Experience
Nearly two decades of state and local tax practice, spanning a Big Four accounting firm and respected law firms — now concentrated in a single, focused practice built around direct client access.
Results that mattered to the businesses behind them
Client names and identifying details are withheld for confidentiality. The following reflect the type, scale, and business impact of matters Kyle has led over the course of his career.
National Bank · California Bad-Debt Refund
Secured a sales tax refund exceeding $10 million for a national bank on a California bad-debt issue — recovering tax the institution had effectively borne on accounts that were never paid.
Financial Services Company · Missouri Manufacturing Exemption
Won a refund exceeding $5 million for a financial services company by establishing the application of Missouri’s manufacturing exemption to activity the company had been taxing in full.
Multistate Company · South Carolina Sourcing
Saved a company more than $10 million by correctly resolving a sales tax sourcing issue in South Carolina — changing where transactions were treated as occurring, and the tax that followed.
Minnesota Bank · Audit Defense
Defended a Minnesota bank in a sales and use tax audit and reduced the exposure by more than $20 million, prevailing on a range of issues including real-versus-tangible property classification and the tax treatment of direct mail.
Ongoing · Minnesota Qualified Data Center & Related Refund Claims
Recovers millions of dollars for companies every year through Minnesota qualified data center and related refund claims — turning available statutory exemptions into real, recurring cash back to the business.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome; each matter depends on its own particular facts and circumstances. Certain matters described above were handled by Kyle M. Brehm in the course of his practice prior to founding Brehm Tax Counsel PLLC.
A career built exclusively around state and local tax
Brehm Tax Counsel PLLC · Founder & Attorney
Kyle founded Brehm Tax Counsel PLLC to bring nearly twenty years of multistate sales and use tax experience directly to clients through a focused, independent practice built around business judgment rather than billable-hour incentives. The firm concentrates on audit defense, refund recovery, nexus determinations, taxability research, and voluntary disclosure agreements for businesses of all sizes.
Jones Walker LLP · Tax Practice Group
Kyle spent a period as a partner in the tax practice group of Jones Walker LLP, a large regional law firm based in the Southeast, continuing to advise clients on multistate sales and use tax strategy and presenting at national industry forums (see Speaking & Leadership), before returning to independent practice in 2026 to found Brehm Tax Counsel PLLC.
Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. · Officer & Shareholder, Tax Group
As an officer and shareholder in the tax group of this prominent Minneapolis law firm, Kyle advised clients across healthcare, financial services, construction, manufacturing, and retail on the full range of state and local tax matters. His work included refund reviews, audit defense, entity restructuring and planning, risk mitigation, and the design of technology-enabled compliance process improvements — including defending multimillion-dollar multistate sales tax audits and securing multimillion-dollar refunds across numerous states. He was an active CPE instructor for the Minnesota Society of CPAs and a frequent speaker at industry forums throughout this period, including recurring presentations at the annual Paul J. Hartman State & Local Tax Forum.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP · Director, State & Local Tax
Kyle began his career in the state and local tax consulting practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he spent nearly a decade rising to director and developing deep technical expertise across multistate indirect tax matters — with particular depth in financial service entities including banks, payment processors, and insurance service providers, serving clients ranging from private, closely held businesses to Fortune 100 companies. This experience shaped his data-driven, process-oriented approach to tax compliance and controversy work that still defines how he practices today.
The kind of matters we handle
Because SALT matters are often confidential, specific client names and case results are not published here. The following reflects the type and scope of work Kyle has handled throughout his career.
Multistate Audit Defense
Successfully defended companies with significant multistate operations against sales and use tax audits spanning numerous states — including multimillion-dollar exposure — managing the process from initial notice through resolution and, where genuinely warranted, formal appeal.
Refund Recovery
Led reverse audit engagements that identified and recovered multimillion-dollar sales and use tax overpayments for clients across financial services, manufacturing, and retail.
Nexus & Registration Projects
Advised rapidly growing and multistate businesses on post-Wayfair economic nexus exposure, building practical, prioritized roadmaps for registration and ongoing compliance.
Voluntary Disclosure Programs
Negotiated voluntary disclosure agreements with state revenue departments to resolve historical exposure on favorable terms, limiting look-back periods and penalty risk.
M&A and Restructuring Diligence
Provided state and local tax due diligence and structuring advice in connection with entity restructurings, mergers, and acquisitions across a range of industries, scoped to deal timelines.
Financial Services & Fintech Focus
Deep, sustained experience advising banks, payment processors, insurance service providers, and fintech companies on the unique multistate indirect tax issues facing regulated financial institutions.
A boardroom perspective on risk and controls
Kyle serves as an independent, non-executive director on the board of Sezzle, Inc. (Nasdaq: SEZL), a publicly traded fintech company, since 2024, where he sits on the Audit & Risk, Compensation, and Nominating & Governance Committees. In that role, he has contributed directly to enterprise tax strategy — including adviser transitions and tax credit opportunities that delivered meaningful annual tax savings — while also reviewing enterprise risk, internal controls, and regulatory compliance from the board level.
This governance experience is not a side note to his tax practice — it's a direct input into it. Reviewing risk from the audit committee side of the table, where every issue is weighed against materiality and business impact, shapes how Kyle evaluates a client's exposure from the very first conversation: what's real, what's noise, and what's worth the board's attention.
He previously served for a decade as a board member and treasurer of eQuality – Pathways to Potential, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization, from 2012 to 2022.
Put nearly 20 years of SALT experience — and a business mind — to work for you
Whether you're facing an active audit or want to get ahead of multistate exposure, let's talk.
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