ATLANTA, Oct. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Public Finance Attorney Darrell Smelcer has returned to Atlanta-based Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP as Special Counsel. Smelcer has spent the last decade as a tax law specialist with the Internal Revenue Service and has extensive experience in government and private practice advising on a spectrum of tax exempt debt related matters.

During his time with the IRS, Smelcer also served as Technical Advisor to the Director of the IRS Office of Tax Exempt Bonds (TEB) and Manager of the TEB Technical Group. He began his legal career in 1982 as an associate at Hunton Andrews Kurth and was a partner in the firm for 19 years. In his previous tenure at the firm, Darrell focused on public finance projects in the housing, education, healthcare and utility sectors.

At the IRS, Smelcer oversaw a team of tax law specialists focused on tax-advantaged bond matters and provided technical assistance and informal legal interpretation to the TEB program manager. He also reviewed the work of tax analysts; authored initial draft regulations and tax rulings to support TEB requests for specific guidance from the IRS Office of Chief Counsel; provided comments on draft regulations and other Office of Chief Counsel guidance; and initiated, drafted and reviewed procedural and other guidelines originating from TEB. While serving as a technical consultant, he managed the TEB market segment review program, including reviewing proposed projects, reviewing case selection, and analyzing review results.

As Acting Manager of TEB Technical, Smelcer led TEB’s Voluntary Closing Agreement Program (TEB VCAP). Previously, he was a member of the Tax Exempt Bonds Closing Agreement Committee, responsible for reviewing closing agreements from TEB bond reviews and closing agreements under TEB VCAP, and advising IRS staff on the negotiation and drafting of closing agreements. He authored the 2019, 2020 and 2021 revisions of the Internal Revenue…