founded Cataldo Tax Law, P.C., and now provides state and local tax representation and advice through the firm.
Practice Area
Mr. Cataldo has advised and represented hundreds of clients on a broad array of state and local taxes imposed throughout the country. His practice focuses primarily on representing businesses, trusts, and high-net-worth individuals in disputes with California and local taxing authorities, including the Franchise Tax Board, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the Employment Development Department, the State Board of Equalization, county assessors, and cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles. Mr. Cataldo represents clients in disputes with the taxing authorities of other states and localities and advises on the state and local tax implications of proposed and completed transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, expansions, relocations, multistate employment, and cloud computing.