Sophisticated understanding with an individualized approach.
High-level experience, knowledge and results.
The attorneys in the Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Tax Section have experience with the
full range of federal, state, local, and international tax issues, finding solutions in the areas of business and financial transactions, general tax planning, tax controversies and litigation, and estate planning. We have
deep experience in all branches of government; our lawyers have worked at the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Justice, and the United States Tax Court. We also serve as the technical editors of the
Tax Management portfolios and journals.
Maximizing outcomes through proven tax strategies.
Our clients include entrepreneurs and established businesses, private companies and publicly traded corporations, real estate ventures, private equity firms and other closely held businesses, universities, hospitals and other tax-exempt organizations, financial institutions, government entities, high net worth individuals and families, and corporate trust service providers. Our
clients count on us to resolve their toughest tax issues and to craft strategies to realize their business and personal objectives while minimizing tax liabilities and other costs.
Our attorneys have obtained favorable results for our clients in the context of complex transactions and disputes; we are known for our ability to resolve matters with IRS and the Treasury Department, but we also have significant experience litigating tax disputes in federal and state courts. Our Tax Group includes four practice areas: Business and International Tax, Estates and Trusts, Nonprofit Organizations, and Tax Management.
Business & International Tax Group
A thorough understanding of tax considerations is critical to every business decision. In addition to the knowledge and deep experience of the attorneys in our group, we draw upon our firm's capabilities in other practice areas to provide perspective on matters that extend into the non-tax aspects of any particular case.
Our tax attorneys deal with the formation of business entities, joint ventures, tax-free reorganizations, pre-spin-off and post-acquisition restructuring, leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, debt and equity financings, cross-border financings, inbound and outbound investment, divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, and the disposition or liquidation of business interests. We also offer advice on hedge funds, venture capital and private equity funds, REMICs, REITs and UPREITs. For U.S. businesses expanding abroad, we find ways to minimize U.S. tax consequences on outbound property transfers; we can also maximize deferral of U.S. tax on foreign earnings. For non-U.S. businesses, we develop strategies for repatriation of U.S. earnings to minimize U.S. taxation. For all cross-border businesses, we work to minimize the risk of double taxation through tax-efficient transfer pricing methods and planning opportunities, as well as familiarity with income and estate tax treaties and protocols and competent authority procedures.
But our knowledge is not limited to advice on tax-efficient ways for businesses to structure, finance, operate, expand, acquire, or dispose of business activities and enterprises. We also provide advice and counsel to individuals, including foreign individuals coming to live or work in the United States and U.S. citizens or residents who undertake foreign business and work assignments.
Estates & Trusts Group
The Estates and Trusts Group concentrates on estate planning and administration, advising individuals and families in situations that involve federal estate and gift tax as well as the laws affecting personal relationships and property rights. Our lawyers have significant experience with charitable planning and the formation and operation of private foundations. We assist our clients in planning for and navigating some of the most challenging life and business transitions, and we are adept at structuring estate plans that take into account sensitive family issues as well as complex tax and financial issues. We also serve as trusted advisors to corporate trustees and other financial institutions on fiduciary matters and disputes with beneficiaries.
Business owners, entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate executives seek our counsel on business succession, trust administration, charitable planning, tax controversies, and techniques to transfer wealth to future generations. We plan and implement sophisticated transactions, working closely with our business tax colleagues to minimize income tax exposure and to structure estate planning transactions that enhance business operations and opportunities.
Nonprofit Organizations
The lawyers in this group have extensive experience in the range of issues of concern to nonprofit organizations. We work with tax-exempt organizations at all stages, from formation and recognition of tax-exempt status to mergers and termination. We handle tax-exempt financing, restructuring, and IRS and state audits and controversies; we also advise clients on the use of for-profit subsidiaries and issues related to executive compensation, charitable solicitation, planned giving and business activities. The breadth of our practice group is matched by the diversity of the organizations we represent, including public charities, health care organizations, educational institutions and religious organizations, private foundations, social welfare organizations, and business leagues.
Tax Management
For more than 50 years, the Tax Management subsidiary of the Bureau of National Affairs has published indispensable resources for tax practitioners. In addition to the BNA portfolios, Tax Management publishes several journals and periodicals and produces audio conferences and webinars. BNA Tax and Accounting has also pioneered a series of portfolios on public accounting topics. As the technical editors of the Tax Management publications, we work with authors from the United States and abroad to provide timely and sophisticated analysis, application, and interpretation of the Internal Revenue Code and the rulings and court decisions that govern the administration of tax laws.
Relevant Engagements
- We structured a major foreign real estate joint venture to maximize the deferral of U.S. tax on the operational profit allocable to the U.S. participants.
- We developed a structure to allow our client to transfer, on a tax-deferred basis, a commercial real estate property to a new partnership in exchange for a 50% partnership interest and a significant cash distribution.
- We have defended a group of shareholder-employees of a foreign corporation against an IRS challenge that the corporation's redemption of non-traditional equity interests represented deferred compensation and not long-term capital gain.
- We restructured a proposed spinoff of a subsidiary with substantial investment assets into a redemption and sale to ensure long-term capital gain treatment to the shareholders.
- We obtained a first-of-a-kind section 501(c)(3) ruling for a robotics technology consortium made up of governmental agencies, educational institutions and private government contractors.
- We organized a U.S. distribution affiliate of a foreign-based manufacturer and structured the intercompany transactions between the two to minimize U.S. taxes consistent with the group's overall business model.
- We assisted a corporation in successfully defeating a potential $25 million tax assessment by a state taxing authority.
- We have represented several individual and family groups in voluntary disclosures to the IRS of offshore accounts and businesses so as to avoid criminal charges and to minimize civil penalties.
- For an online publisher, we effectively secured an exemption from New York State sales tax for several categories of sales.
- On behalf of one of the largest banks in the United States, we obtained an abatement of IRS penalties arising from the late filing of a foreign decedent's federal estate tax return.
- We converted a Florida not-for-profit holding company from a publicly held charity to a supporting organization under section 509(a)(3).
- We secured a Pennsylvania state tax refund after convincing the Board of Finance and Revenue that a tax assessment against the company violated the U.S. Constitution.