Michael J.A. Karlin

Michael J.A. Karlin is a private wealth services and tax attorney in Holland & Knight's Century City office. Mr. Karlin advises corporate and individual clients on tax, estate planning and business matters involving a cross-border element.

For more than 45 years, Mr. Karlin has focused on private client work. He advises individuals and families from abroad who invest in or move to the U.S., as well as U.S. individuals and families who invest and move abroad, including the ever-increasing regulatory and reporting obligations associated with such activities. Pre-immigration and expatriation planning are an important part of his practice.

Mr. Karlin also advises individuals and closely held businesses on the tax and business aspects of operating outside their home jurisdiction. He has helped to establish corporations, companies, partnerships and joint ventures in many parts of the world and worked extensively on foreign and domestic trusts. In recent years, Mr. Karlin has helped many taxpayers deal with the tax and reporting consequences of foreign financial accounts and holdings, including through offshore voluntary disclosures, streamlined disclosures and other ways of handling noncompliance.

In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Karlin is a regular speaker on tax, estate planning and business issues, and has contributed articles to a variety of professional publications, including Tax Notes, Tax Lawyer, Journal of International Taxation, Tax Management International Journal and Major Tax Planning. Mr. Karlin has also been involved in the submission of many comments on tax legislation, regulations and tax reform, including leading a national group that obtained relief from the IRS on the application of U.S. tax residence rules for noncitizens stranded in the U.S. because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Karlin was a founder and an attorney at a boutique private wealth services law firm in Los Angeles.