Our attorneys provide a wide variety of tax planning services for ventures of all sizes. This includes supporting businesses and individuals, as well as not-for-profit and charitable organizations. We have experience recommending the right amount of structure to minimize tax burdens for new and existing firms, without adding unnecessary complexity. We then help owners protect the personal wealth by ensuring their investments contain appropriate tax-favorable succession plans.
Business Formations
Our attorneys frequently assist clients in forming new businesses. We lay out the advantages and disadvantages of the many different types of legal entities and ownership structures, and help our clients understand the tax and non-tax consequences of each option. We routinely form corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, Delaware series limited liability companies, and S-corporations to support different types of ventures. We can employ a number of different strategies in order to ensure taxpayers are able to obtain the lowest total marginal income tax and payroll tax rates.
Business Transactions
Our attorneys advise clients on all manner of different business transactions, including stock and asset purchases, mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations, gifting in support of succession planning, forming joint ventures, and redemptions. We advise clients on the anticipated tax consequences of these different transactions in addition to the practical differences from a corporate law perspective. We work closely with our corporate attorneys to ensure such tax planning is an integral part of the overall transaction, and where appropriate, that gains are allocated in a manner to reduce overall tax costs for both buyer and seller.
Nonprofit and Tax-Exempt Entities
Our attorneys have experience supporting and managing nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations, including public charities and private foundations. We provide counsel on obtaining and maintaining tax-exempt status, forming joint ventures with other nonprofit entities, and undertaking various fundraising initiatives. Our firm also has in-house staff that can prepare and file IRS and Massachusetts annual reports for many of our nonprofit clients.
Individual Tax Planning
Our attorneys assist families with the transfer of business and investment assets to subsequent generations in a manner designed to preserve wealth and minimize the recognition of gift and estate transfer taxes. We use a variety of strategies and planning techniques to ensure that these goals are achieved in an efficient manner that also respects the goals of the clients. Frequently, this work includes the formation or restatement of revocable and irrevocable trusts. Our tax planning for these clients is comprehensive and coordinates the impact of federal and state income taxes, with potential federal and state estate taxes.
Executive Compensation
Our attorneys advise owners, employers, and employees on the retention of key talent. This may include the implementation of various incentive-based compensation plans, such as nonqualified deferred compensation plans, supplemental executive retirement plans, partnership profits interests, stock options, restricted stock grants, and phantom stock agreements. We not only advise our clients on the tax consequences of establishing such plans, but we also draft the relevant documents to put such arrangements into action.
Estate and Gift Tax Planning
We work with our clients to design and implement plans that minimize estate and gift taxes while balancing such planning with non-tax objectives. The strategies we employ often involve the use of trusts and limited liability companies. In addition to creating such plans, we specialize in the administration of trusts and estates to maximize the potential advantages of a step-up in asset basis for income tax purposes while managing total estate and gift tax exposure. Our attorneys have a specialty in mitigating Massachusetts estate tax exposure for both in-state and out-of-state residents.
Representative matters:
- Convenience store/Gas station chain: Minimized estate & gift taxes by employing LLCs to transfer business assets through discounted gifting to heirs. Eliminated capital gains taxes on S-Corporation asset sale after principal owner’s death.
- For a prominent family, employed charitable remainder trusts to eliminate capital gains taxes upon sale of substantial real estate holdings.
