Steve Leventhal maintains a private practice of law in Bend, OR where he specializes in all aspects of employee benefits and retirement planning, estate planning and administration, probate, charitable trusts, tax-exempt and non-profit organizations, general litigation, and business and tax planning. In Leventhal's private law practice, he consults with divorce attorneys and mediators, financial planners, and individuals with regard to Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) and the tax aspects of divorce. Leventhal also maintains a national and local employee benefits practice.

He is a member of the Oregon Bar, Massachusetts Bar, and District of Columbia Bar, and is authorized to practice before the Internal Revenue Service. Steve is a member of the Oregon State Bar sections on Estate Planning and Administration, Taxation, Family Law, and Elder Law. He is a member of the Deschutes County Bar Association and a member of the Central Oregon Matrimony Attorneys group.

Steve can be reached at 541-382-9368; or directly by e-mail at steve@steveleventhal.com. His law office is located at 855 SW Yates Drive, Suite 104, Bend, OR 97702.

Professional Employment

Steve Leventhal has a varied and extensive legal background, and has worked primarily in the employee benefits field since 1983. He has been a supervising attorney in the IRS Employee Plans Division in Washington, DC; an Executive Editor for the tax and business publishing company, Commerce Clearing House, Inc.; and a prosecuting attorney, civil litigator, and appellate attorney, for the District of Columbia Corporation Counsel’s Office in both the local and federal court systems.

Commerce Clearing House, Inc., Executive Editor, 1990-2001

As an Executive Editor for CCH, Inc., from 1990-2001, Steve was the defining authority on the IRS's voluntary compliance programs under the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS). He worked on the following projects while at CCH, Inc.

Authored: Saving Your Qualified Plan: IRS Employee Plans
Administrative Enforcement and Voluntary Compliance
Programs for Pension Plans, TSAs, and SEPs (2nd Edition, June 2001)

Authored: Working With Tax-Sheltered Annuities: 403(b) Plans
Explained (4th Edition) (January 2002).

Co-authored: CCH Master Pension Plan Guide (1997-2001 Editions).

Co-authored: CCH Law, Explanation, and Analysis of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001; Law, Explanation, and Analysis of the Tax Relief Act of 1997 and of the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996.

Edited: Drafted and revised various divisions of the CCH Pension Plan Guide relating to IRS examinations, compliance, discrimination, tax-sheltered annuities, and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements.

Conducted: Seven exclusive IRS interviews on voluntary compliance for qualified plans and tax-sheltered annuities: 1991-1997:

• Administrative Policy Regarding Self-Correction (APRSC)
  Interview (CCH Benefit Plan Compliance, Vol. 1, Issue No. 3, May 1997).
• Tax-Sheltered Annuity Voluntary Correction Program (TVC)
  Interview (CCH Pension Plan Guide, May 1995).
• Walk-in CAP
  Interview (CCH Pension Plan Guide, April 15, 1994).
• Second VCR Program Interview (CCH Pension Plan Guide, July 30, 1993).
• First VCR Program
  Interview (CCH Pension Plan Guide Special Report #926, November 13, 1992).
• Discrepancy Adjustment Program (DAP)
  Interview (CCH Pension Plan Guide, August 7, 1992).
• Administrative Policy Regarding Sanctions (APRS) and Audit CAP
  Interviews (CCH Pension Plan Guide Special Report #843, April 17, 1991).

Internal Revenue Service, Employee Plans Division: 1972-1977 and 1983-1990

While a Group Chief in the IRS Employee Plans Division in Washington, DC, Steve brought to the forefront and developed the concept of employee plans voluntary compliance and administrative enforcement that eventually led to the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS). He conceived and helped draft the original IRS Administrative Policy Regarding Self-Correction (APRS) in 1990 and collaborated on the Employee Plans Closing Agreement Program (Audit CAP) in 1990.

Steve collaborated on formulating and implementing the closing agreement concept that culminated over a decade later in the Voluntary Correction of Group Failures program (VCGroup) under IRS Revenue Procedure 2001-17.

Steve was a member of the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Justice Teamsters Litigation Task Force from 1983-1990. He was a Rulings Branch Group Chief from 1985-1990 where he supervised 8-10 attorneys in drafting private letter rulings, technical advice memorandum, and complex closing agreements for late TEFRA, DEFTRA, and REA late amenders.

Office of the District of Columbia Corporation Counsel's Office: 1977-1983

Steve was a prosecuting, civil trial, and appellate attorney in the District of Columbia Corporation Counsel's Office. He litigated cases in the District of Columbia Superior Court, United States District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit, and United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He successfully argued before Chief Judge William Bryant for a partial reversal of a decade of judicial oversight over the District of Columbia Department of Corrections relating to conditions of confinement. (Campbell v. McGruder, US District Court for DC). Steve drafted prosecution procedures for bail hearings and rules of evidence, and supervised new attorneys in court procedures and litigation techniques.

Speaking Engagements

Steve has been an active speaker throughout the country on employee benefits issues. He was the first speaker to ever make a presentation on IRS voluntary compliance programs at the 1991 ASPA Annual Conference. Steve has spoken at the following conferences:

• American Society of Pension Actuaries Annual and Los Angeles Benefits Conferences: speaker and moderator in 1991, 1994-1995, 1998, 2000-2002. Presented first formal discussion of IRS employee plans voluntary compliance and enforcement programs in October 1991.
• International Society of Payroll Managers (2001): presentation on Conducting Payroll Related Matters Without Violating Pension Provisions of the IRC and What if You Do.
• Working in Employee Benefits (Madison, WI, Chapter- 1998): presentation on Negotiating Walk-in CAP Cases.
• Life Office Management Association (1995): presentation on IRS Audit Activity for TSA Failures, Avoiding TSA Failures, and the New TVC Program.

Education

Steve is a graduate of the Boston University Graduate Tax Program where he received an Master in Taxation in 1972. He received his law degree from Suffolk University School of Law in Boston, MA, in 1971; and his undergraduate degree from Northeastern University (B.A., Political Science; Minor, History, 1968).

Professional Memberships

Steve is a member of the Oregon Bar (2002), Massachusetts Bar (1972) and District of Columbia Bar (1974).

He is a member of the Oregon State Bar’s sections on Estate Planning and Administration, Elder Law, Taxation and Family Law. Steve is also a member of the American Society of Pension Actuaries (Subcommittee on Tax-Exempt Organizations).

Community Involvement

Founding member, Jewish Community of Central Oregon (1990).

Participant, monthly Taize Interfaith Prayer Services (1999-present).

Volunteer--- Cascade Festival of Music (1992-1993); Pole Pedal Paddle (1993-1995); and COBRA Children's Festival (1997-1998).

Board of Directors, Anne Frank in the World Exhibit, at Central Oregon Community College (1995)--- developed training material and trained all docent groups; led student and adult tours of exhibit.

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"Steve has grappled the most difficult pension compliance problems I've run across during my 20 years as a CPA. He knows exactly how to work toward a successful resolution of those problems with the IRS. Without a doubt, he is the most knowledgable pension expert I've ever dealt with."

-- Mark A. Neuman, CPA, principal of Summit Accomodators; former principal with Stevens & Neuman LLP. (Bend, Oregon)