High Net Worth Individuals and Families

A major focus for our practice is the high net worth individual. Our primary goals are to manage your day-to-day tax affairs enabling you to focus on your long-range goals, and to counsel you regarding the best tax positions for significant transactions. We also work with you to identify and prioritize these long-range goals, such as wealth creation, wealth preservation, wealth transfer, or charitable endeavors. Our firm offers personalized services that are not available at larger firms, without sacrificing the breadth of experience or the quality of services we offer.

Business Entities

We are very experienced with formation, operational, and dissolution issues for business entities, especially as they relate to small business owners and family groups. We can assist you in deciding the proper type of entity that suits you, whether it is a partnership, limited liability company, or corporation. We can assist you with practical accounting issues so you are free to focus on your business. We prepare a significant number of tax returns for all types of business entities.

Estates and Trusts

We have significant experience in the fields of estate and trust taxation. We counsel many clients on issues related to the minimization of estate taxes. We also advise clients on the benefits of various types of trusts, especially to the extent they provide for the transfer of wealth from generation to generation, liability protection, or charitable planning.

Real Estate Transactions

Another area in which we work with our clients is the field of real estate transactions. We have a strong background in the various issues that real estate investors face, including cash-flow analyses, tax-free Section 1031 like-kind exchanges, passive loss and at-risk limitations, and capital gain/ordinary income classification.

Stock Options

A number of our clients have significant issues with options. We help our clients understand the tax ramifications of incentive, nonqualified, and employee stock purchase plan options. We also work with restricted stock, restricted stock plans, and concentrated equity positions. Integral to our practice are personal financial planning issues such as proper diversification. The stock option area has posed significant complexities for many people and we have managed to steer our clients through the dangerous pitfalls that can befall even the best educated individuals.

Charitable Planning and Charitable Organizations

We work with many of our clients to fund their charitable endeavors in a manner that allows them to maximize their tax benefits and the value of their bequests. Among the issues we consider is the proper funding vehicle, whether it be through outright gifts, charitable trusts, private foundations or donor advised funds. We recognize that each of our clients is different, and we develop the appropriate solution to meet their priorities. We are also very conversant with charitable organization tax issues and have a significant practice dedicated to their specific needs.

Income and Estate Tax Audit Representation

We have significant experience representing clients before the Internal Revenue Service, the Franchise Tax Board, and other taxing authorities. We attempt to resolve these issues quickly and at the lowest possible cost to our clients. We feel that the process actually starts in the tax planning and tax return stages, because taking the appropriate steps at that point serves to limit our clients’ exposure to audits and to audit assessments.