John Fletcher is a partner in the firm’s Tax & Estates Practice Group and practices from the Jackson, Mississippi office. With more than twenty years’ experience in the legal, corporate, and accounting arenas, his practice focuses primarily on state tax matters, encompassing multi-state income, franchise, sales, use and local ad valorem taxes.
He is a contributor for Cooking with SALT, a legal blog committed to providing timely insights on recent legal and practical developments concerning clients in many state and local taxing jurisdictions on matters involving income, franchise, net worth, gross receipts, sales/use, business and occupational license, severance, ad valorem property, and other miscellaneous taxes.
Prior to joining Jones Walker, Mr. Fletcher was State Tax Counsel at General Electric Company, where he oversaw many of the company’s state income and franchise tax audits and appeals across the country. These appeals covered a wide range of complex statutory and constitutional issues applicable to large multi-state and multi-national companies, and encompassed GE’s traditional industrial manufacturing operations, as well as the financial and media/entertainment industries related to the GE Capital and NBC/Universal businesses. He often assisted GE’s State and Local Tax planning group with major acquisitions and dispositions, and provided legal support to its property tax team in appeals and litigation matters.
While at GE, Mr. Fletcher also served as an adjunct professor at the Albany (NY) Law School, teaching State and Local Tax Law, and is a regular speaker and teacher on a wide range of state and local tax issues at national SALT conferences and schools.
Mr. Fletcher also has assisted his clients on a broad range of federal income tax issues and appeals, and his practice has included a wide variety of non-tax legal services, including legal entity formation and maintenance, business mergers and acquisitions, commercial real estate leasing, gaming regulation, and general business contractual issues.
Earlier in his career, John was a member of KPMG’s State and Local Tax practice in New York City while pursuing an LL.M. in Taxation at New York University. John earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Delta State University, where he currently serves as President of the National Alumni Association, and his juris doctor degree at The University of Mississippi School of Law, where he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Ole Miss Alumni Association. He is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) in Tennessee, is a member of the Board of Governors of the Mississippi Economic Council, the tax committee of the Mississippi Manufacturer’s Association, the Finance Committee of the Community Foundation of Mississippi, and the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Children’s Museum. He also is the former chair of the Tax Section of the Mississippi Bar Association, and is a member of Executive Committee of the American Bar Association’s State and Local Tax Subcommittee, the Institute for Professionals in Taxation, and the Council on State Taxation.
John and his wife Lisa live in Jackson, Mississippi and are members of St. Richard Catholic Church. They have three sons, William and Talbot who attend Ole Miss, and Robert who attends Jackson Prep.
Education
- New York University, LL.M. (Taxation) – 2001
- University of Mississippi, J.D. – 1994
- Delta State University, B.B.A. (Accounting) – 1991
Admissions / Professional Organizations
- United States Supreme Court – 2019
- Mississippi – 2001
- Louisiana – 1997
- Tennessee – 1996
- Tennessee Certified Public Accountant (inactive) – 1995
- Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee Bar Associations
- Tax Section of the Mississippi Bar Association – Chair (2019 – 2020)
- American Bar Association, State and Local Tax Committee of Tax Section
