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Timothy P. Noonan

Partner, Tax Residency Practice Leader
Related Info
  • Connecticut
  • New York
  • U.S. Supreme Court

University at Buffalo, B.A., Magna Cum Laude

University at Buffalo School of Law, J.D., Magna Cum Laude

Tim focuses his practice in the state and local tax area. His work primarily involves New York State and New York City tax litigation and controversy. Over the past 23 years, he has handled more than 2,000 personal income tax, sales tax, corporate tax, or other New York tax audits. Tim also has handled about 100 cases in New York’s Division of Tax Appeals.

Tim leads the firm’s Tax Residency Practice and he is one of the leading practitioners in this area of the law. He has handled some of the most high-profile residency cases in New York over the past decade, including a 2014 win in the Gaied case, one of the first New York residency cases to ever reach New York’s highest court. He is often quoted by media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal The New York Times and Forbes, on residency and other state tax issues. And under his direction, the Tax Residency Practice authored What to Expect in a Residency Audit, a detailed guide to residency rules and audits in New York and other states. 

As the “Noonan” in “Noonan's Notes,” a monthly column in Tax Notes State, Tim is a nationally recognized author and speaker on state tax issues. He co-authored the 2018 edition of the CCH Residency and Allocation Audit Handbook and Contesting New York State Tax Assessment- Fourth Edition, published by the New York State Bar Association. In addition, Tim has served as a contributing author or editor for several other tax publications and treatises, including the American Bar Association's Sales and Use Tax Deskbook, the "New York Sales Tax Guide" published by practicallaw.com, the corporate apportionment chapter in Thomson Reuters’ Checkpoint Analyst, the New York chapter of LexisNexis’s Practice Insights, and the New York Tax Litigation chapter in Thomson Reuters’ Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts treatise. He has also written more than 250 articles in state and local tax publications around the country over the past several years, and he runs the award-winning Noonan's Notes Blog, where he and his colleagues offer regular commentary on developments in the world of New York and multistate tax law.  Tim also speaks on state tax issues for audiences around the country on an average of 20 times a year, including a regular stint on the CCH webinar circuit.

Tim also has handled a significant number of residency and sales tax issues in other states, including work with many national and international clients on multistate compliance or voluntary disclosures. He has also appeared before the Connecticut Supreme Court and the Michigan Court of Appeals in litigated matters and is admitted to practice law in Connecticut.

Honors

  • Listed, Best Lawyers in America (Tax Law) 2022 - 2023
  • Listed, Upstate New York Super Lawyers (Tax) 2017 - 2022
  • Listed, Upstate New York Super Lawyers Rising Stars 2013 - 2014
  • Noonan's Notes Blog listed among "Best Tax Blogs 2017" on Credit Donkey.com
  • Tim is a member of the Advisory Board of Tax Analysts' Tax Notes State, and was profiled in that publication in an August 2022 article.
  • As special legal advisor to Topia, Tim assisted in the creation of MONAEO, a GPS-powered smartphone application and software service to help taxpayers track their time for tax purposes.
  • 2004 Burton Award for Excellence in Legal Writing for his co-authorship of "Executive Compensation and Employer Withholding," Journal of Multistate Taxation, August 2003.

Experience

As the chief litigator in the firm’s State & Local Tax Practice, Tim has handled hundreds of audits, litigated cases, and appeals. His track record in reported cases within New York’s Division of Tax Appeals is exceptional, and his experience extends into the state courts as well, highlighted by a win in a watershed 2014 residency case in New York’s highest court. In that case, Hodgson Russ attorneys represented the victorious taxpayer in a highly anticipated decision in a tax residency case before the New York Court of Appeals in February 2014. In John Gaied v. New York State Tax Appeals Tribunal, the court agreed with the position advocated by Hodgson Russ on behalf of Mr. Gaied and established a new rule for determining when individuals domiciled outside of New York may still be taxed in New York as "statutory residents." This was the first case in several decades to prompt New York's highest court examined the scope and extent of New York's residency rules. The case has been widely cited in the press, including the Wall Street Journal and Law360.

Over the past decade, Tim and his colleagues in the residency practice have assisted literally thousands clients in effectuating changes of residency from New York and other states and helping with state tax planning on major income events.  They have also assisted dozens of clients with planning associated with New York State's 548-day rule. This planning involves detailed work with the client and advisors on interpretation and application of New York's residency provisions. In one project, the firm obtained two favorable advisory opinions on certain points related to the 548-day rule.

In the News

Many of Tim’s litigated cases have garnered significant media attention from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Forbes, and he is often quoted by media outlets on residency and other state tax issues.

Publications

Over the past 20 years, Tim has written more than 200 articles for state and local tax publications around the country and has authored or edited several books on state tax matters.

Blog Posts

For the latest tax law news, alerts, cases, and updates, follow Tim on Twitter (@NoonanNotes).

Tim also serves as editor of Hodgson Russ’s Noonan's Notes blog, listed among "Best Tax Blogs 2017" on Credit Donkey.

Presentations & Events

Tim speaks before audiences around the country on New York State and multistate tax issues, on average of 20 times per year.

Professional Associations

  • New York State Bar Association
  • NYSBA Committee on Continuing Legal Education 
  • Member, Advisory Board: Tax Notes State

Community & Pro Bono

Tim served on the board of the Erie County Bar Foundation and the St. Thomas More Guild. He is a past school board member at Ss. Peter and Paul School in Williamsville, New York, and he currently runs a contemporary music group at Nativity Church in Orchard Park, New York. In 2017, he was inducted into the Signum Fidei Society at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute, a lifetime achievement award and the highest accolade bestowed by the school to alumni who are distinguished in professional career, community activities and who share in the spirit characteristic of the Christian Brothers.  His most time-consuming community activity, though, is at home; Tim and his wife are the proud parents of 13 children. He and his family were featured in an October 2015 profile on large Buffalo families published in Buffalo Magazine.