Carla is a partner in the Project Finance and Public Finance group, where her practice focuses on the tax requirements relating to bonds issued by state and local governments.
My work focuses on the tax aspects of municipal bond financings, including tax-exempt, taxable, and tax-advantaged debt obligations issued by or on behalf of state and local governments. I represent issuers, borrowers, underwriters, and lenders in a wide variety of bond issues that finance transportation and infrastructure projects, water and wastewater systems, governmental facilities, nonprofit facilities, K-12 and higher education facilities, charter schools, and public infrastructure located in community development districts, among others. I also represent issuers with the tax issues relating to restructurings of defaulted bond issues, including restructurings connected with bankruptcy proceedings. I frequently represent issuers and borrowers before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in connection with requests for private letter rulings, bond examinations, and voluntary closing agreements.
Previously, I was an attorney and assistant branch chief in the Tax-Exempt Bond Branch of the Office of Chief Counsel (Financial Institutions and Products) at the IRS, where I was responsible for drafting published guidance and rulings, including guidance relating to Build America Bonds and other direct-pay obligations, as well as disaster area bonds. I also served as the Chief Counsel representative to the Tax-Exempt Bond Focus Group, which provides assistance to IRS agents in connection with examinations of tax-exempt bond issues. My experience in the government provides a unique perspective when counseling clients on issues relating to IRS bond audits and ongoing compliance with the tax rules, including the permitted uses of bond-financed facilities and actions that can be taken to remediate post-issuance noncompliance.
Since the beginning of 2020, I have been assisting municipal issuers with the impact of COVID-19, including restructurings to address related liquidity concerns, and served as co-bond counsel (tax) on the second Municipal Liquidity Facility transaction.
Law360 | April 19, 2018
Nixon Peabody public finance partners Travis Gibbs of San Francisco and Mitch Rappaport, Bruce Serchuk and Carla Young of Washington DC co-wrote this analysis on the new IRS procedures that can be used “to cure impermissible use of bond-financed projects.”
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., cum laude
Rutgers University, B.A., Accounting, with high honors
District of Columbia
While with the IRS, Carla received a U.S. Treasury performance award for legal work connected with the financial turmoil of 2008. She also received IRS Chief Counsel performance awards each year from 2006 to 2009.
Carla is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers (NABL) and frequently speaks on NABL panels related to tax law.