Michael E. Caryl

Michael E. Caryl is a senior partner of Bowles Rice, based in the law firm’s Martinsburg office. His primary areas of practice are tax planning and tax controversy work at all levels — federal, state and local. Mr. Caryl served as West Virginia State Tax Commissioner from 1985 to 1988 and was President of the 12-state Southeastern Association of Tax Administrators, 1987-1988. In 2009, he was named a West Virginia Bar Foundation Fellow.

Prior to serving as Tax Commissioner, Mr. Caryl practiced tax law with a Martinsburg law firm for ten years. He has served as chairman of the State Bar Committee on State and Federal Taxation, as President of the West Virginia Tax Institute, Inc. and as the Official Reporter for the West Virginia Law Institute’s 1992 Property Tax Appeals Reform Project. From 1994 through 2002, he served as chairman of the Taxation of Business Committee of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce. In 1995, he was elected a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel. He served as vice-chair of the Governor’s Commission on Fair Taxation (1997‑1999). He is an Income Tax Affiliate Member of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation (IPT).

Mr. Caryl is a frequent speaker and writer about various taxation topics, including an article he co‑authored, “Special State Tax Treatment of the Coal Industry,” (11 Eastern Mineral L. Inst. p. 6‑1, Matthew Bender & Co., Inc., 1990). He also is the author of “The Illusion of Due Process in West Virginia’s Property Tax Appeals System: Making the Constitution’s Promise a Reality” (98 W.Va. Law Review, 1996). He has also authored “No Customers? No Nexus? No Problem?” (Tax Report, Institute for Professionals in Taxation, August, 2011, p. 18); “Griffith v. ConAgra Brands: Due Process Line Found in Shifting Sands of Economic Nexus.” (Tax Report, Institute for Professionals in Taxation, July, 2012, p. 3, w/Floyd M. “Kin” Sayre) -- selected as IPT’s 2012 Income Tax Article of the Year -- and “Combined Reporting in West Virginia: Unanswered Questions and Unfinished Business” (Southeastern Association of Tax Administrators, 62nd Annual Meeting, July 24, 2012).

He taught a course in “State and Local Taxation” as an adjunct lecturer at the West Virginia University College of Law, and he has served on the faculty of the Institute for International Training, Trade and Development, Inc. at Shepherd University, in connection with its Russian Tax Officials Training Program.

Since 2007, Mr. Cayrl has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America. He was named Best Lawyers’ 2014 Litigation and Controversy - Tax Lawyer of the Year in the northern West Virginia region. He has received an “AV” peer-review rating from Martindale Hubble, has been named in Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business since 2004 and is listed among West Virginia Super Lawyers. He is a member and past President of the Tri-State Estate Planning Council and a member of the Eastern Panhandle Business Association.

A 1968 graduate of West Virginia University, Mr. Caryl earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration, magna cum laude. He is a 1974 graduate of the Yale Law School. He is admitted to practice before the courts of West Virginia (1974) and the District of Columbia (1977), the United States Tax Court (1978), the United States Court of Appeals for Fourth Circuit (1983) and before the United States Supreme Court (1994).