Stites & Harbison, PLLC

Bruce M. Reynolds

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Bruce Reynolds is a Member of the firm based in its Lexington office although he advises lawyers located in other offices as to complex tax matters. His practice focuses primarily on taxation and tax related matters, including tax controversies and disputes, business transactions and estate planning for business owners.  He also has been involved in numerous disputes involving fiduciary relationships.

During his long career with Stites & Harbison, Bruce has assisted many of the firm's largest clients with a myriad of complex federal, state, and local tax matters. His most notable tax case involved the successful representation of a Chicago Board of Trade floor trader before the United States Tax Court in a commodity straddles case which resulted in a decision that invalidated two Treasury regulations. He also has assisted clients in obtaining favorable private letter rulings from the Internal Revenue Service in a variety of matters of first impression.

Mr. Reynolds is a member of a select group of attorneys who have been named by their peers for publication in Best Lawyers in America^® for almost 20 consecutive years (1993-2012) for Employee Benefits Law, Tax Litigation and Tax Law.  He is also listed in Kentucky Super Lawyers magazine (2010-11).

Recent Representations

• Obtained, in a case of first impression, a U.S. District Court injunction against IRS collection activities pursuant to IRC § 6331(i)
• Assisted a community hospital to terminate its participation in a health alliance by successfully arguing in court a breach of the health alliance’s fiduciary duties to the hospital
• Successfully represented a thoroughbred horse farm against IRS claims that losses incurred by the horse operation were non-deductible as hobby losses pursuant to IRC § 183
• Represented a spouse nine years after her divorce in obtaining a greater share of the sales proceeds of a marital business by asserting a breach of a continuing post-marital fiduciary duty by her former husband
• Continues to represent various members of the equine and real estate industries in tax related transactions including tax-free exchanges, entity formation, and business dissolution
• Continues to assist many business owners plan for succession

Recent Speaking Engagements and Publications

• "Recent Cases Define the Prohibition Against Tax Collection During Refund Suits," Bruce M. Reynolds and Susan R. Crowe, Journal of Taxation, Vol. 106, No. 5, May 2007
• "Conservation Easements and Their Qualifications for Tax Benefits," Kentucky Bar Association Bench & Bar, Volume 65, Number 4, July 2001
• "IRS Modifies Position and Allows Discounts on Intra-Family Stock Transfers," Vol. 71, No. 6, Taxes Magazine, 381, June 1993
• "Is There Any Statute of Limitations on the 'Tax Shelter' Penalties?," Vol. 77, No. 6, Journal of Taxation, 342, December 1992
• "Planning for Partnership Disputes," Chapter 4, Kentucky Partnership Law Handbook, 1991
• "Applying I.R.C. Section 1033 to Involuntary Conversion of Thoroughbred Horses," Vol. 70, No. 4, Kentucky Law Journal, 987, 1983
• "Tax Free Exchange of Interests in Thoroughbred Horses," Vol. 69, No. 8, Taxes Magazine, 547, August 1981
• Taught Corporate Taxation at the University of Kentucky College of Law (Spring 2006)

Before Stites & Harbison

After graduating from college and law school at the University of Kentucky, Bruce spent four years in Washington, D.C. working first for the Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service and then as an attorney-advisor to the Hon. J. Gregory Bruce, Judge of the United States Tax Court. Also, while in Washington, he earned an LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University.

Besides Stites & Harbison

Bruce and his wife, Kathy (a certified public accountant), have been married since 1970 and they have a son, Ben, a New York investment banker. Bruce is an avid sports fan with a love of basketball and soccer. His idea of a vacation is being on a bicycle on the back roads of Italy looking forward to his next glass of wine and bowl of pasta.