Eliot L. Kaplan

Eliot L. Kaplan is a partner with Ashurst Perkins Coie in Phoenix, Arizona, where he advises businesses, executives, investors, and other clients on complex corporate and tax matters. He also serves as the firm’s Phoenix Market Leader for Strategy & Growth. With more than 30 years of experience, Kaplan combines corporate transactional work with a substantial tax practice. For businesses looking for a Phoenix tax attorney, his work includes mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, joint ventures, entity structuring, business reorganizations, and the tax implications associated with complex transactions.

Kaplan regularly advises clients on mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. His experience includes structuring transactions involving medical practices, manufacturing businesses, hospitality assets, real estate businesses, and other operating companies. He also counsels clients on different types of mergers, including taxable and tax-free transactions.

Tax considerations often play an important role in corporate transactions. Kaplan advises clients on how different transaction structures can affect potential federal and state tax liabilities. His work includes sales, acquisitions, joint ventures, private placements, real estate transactions, debt and equity offerings, restructurings, and transactions involving entities taxed as partnerships.

As a Phoenix tax attorney, Kaplan also assists businesses with entity planning and corporate governance. His practice encompasses entity formation and dissolution, operating structures, board management, fiduciary duties, fund formation, commercial transactions, and business reorganizations. This combination allows him to consider both the transactional and tax aspects of significant business decisions.

Kaplan has substantial experience with joint ventures and private equity arrangements. His current profile describes work involving real estate ventures, hospitality projects, entertainment assets, restaurant businesses, public companies, private equity funds, and privately held companies. He also assists with fund formation for real estate, private equity operational assets, distressed debt, and bridge lending strategies.

His tax background includes prior government experience. Before entering private practice, Kaplan served as an attorney in the national office of the Internal Revenue Service. He later served on the IRS Advisory Council, where he participated in tax administration and policy matters. He has also represented clients in audits involving the IRS and the Arizona Department of Revenue.

Kaplan earned his J.D. from Arizona State University in 1989 and an LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University in 1993. He is admitted in Arizona, the District of Columbia, Missouri, and Kansas. His professional involvement has included leadership roles with the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Arizona Tax Council, and the Arizona Tax Law Advisory Commission.

His work has also received recognition in both tax and corporate law. Chambers USA currently ranks Kaplan in Arizona for Tax and Corporate/M&A, and his profile at Ashurst Perkins Coie lists recognition in both areas through 2026.

Eliot L. Kaplan practices from Ashurst Perkins Coie’s Phoenix office at 2525 E. Camelback Road, Suite 500, Phoenix, AZ 85016.

Businesses, executives, investors, and owners seeking a Phoenix Tax Attorney for corporate transactions, M&A, private equity, restructuring, entity planning, or related tax matters can contact Eliot L. Kaplan at Ashurst Perkins Coie to discuss their legal and business needs.