Amish Shah
Partner
Overview
Amish Shah advises clients in the energy sector and businesses seeking to pursue environmental, social and governance (ESG) and tax minimization goals through clean energy on sophisticated tax planning and tax controversy matters, helping them maximize the value of energy tax credits and manage tax risk across the project life cycle. Based in Washington, D.C., he also counsels clients in financial services, manufacturing, technology and ecommerce, drawing on a background as a certified public accountant (CPA).
For more than two decades, Amish has advised clients on energy tax credits across the full range of clean energy technologies. His work covers production tax credits (PTCs) and investment tax credits (ITCs) for renewable power, alternative fuels, carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS), energy storage, hydrogen, biogas property, nuclear, manufacturing and other technologies incentivized through federal income tax credits, including those made available under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Amish represents clients from policy to controversy. He advocates for legislative and regulatory changes, seeks public and private guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and IRS, and helps clients maximize the value of tax credits, including through "begun construction" strategies. He also advises on project development, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), joint ventures, tax equity investments, tax credit transfers and tax credit insurance, as well as represents clients in the development of and investment in traditional energy projects.
When disputes arise, he represents clients in all phases of tax controversy at the administrative, trial court and appellate levels, including many of the major energy tax controversy issues of the past two-plus decades.
Beyond energy credits, Amish counsels clients in the energy, financial services, manufacturing, technology and ecommerce sectors on a broad range of tax issues, including income recognition, availability of deductions, capitalization, structuring and reporting.
Representative Experience
- Advise clients on tax incentives for renewable energy facility construction and acquisition
- Represent clients in various industries in the purchase and sale of tax credits
- Represented a client in the $1 billion-plus sale of the U.S. subsidiary of a private foreign company to a United Kingdom publicly traded company
- Represented a client in the acquisition of wind and solar projects, developing plans to qualify projects for investment tax credits (ITCs) and production tax credits (PTCs) and sell interests to tax equity investors
- Represented a multinational pipeline company in negotiating the acquisitions of shovel-ready wind power projects in Texas (249 megawatts) and West Virginia (103 MW), including Turbine Supply Agreements, Balance of Plant (BOP) contracts, offtake agreements and tax equity financing arrangements
- Advised an independent, global renewable power producer on all U.S. legal aspects of its acquisition of a Canadian renewable energy company with assets in Canada, U.S., Iceland, Chile and Italy
- Represented several clients in the paper industry in obtaining and supporting claims for the alternative fuel mixture tax credit for black liquor
- Assist clients in obtaining guidance regarding the taxation of biodiesel and alternative fuel tax credits, assist client in structuring such transactions and represent clients before the IRS in supporting the non-taxability of incentives
- Advise renewable natural gas (RNG) producers in landfill gas, wastewater treatment and dairy and food waste digester projects in negotiating supply agreement, offtake agreements, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreements, operating and maintenance agreements and other project development agreements, as well as in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions
- Advise clients in obtaining required Section 637 registrations and in appeals of proposed denials
- Represent a client in IRS appeals in biodiesel tax credit issue related to "splash and dash" U.S. nexus issue
- Advise clients in beginning of construction requirements for clean energy projects
- Represent clients in administrative controversy and litigation involving the alcohol fuels credit, biodiesel and alternative fuels tax credits
- Represent insurers and developers in tax audits related to clean power projects
- Represent clients in advocating for extension of biodiesel blender credits
- Represented a client in obtaining IRS rulings on 1099 reporting and Section 118 Contributions in Aid of Construction (CIAC) issues
- Represented a client in a complex and long-running dispute involving a so-called Son-of-Boss transaction in the Tax Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Credentials
- The George Washington University Law School, J.D., with honors
- University of Maryland, B.S.
- District of Columbia
- Maryland
- U.S. Tax Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), Founder and Past Chair; Tax Committee, Chair
- American Bar Association (ABA), Section of Taxation, Energy and Environmental Taxes Committee, Past Chair
- American College of Tax Counsel (ACTC), Fellow
- District of Columbia Bar
- Maryland State Bar Association
- South Asian Bar Association of Washington, D.C. (SABA-DC), Former Director and Vice President
- George Washington Environmental Lawyer Law Journal
- The Best Lawyers in America guide, Energy Law, Tax Law, 2022-2027
- Chambers USA – America's Leading Business Lawyers guide, Tax, 2021-2026
- The Legal 500 USA, Energy: Renewable/Alternative Power, 2015, 2021-2026; Energy: Transactions, 2015; U.S. Taxes: Contentious, 2019-2020, 2023-2025; Tax – U.S. Taxes: Non-Contentious, 2025, 2026; Finance: Project Finance, 2026
- Leading Global Tax Lawyers, Lawdragon 500, 2025, 2026
- Top Lawyer, Tax, The Washingtonian, 2024
- Client Service Award, BTI Consulting Group, 2015
- Client Choice Award USA & Canada, Lexology, Corporate Tax for Washington, D.C., 2013
