Associate, Winston & Strawn LLP
Troy Van Dongen is an associate in the firm’s San Francisco office who focuses his practice on the resolution of state and local tax controversies through negotiation and litigation.
Mr. Van Dongen has advised clients across the country in a variety of state and local tax matters, including income, franchise, sales, and use taxes, and he has a particularly strong background in property taxation. His experience includes a wide range of industries, including manufacturing and software, banking and finance, biotechnology, hospital management, non-profit organizations, commercial office leasing, geothermal power production, lodging, education, security services, oil and gas, telecommunications, paper manufacturing, and sports and entertainment.
Mr. Van Dongen also has counseled clients on the tax consequences of new forms of communications technology and the unique tax challenges in the telecommunications industry.
Activities
Mr. Van Dongen is a member of the State Bar of California’s Tax Section, the American Bar Association’s Tax Section, the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Tax Section, and the Institute for Professionals in Taxation’s Property Tax Section. Mr. Van Dongen also is a member of the Taxation Committee of the United States Council for International Business and a member of the Marin County (California) Assessment Appeals Board.
Education
Mr. Van Dongen received a B.S. in Finance, Banking, and Real Estate, *** laude, from San Francisco State University in 1991. He received a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law in 1998, with an award of outstanding achievement in the field of real estate law.
Speeches and Publications
Mr. Van Dongen is the principal author of the Practitioner Insights on California Property Tax, published by Lexis-Nexis, which include: Cal. Rev. & Tax Code § 51: The Taxable Value of Real Property Is the Lesser of the Property’s Fair Market Value or the Trended Base Year Value; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 51.5: There Is No Time Limitation for Correction of Nonjudgmental Base Year Value Errors; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 60: The Three-Prong Test; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 61: Examples of Transactions that Trigger a Change in Ownership; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 62: Examples of Transactions that Do Not Trigger a Change in Ownership; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 64: Reassessments Caused By Acquisition of a Legal Entity; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 75.11: The Timeliness of Supplemental Assessments; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 75.31: The Taxpayer’s Right to Appeal Supplemental Assessments When Notification Is Not Received; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 75.54: Collection of Supplemental Taxes When Subsequent Changes in Ownership Precede the Supplemental Billing; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 80: Deadlines for Filing Judgmental Challenges to Base Year Value Determinations; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 107: Conditions Necessary for a Taxable Possessory Interest in Publicly Owned Real Property; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 110: The Treatment of Intangible Assets; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 110: The Purchase Price Presumption; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 110.1: Establishment of the Base Year Value; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 402.1: Enforceable Restrictions Must Be Taken Into Account When Valuing Real Property; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 408: Taxpayer Discovery of Information Used to Assess Property; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 422: The Assessable Value of Enforceably Restricted Open-Space Land May Only Be Determined by Specific Valuation Methodologies; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 422.5: Open-Space Land Subject to an Agricultural Conservation Easement Must Be Valued by the Capitalization of Income Method; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 423: Enforceably Restricted Open-Space Land Is Valued Pursuant to the Capitalization of Income Method; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 423.3: Alternative Assessment Valuation for Enforceably Restricted Land Subject to a Williamson Act or a Migratory Waterfowl Habitat Contract; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 423.4: Benefits of the “Super Williamson Act”; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 441: Assessors’ Ability to Obtain Information From Taxpayers; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 469: Maximizing the Scope of Post-Audit Assessment Appeals; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 531.2: Enrollment of Escape Assessments After the Subject Property Has Been Transferred; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 532: The Timeliness of Escape Assessments; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 741: Appealing Assessments on State Assessed Property; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 1603: Applications for Reductions in Regular Assessments; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 1604: An Assessment Appeals Board’s Failure to Timely Hear and Decide an Application for Changed Assessment Results in the Enrollment of the Taxpayer’s Opinion of Value; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 1605: Applications for Reductions in Supplemental and Escape Assessments; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 1605.4: The Applicant’s Right to Request That Portions of an Assessment Appeals Board Hearing Be Closed to the Public; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 1605.6: The Assessment Appeals Board’s Requirement to Properly Notice Hearings; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 1606: Exchanges of Information in Advance of an Assessment Appeals Board Hearing; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 1609.4: Raise Letters; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 2635: The Tax Collector’s Duty to Notify Taxpayers of Overpayment; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 4837.5: The Installment Payment Plan for Escape Assessments; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 5096: The Grounds for Refunding Property Taxes; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 5097: Claims for Refund of Property Taxes; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 5097.02: Required Contents of a Claim for Refund of Property Taxes; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 5141: Time Limitations on Filing a Complaint for Refund of Property Taxes; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 5142: Prerequisites for Filing a Complaint for Refund of Property Taxes; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 5148: Property Tax Refund Actions on State Assessed Property; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 5151: Interest on Property Tax Refunds; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 5152: The Award of Attorney Fees in a Property Tax Dispute; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 11911: The Documentary Transfer Tax; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 2: The Value Concept; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 3: The Three Basic Approaches to Value; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 4: The Comparative Sales Approach to Value; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 6: The Cost Approach to Value; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 8: The Income Approach to Value; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 10: The Application of Trade Level to Tangible Personal Property; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 20: The Definition of Taxable Possessory Interests; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 21: The Valuation of Taxable Possessory Interests; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 305: Amendments to Applications for Changed Assessments; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 305.1: Exchanges of Information in Advance of an Assessment Appeals Board Hearing; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 305.2: Prehearing Conferences; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 305.3: Filing Appeals on Property Subject to an Escape Assessment After an Audit; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 305.5: The Temporary Effect of Proposition 8 Appeals; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 307: The Importance of an Assessment Appeals Board’s Notice of Hearing; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 309: An Assessment Appeals Board Must Give Notice of Its Intent to Deny a Timely Hearing and Decision on an Application for Changed Assessment; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 313: The Requirements Associated With an Assessors’ Raise Letter in Advance of an Assessment Appeals Board Hearing; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 321: The Burden of Proof in an Assessment Appeals Board Hearing Shifts to the Assessor When the Appeal Involves an Escape Assessment; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 323: Postponement of an Assessment Appeals Board Hearing as a Matter of Right; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 462.180: Changes in Control of a Legal Entity that Result in a Change in Ownership of the Real Property Owned By that Entity.
His speaking engagements include "Tax Aspects of Conservation Easements,” the annual meeting of the National Association of State Bar Tax Sections, San Francisco, Calif., October 2008; "Property Tax Issues and Trust Administration," the Annual Meeting of the California Tax Bar & California Tax Policy Conference, La Jolla, Calif., November 2007; "Traditional Exemptions — New Applications!" Institute of Professionals in Taxation, 2006 Sales and Use Tax Symposium, Tucson, Ariz., September 2006; "Effective Utilization of Pre-Hearing Conferences," Annual Meeting of the California County Counsel Section Representing Assessors and Assessment Appeals Boards, San Francisco, Calif., 2006; "Developments in Property Taxation," IPT/ABA Advanced Property Tax Seminar, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2005.
In addition, Mr. Van Dongen has made presentations to the Joint Committee on Taxation and the House Ways and Means Committee in connection with state and local tax issues affecting interstate commerce.