MICHAEL KALINYAK
Of Counsel

MICHAEL D. KALINYAK (Michael.Kalinyak@emwnlaw.com) is a Member of EMWN’s Lexington office and is part of the firm’s tax and business dispute resolution practice. His work is focused upon providing legal advice and assistance to taxpayers with state and federal tax issues before the Kentucky Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service.  He has litigated and resolved tax cases before the Kentucky Board of Tax Appeals, state and federal courts, the United States Tax Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on behalf of his clients, including the following reported tax decisions: Department of Revenue v. Cox Interior, Inc., 400 S.W.3d 240 (2013)(which reformed the manner in which the Kentucky Department of Revenue processes property tax refund claims), Revenue Cabinet v. Lazarus, Inc. et al., Ky., 49 S.W.3d 172 (2001), Stadnyk v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 367 Fed.Appx. 586 (6th Cir. 2010)(concerning the income tax consequences of a personal injury claim involving false imprisonment)  and Camera Center, Inc. v. Revenue Cabinet, Ky., 34 S.W.3d 39 (2000), in which the Court’s opinion complemented him on his excellent brief and skillful oral argument. 34 S.W.3d at 45.

Mike represents clients in audit defense and administrative protest and appeal matters, both state and federal, involving: income tax, payroll and employment tax disputes, trust fund recovery assessments, sales and use tax, property tax, public service company tax and penalty abatement requests. He also assists clients who are dealing with tax debts in collection status to resolve their liabilities by either negotiating an Installment Payment Agreement or settlement of the debt under the IRS’s Offer-In-Compromise  program or the Kentucky Department of Revenue’s Offer-In-Settlement program. He is the author of the State Tax Considerations chapter in the UK/CLE treatise: Debtor/Creditor Relations in Kentucky 4^th ed. (2020).    

Before entering private practice, Mike served as the Executive Director of the Finance and Administration Cabinet’s Office of General Counsel.  In that capacity, he was the chief legal advisor to the Secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet and was responsible for managing the legal affairs of the cabinet’s offices and departments, including the Kentucky Department of Revenue, the Office of Procurement Services and the Commonwealth Office of Technology. He has advised clients on matters of state government procurement, real estate transactions, determined and resolved bid protests, drafted and approved personal service and price contracts for the Finance Cabinet and other state government agencies. He also advised the boards and commissions that are attached to the Finance Cabinet for administration purposes, such as the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, The Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corporation, and the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority.

During his work for the Kentucky Revenue Cabinet and as the General Counsel for the Kentucky Finance Cabinet, Mike drafted legislation and regulations concerning matters of state taxation, government procurement, allocation of state bond funds and general government administration. He has testified before the House and Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committees concerning the impact of state tax legislation and has provided legal advice and analysis on the impact of state tax legislation during every session of the General Assembly between 1996 and 2003. During his time as an attorney for the Kentucky Department of Revenue, and later as the director of its Division of Protest Resolution, he litigated or resolved hundreds of tax disputes. 

Mike currently provides legal counsel to the Cabinet for Economic Development, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority and Commonwealth Seed Capital concerning the various incentive programs offered by the Commonwealth to encourage employment, growth, and new investment in Kentucky.  During his term, he has provided legal advice, consulting and document preparation work concerning the preliminary approval, final approval, amendment and ongoing monitoring of economic development projects under the following programs: Kentucky Rural Economic Development Act, Kentucky Industrial Development Act, Kentucky Jobs Development Act, Kentucky Business Investment Program, Kentucky Industrial Revitalization Act, Kentucky Energy Independence Act, Kentucky Reinvestment Act, Tax Increment Financing, Commonwealth Seed Capital projects and Economic Development Bond projects. He has also represented the Economic Development Cabinet before the Kentucky Board of Tax Appeals with respect to a dispute concerning the amount of incentives awarded and has provided consultation and litigation services with respect to the collection of loans in default.

Mike received his B.S. in Accounting from the University of Kentucky, College of Business and Economics, his J.D. from the University of Louisville’s Louis D. Brandeis School of Law and his L.L.M. in Taxation from Boston University.

Contact Michael