Mary Baker

Mary Burke Baker is a government affairs counselor in the Washington, D.C. office of K&L Gates. She leads the tax policy practice and co-leads the Opportunity Zone practice. Mary focuses on federal tax matters affecting domestic and multinational corporations, pass-through entities, and individuals. Her practice covers tax policy legislation and regulatory guidance, tax administration, and technical tax issues, including the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (tax reform), accounting methods, information reporting, taxation of the digital economy, and others. Since enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in December, 2017, Mary has particularly focused on the Opportunity Zone incentive and is a frequent speaker on the topic throughout the United States.

Prior to joining K&L Gates, Mary served for six years with the Senate Committee on Finance. In that position, she managed several major tax bills for Committee Chairman Baucus, including FATCA, international reforms, basis reporting, and credit card reporting; she also worked closely on the Affordable Care Act and economic stimulus provisions and managed and maintained the revenue offset list. Mary managed committee hearings; oversaw IRS policies, programs, and initiatives; and worked on tax reform measures. She was responsible for vetting the financial information, including tax documents, for all Administration nominees falling under the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance Committee. Mary also served at the IRS for more than 25 years in a variety of technical and management positions, including large case team coordinator and Manager of the Office of Tax Shelter Analysis. During her time with the IRS, Ms. Baker materially contributed to numerous IRS guidance documents, including coordinated issue papers and industry director’s directives.

Ms. Baker is a frequent contributor to the tax press and has spoken extensively before business and tax groups on a variety of tax issues.