Nikolajs (pronounced nickel-ice) is a member of Barley Snyder’s Employee Benefits and Tax Practice Groups, focusing on all aspects of employee benefits, executive compensation, and representation before the IRS. Nikolajs’ employee benefits practice includes matters about 401(k) and profit sharing plans, welfare benefit plans, private and public pension plans, and other fringe benefits. A sizable portion of Nikolajs’ practice is devoted to correcting non-compliant plans with the IRS’s and DOL’s correction programs. Nikolajs also drafts executive compensation agreements that are compliant with the non-qualified deferred compensation requirements of the Internal Revenue Code. 

Nikolajs supports mergers and acquisitions by advising clients about the consequences of new and existing executive compensation agreements and developing solutions to executive compensation compliance issues identified during due diligence. Nikolajs also assists clients in navigating complex employee benefits matters that arise during mergers and acquisitions, like multi-employer pension withdrawal liability and the formation of controlled groups. 

Nikolajs advises clients about the international aspects of U.S. taxation including the applicability of tax treaties, foreign sourced income, and tax residency. Additionally, Nikolajs represents clients before the IRS in a variety of matters, including all aspects of employment and payroll taxes.

Before joining Barley Snyder, Nikolajs was an Honors Program Attorney with the IRS, Office of Chief Counsel in its Litigation & Advisory division. At Chief Counsel, he litigated and advised on dozens of cases across a wide variety of issues in the U.S. Tax Court. Nikolajs brings his Chief Counsel mindset and experience to all his clients’ matters to protect their interests before the IRS.

Nikolajs proudly earned his J.D. Cum Laude from Penn State Dickinson Law. There, he also earned a Tax Certificate and served as the Executive Symposium Editor of the Dickinson Law Review. When he is not serving his clients, you will find Nikolajs reading books about early American history and hiking the Appalachian Trail with his wife, Margot, and rescue “supermutt,” Dorie.