Darren McCarthy

Darren McCarthy is a Principal in KPMG’s State and Local Tax Practice (SALT) with more than 20 years of multi-disciplined state and local tax experience. Darren serves as the National Practice Leader for KPMG’s State & Local Tax, Mergers & Acquisitions (SALT M&A) Practice. Darren leads a team of more than 50 SALT M&A professionals strategically located in 12 KPMG Business Units across the US.

Prior to entering public accounting in 2001, Darren worked as Counsel at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue where he was involved in statutory interpretation and forming administrative policy. 

Darren performs Buy Side and Sell Side state and local tax due diligence and acquisition structuring services on behalf of private equity clients and strategic corporate clients. Darren applies a multi-disciplined state and local tax skill set to identify historical tax risks and to address acquisition tax structuring matters including issues related to acquisition debt placement, legal entity selection, transfer taxes, survival of state tax attributes, unitary group status, combined filing requirements, etc.

Darren is experienced with a wide range of state and local tax matters in varying disciplines, including income/franchise tax, sales/use tax, gross receipts tax, credits/incentives, employment tax, property tax, transfer tax, and unclaimed property. He advises clients in various industries, including computer hardware/software, SaaS, manufacturing, infrastructure, telecommunications, utilities, healthcare, etc. 

In addition to his work in mergers and acquisitions, Darren has extensive general state and local consulting experience. He advises clients about issues such as state tax implications of federal tax reform, nexus, income apportionment, unitary group requirements, sales taxability studies, transfer taxes, unclaimed property dormancy periods, etc. Darren has also negotiated voluntary disclosure settlement agreements on behalf of clients and represented clients during state tax audits.

Darren is frequently asked to speak at conferences and seminars hosted by the American Bar Association Section of Taxation (State & Local Taxes Committee), the Tax Executives Institute, Strafford Webinars, the New England State and Local Tax Forum, etc. Darren is also recognized for his commitment to the KPMG Business School for his frequent participation as an instructor at firm trainings.