2019 Family Office Tax Roundtable

Carol A. Harrington advises clients on a variety of matters, including estate, gift and generation-skipping tax issues, closely held businesses and succession planning, family office structures and issues, private trust companies, private foundations, trust and estate administration, and contested trust and tax matters. Carol is the former global head of McDermott's Private Client Practice.

As a national authority on the federal generation-skipping tax, Carol has advised attorneys, tax professionals, executors, trustees and other nationwide on this issue. She is co-author of a tax treatise, Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax (Harrington, Kwon & Zaritsky), the author of the BNA Tax Management Portfolio, Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax, and has published many articles on the federal generation-skipping tax. Carol speaks frequently before professional and industry groups on tax, estate planning and succession issues.

Gary C. Karch advises clients on the federal income tax aspects of partnership and limited liability company transactions, including acquisitions, investments, joint ventures and restructurings.

Gary is also a certified public accountant.

Mary Kay McCalla Martire focuses her practice on a wide variety state and local tax issues. She advises clients on matters related to sales tax, with an emphasis on the sale of digital products. In addition, she advises business clients on income tax apportionment and remote employee withholding obligations. Mary Kay counsels individual clients on residency and income sourcing questions, and frequently advises captives and their insureds on direct procurement tax issues. She also has experience with state and local utility and telecommunications tax matters.

Mary Kay has an extensive litigation background in state and federal court, as well as administrative tribunals. She has particular experience in the defense of qui tam (whistleblower) claims filed in the state tax arena and has won the dismissal of many Illinois False Claims Act cases. Mary Kay played a key role in many of the reported decisions issued by the Illinois appellate court in this area. She also has experience defending clients against class action and consumer fraud claims.

Mary Kay also has represented clients in a number of state insurance tax litigation matters, including serving as the principal trial attorney for a group of insurance companies that successfully challenged the constitutionality of the Illinois Privilege Tax (Milwaukee Safeguard Ins. Co. v. Selky, 179 Ill.2d 94 (1997)).

Mary Kay serves as Co-Chair of the Chicago Office Pro Bono Committee. She is actively engaged in a number of pro bono matters, including the representation of not for profits seeking sales and property tax exemptions, and serving as a guardian ad litem in child custody disputes. In 2014, Mary Kay was awarded one of McDermott’s Chicago Office pro bono service awards. In addition, she is an editor of the Firm’s State Tax Blog, InsideSALT.com.

Patrick J. McCurry concentrates his practice on the corporate and tax aspects of complex business and investment transactions, with a particular focus on transactions involving single-family offices, private equity funds and other financial sponsors (on both buy and sell-side), emerging businesses, partnerships and strategic joint ventures, limited liability companies and closely held corporations.

Patrick has extensive experience in working with single-family offices in connection with the formation and/or restructuring of family offices and private trust companies, the creation of investment funds, the establishment of incentive equity programs for key employees and related income tax planning.  He also routinely works on complex tax planning for high-net-worth individual and families, tax structuring healthcare services transactions and tax controversy matters.

Patrick is Co-Leader of the Firm’s Closely Held and Passthroughs Affinity Group.

Ranked as “Band 1” by Chambers High Net Worth in its national Family Offices & Funds Restructuring category, clients praise Patrick for being “a lucid communicator, even of incredibly complex tax and legal concepts.” Other clients note that Patrick “brings a level of knowledge and expertise in family office and partnership taxation” and he “never brings up an issue without thinking about multiple potential solutions.”

While in law school, Patrick served as an extern for the Honorable Ronald A. Guzman, US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He also was a member of the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal.

Thomas (Tom) P. Ward advises high-net-worth individuals and business owners on the income tax, corporate and compliance aspects of complex business and investment transactions, with a focus on family office management companies, private investment funds and complex incentive equity programs.

Tom has extensive experience in establishing and working with family offices and investment entities, ranging from first-generation entrepreneurs to multi-generational families, with net worth from $40 million to many billions of dollars, including a number of individuals listed in the Forbes 400. Tom works closely with the entire advisor team to implement the optimal structure for a particular situation and has extensive experience working with private trust company, airplane, transfer tax and security law considerations.

Tom is a frequent speaker on trends impacting family offices and high-net-worth individuals.

Ranked as “Band 1” by Chambers High Net Worth in its national Family Offices & Funds Restructuring category, clients praise Tom for being “a very thoughtful and knowledgeable attorney that truly understands the needs of an SFO. Tom's approach is very thoughtful and always tries to find creative ways to accomplish his client's goals."

While in law school, he was an editor of the Michigan International Law Journal.

L. Timothy Halleron focuses his practice on high-net-worth tax and estate planning matters. Tim advises individuals and family offices in planning for the preservation and transfer of wealth within families without the imposition of gift, estate or generation-skipping transfer tax.

Tim’s practice includes:

• Advising on design and drafting of estate planning documents, including wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts (including charitable trusts), family limited partnerships, shareholder agreements, and intra-family sale agreements
• Pre-liquidity event tax planning, including leveraged sales of interests in private companies to dynasty trusts, transfers to grantor retained annuity trusts, and pre- and post-sale charitable planning
• Advising on investment diversification, asset protection, and corporate and family governance issues, including the reorganization of private companies to improve the tax efficiency of those organizations
• Counseling on the formation and administration of a variety of tax-exempt and charitable entities
• Transfer situs of trusts to more favorable jurisdictions to take advantage of tax efficiencies and modernized trust laws, and advise clients with respect to state fiduciary income tax issues
• Structuring and implementing judicial and non-judicial modifications of irrevocable trusts
• Advising on the structuring and formation of private trust companies in various jurisdictions
• Preparing and reviewing estate and gift tax returns, including complex reporting and valuation issues, and negotiate settlements with the IRS on audited estate and gift tax returns
• Advising on litigation disputes between trustees and beneficiaries and in contested trust and tax matters, and consult with fiduciaries in probate and trust administration

Tim is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”), and Tim frequently writes and speaks on a variety of tax and estate planning subjects.

Victoria (Tori) Pambianco Ose advises high-net-worth individuals and families on all aspects of wealth-transfer planning, including estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax matters, estate and trust administration, business succession and charitable giving techniques.

Tori has extensive experience designing customized estate plans for individuals and families and implementing complex wealth-transfer techniques. She also has significant experience advising clients on a variety of philanthropic issues, including the development of charitable giving strategies, structuring and negotiating large charitable gifts, and the formation and operation of charitable trusts and foundations. In addition, Tori has experience advising families with international ties and non-US business interests.

Tori regularly speaks to regional and national audiences on issues related to philanthropy and on a variety of other topics in estate planning.

William (Bill) R. Pomierski focuses his practice on the taxation of financial products and capital markets transactions, as well as on executive compensation matters. He is a former chair of the Firm’s Executive Compensation Practice Group.

Bill advises clients on the federal income tax implications of a variety of domestic, cross-border and global financial products and related transactions. He has worked extensively with public and private companies, hedge funds, trading firms, financial institutions, high-net-worth individuals, trust advisors and family offices in connection with a range of capital market and financial product issues. He has advised insurance companies, financial institutions, equipment manufacturers, retailers, energy companies, food processors and manufacturers, and chemical companies.

In the derivatives arena, Bill’s advice spans a wide range of commodities, along with interest rate, currency, credit default, equity and weather derivatives. His experience covers domestic and foreign exchange-traded positions, cleared bilateral products, as well as over-the-counter transactions.

Bill works with clients to ensure compliance with federal income tax rules that potentially apply to domestic and international derivative activities, including hedging and straddle issues, Subpart F considerations, cross-border withholding issues, US trade or business issues for foreign persons (including the availability of trading safe harbors), constructive sales and constructive ownership rules, mandatory and elective mark-to-market issues, securities lending, short sales, repo transactions and wash sales.

He also advises on capital markets tax issues involving debt and equity offerings. He has significant experience in the special rules that apply to debt instruments, including original issue discount (OID), market and acquisition discounts and premiums, contingent and convertible debt, and debt modifications, among others. Bill counsels corporate debt issuers on various limitations affecting the deductibility of interest, including debt-equity considerations, earnings stripping rules, Applicable High Yield Discount Obligation (AYHDO) and convertible debt, and he addresses tax issues relating to foreign currency denominated borrowings, hybrid securities, and securitization transactions, as well as finance and true lease transactions. Bill also advises on the tax issues associated with accelerate share repurchase programs.

Bill has extensive tax controversy experience. He routinely assists clients at the examination level, as well as participates in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) appeals process, including handling protest letters and appeals settlement conferences.

Bill’s executive compensation practice involves the design and drafting of a variety of compensation plans or arrangements, with a particular emphasis on equity-based compensation plans for public and private companies, such as options, restricted stock and stock units, stock appreciation rights, and profits interests, along with performance based compensation, including annual and long-term performance bonus arrangements and performance equity. He also advises clients on senior executive employment, consulting and retirement arrangements, including change in control severance programs.

Bill also advises clients on the federal income tax implications of executive compensation programs, including in particular the special rules for incentive and nonqualified stock options, Section 83 restricted property considerations, Section 280G golden parachute tax considerations, the Section 162(m) deduction limitations for public corporations and the Section 409A limitations on nonqualified deferral arrangements.

Bill speaks and writes frequently on a variety of topics relating to the taxation of financial products. While in law school, Bill was a member of the University of Illinois Law Review.

He is also a member of our legal cannabis industry group. Our Cannabis Industry group is a multidisciplinary team of lawyers providing clients with regulatory, litigation, intellectual property, trade and tax services with respect to their investments and participation in the cannabis industry, all subject to the Firm’s obligations under federal and state laws and bar licensure rules.

Michael J. Bruno advises multinational companies, funds, single family offices, and entrepreneurs on sophisticated US and international tax planning and transactions. He has extensive experience in advising clients in the technology, healthcare, life sciences, digital health, consumer products, FinTech and cryptocurrency, and sports and entertainment industries.

Michael regularly advises clients on mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, joint ventures, and divestitures in various business contexts. He has assisted clients with many international tax issues, including navigating anti-deferral (controlled foreign corporation (CFC) and passive foreign investment company) regimes, foreign tax credit planning, export planning, treaty planning, intellectual property migrations, tax-efficient cash repatriation strategies, and post-acquisition integration and implementation.

Michael also regularly advises entrepreneurial families on strategies for minimizing US income taxation with respect to their closely held businesses and investments, including qualified small business stock planning. Through comments and a presentation, Michael advocated on behalf of The Florida Bar Tax Section for Congress, the Internal Revenue Service, and the US Department of the Treasury to afford the Section 250 deduction to electing Section 962 shareholders that earn Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, as well as reinstating the repeal of Section 958(b)(4) for CFC downward attribution.

He has written numerous articles on international tax planning and frequently submits comments on statutory and regulatory promulgations. As a strong proponent for pro bono legal services, Michael founded the Transactional Equal Justice Program with Legal Services of Greater Miami, which offers free legal advice to nonprofits and low-to-moderate income small business owners to help them launch a business.