FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023
8:25 Welcome and Introductions
8:30 The Passthrough Entity Tax: How Is It Working, Rules and Planning Ideas
R. Milton Howell III, DMJPS PLLC, Greensboro
Tax year 2022 brought the first year of the NC passthrough entity tax. Practitioners found evolving rules, developing planning opportunities, and dizzying conflicts in multi-state situations. What lessons were learned? What is the current state of thought about where this works well and where it does not?
9:30 Break
9:45 Global Mobility and Compensation Reporting
Ronii Rizzo, BDO United States, Charlotte
This session provides an overview of the traditional versus future state of mobility, challenges brought on by remote work, and understanding your client's payroll reporting obligations for its mobile workforce.
10:45 Break
11:00 Getting By With a Little Help From Our Friends†
Candace A. Hoffman, North Carolina Lawyers Assistance Program, Raleigh
The ABA and Hazelden Foundation recently conducted a nationwide study confirming that lawyers struggle with depression, anxiety and alcoholism at rates that far exceed rates found in the general population and other professions. We all know the risks. We often see colleagues in trouble but are unsure exactly what to do about it. This presentation highlights real-world strategies that lawyers and law firms can use to 1) identify colleagues at risk, 2) create a culture of safety that reduces barriers for those in need to asking for and receiving help, and 3) intervene when it is clear a colleague needs assistance.
12:00 Adjourn for the Day
SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2023
8:25 Welcome and Introductions
8:30 AI, Predictive Analytics and the Tax Code
Kathleen D. Thomas, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
With artificial intelligence (AI) now gaining preeminence and its accuracy constantly improving, particularly when paired with predictive analytics, it is time for Congress to weave these technological innovations into the fabric of the Internal Revenue Code and take advantage of AI to address asset-valuation concerns. Involving AI in the tax penalty regime and asset valuations would enhance taxpayer compliance, augment transparency, and simultaneously ease many administrative burdens commonplace under the Internal Revenue Code.
9:15 Break
9:30 Corporate Tax Updates
Reginald Mombrun, North Carolina Central University School of Law, Durham
Last year was an eventful year for corporate taxation. It ended with a bang when Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which now requires a 15% AMT tax on certain large corporations. The bill also imposed, among other things, an excise tax on stock repurchases. Of note, the IRS also published Notice 2022-10, which fast-tracks certain private letter rulings. This is good news for practitioners in the corporate tax area because this allows them to receive guidance for their clients in a timely manner. The IRS generally provides such rulings within a 12-week period (or less if requested by the taxpayer and granted by the IRS). It is interesting to note that due to the tax rate cuts imposed to the corporation, it may now be attractive to do business as a C corporation notwithstanding the double tax regime. We discuss these issues and more during this presentation.
10:15 Break
10:30 Opportunity Zones, Tax Benefits, Early Criticisms, and IRS Attacks on Funds and Investors
Hale E. Sheppard, Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry, Atlanta, GA
Opportunity Zones began attracting thousands of investors in 2018, and now they are attracting Congress and the IRS, too. This presentation explains the purpose of Opportunity Zones, how properties were selected, three main tax benefits for investors, penalties for violations, relevant filing requirements, administrative guidance issued thus far, special anti-abuse mechanisms, initial criticism by various organizations, and burgeoning enforcement efforts, including congressional investigations and IRS audits.
11:15 Break
11:30 Planning With SLATS – A Useful and Flexible Planning Tool (If Properly Implemented)
Christopher J. Denicolo, Gassman Crotty & Denicolo PA, Clearwater, FL
With the approximately $13,000,000 per-person lifetime gifting exclusion amount (and the strong possibility of it being reduced in 2026), many wealthy taxpayers would be well-served to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity by making lifetime gifts. A popular mechanism available to married clients for lifetime gifting is the use of a Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (a "SLAT" for short), where an irrevocable trust is established for the benefit of the donor's spouse and other desired beneficiaries. The SLAT can provide immense flexibility and benefits, although the design and implementation of a SLAT requires careful consideration of a variety of factors in order to help assure that the SLAT achieves its desired objectives. This presentation discusses the purposes for which a SLAT is used, design elements that may be incorporated into a SLAT, and tricks and traps associated with implementing a SLAT structure.
12:15 Adjourn for the Day
SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2023
8:25 Welcome and Introductions
8:30 It's a Pass-Through! It's a Corporation! It's an "S" Corporation! But Is It Always "Super"? – Real-World Implications, Complications and Stories of Donning the "S"
Kristin King, Schell Bray PLLC, Greensboro
Hear a discussion of how certain rules applicable to S corporations can play out in unwanted and/or unanticipated ways through an exploration of real-life adventures of S corporations and their owners.
9:30 Break
9:45 Why Cybersecurity Programs Fail*‡
Mark Burnette, LBMC Advisory Services, Nashville, TN
Whether we want to admit it or not, many organizations' cybersecurity programs are failing, leading to damaging and costly data breaches. This session provides candid insight on why so many programs are unsuccessful and provides a checklist of activities so you can ensure that your firm's and your clients' security programs are successful and effective. Attendees leave this session with a clear action plan for implementing a successful cybersecurity program, protecting sensitive data in their purview, and avoiding the pitfalls that have hampered many organizations. Particularly in light of IRS requirements on protecting taxpayer data, an understanding of cybersecurity issues, challenges, and strategies is critical for tax professionals.
10:45 Break
11:00 The Client-Centered Firm‡
Catherine Sanders Reach, North Carolina Bar Association, Cary
Has your firm recently thought about how to improve the client experience? Many times, firms are focused on internal processes and procedures, without consideration for where the client fits in. Today's clients want ease of use, empowerment, information, transparency and excellent communication. In this session we discuss some tools, tips and technologies that can help improve your relationships with your clients, reduce administrative burden, and resolve friction in the working relationship. We also discuss the steps of design thinking so that your firm can continue to develop and iterate on the client experience.
12:00 Adjourn
* Indicates portion providing Ethics/Professional Responsibility credit
† Indicates portion providing Substance Abuse/Mental Health credit
‡ Indicates portion providing Technology Training credit
Thank you for joining us for Day 1 of the 22nd Annual North Carolina/South Carolina Tax Section Workshops. We'll see you tomorrow.
Join us for an in-depth analysis and discussion of federal, state and local laws, policies, procedures and practices.
Stacey A. Brady is an attorney with Schell Bray PLLC in Greensboro. She counsels clients on variety of transactional, corporate and commercial matters, including, private equity, venture capital, entity formation, organization, and dissolution, mergers and acquisitions, stock and asset sales, and general corporate matters, with a focus on tax issues as they relate to the foregoing.
Stacey has extensive experience negotiating and preparing operating agreements for complex limited liability company structures and joint ventures. She works with clients on private placements of both equity and debt securities, executive and incentive compensation matters, including equity-based plans and deferred compensation, formulating tax efficient structures for entity formations, acquisitions, dispositions, reorganizations, and restructurings, and like-kind exchange transactions.
Stacey serves as outside general counsel to companies of various sizes and in a variety of industries. Her clients, for example, include private equity funds, startups, and mature businesses in a variety of industries including, real estate, technology, manufacturing, and sales.
Stacey earned her B.A., summa cum laude, from Clemson University and her J.D., with honors, from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
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Mark Burnette is the Advisory Services Practice Leader at LBMC Advisory Services in Nashville, TN, where he is Shareholder-in-Charge of LBMC's Information Security practice. He possesses 18 years of experience in information security and risk management. His background includes extensive experience in security program strategy and development, regulatory compliance, security policies and procedures, risk assessment and management, penetration testing, and security function design, development, and staffing. Mark is particularly passionate about cybersecurity leadership and growing the profession.
During his decorated career, Mark has served as the President and Global Practice Leader for a national information security consulting company and built and led information security functions for two major publicly-traded corporations. He worked for several years in key leadership roles with two of the Big 6 (now Big 4) accounting firms where he specialized in developing, implementing, assessing, and securing information technology solutions for companies in the healthcare, retail, manufacturing, banking, and insurance industries.
In 2005, while serving as the Global Information Security Officer for international insurance broker The Willis Group, Mark was named the Information Security Executive of the Year at the ISE Southeast Awards. In 2008, while serving as the Executive Director of IT Operations and Security for hotelier Gaylord Entertainment Company, he was named one of Information Security Magazine's "Security 7" top seven security leaders and was chosen by ComputerWorld Magazine as one of the Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2009. In January 2011, the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA), the international trade association for information security professionals, named Mark a Fellow. This prestigious honor, which has only been granted to a handful of individuals worldwide, is bestowed by the ISSA Fellow Program for distinguished accomplishments in the field of information security, leadership, and future service to the association and profession.
Recognized as an IT security expert by technology think-tank Gartner, Mark has repeatedly been featured as a subject matter expert on ABC and CBS television affiliates been published in print media such as CSO, Secure Enterprise, Information Security, and ComputerWorld magazines, and quoted by ABCnews.com, among many media appearances.
Mark currently serves on the American Institute of CPAs' national Cybersecurity Working Group. In January 2019, he was recognized as one of the cybersecurity industry's 75 "Pioneers", having been one of the first enterprise CISOs, and, in so doing, laying the groundwork for today's CISO role. In March 2019, he delivered a wildly-popular TED talk at TEDxNashville titled "The Humanity Behind Cybersecurity Attacks".
For his cumulative efforts as a security leader serving his community and his State, on September 11, 2008 Mark was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation from Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen in recognition of outstanding service in the best interests and highest traditions of the State of Tennessee.
Mark earned his B.S., summa cum laude, in Accounting from Carson-Newman College, where he served as a placekicker for C-N's nationally ranked NCAA Division II college football team. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Accounting at Belmont University, where he teaches Accounting Information Systems.
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Christopher J. Denicolo is a partner at Gassman Crotty & Denicolo PA in Clearwater, FL. He practices in the areas of estate tax and trust planning, taxation, real estate, probate and trust administration, physician representation and corporate and business law. He is Board Certified by the Florida Bar in Wills, Trusts and Estates.
Christopher has co-authored several handbooks that have been featured in Bloomberg BNA Tax & Accounting, Steve Leimberg's Estate Planning and Asset Protection Planning "LISI" Newsletters, and the Florida Bar Journal and is also the author of the Federal Income Taxation of the Business Chapter of the Florida Bar's Florida Corporate Practice, Eleventh Edition, and the Tax Considerations for a Not-for-Profit Corporation Chapter of the Florida Bar's Florida Corporate Practice, Ninth Edition.
Christopher earned his B.A. and B.S. from Florida State University, his J.D. from Stetson University College of Law and his LL.M. in Estate Planning from the University of Miami.
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Christopher E. "Chris" Hannum is a partner with Culp Elliott & Carpenter PLLC in Charlotte. He practices in the areas of corporate law, trusts and estates and tax and business law. He frequently advises on complex tax and business matters, including corporate and real estate transactions and financing, estate and income tax planning, asset protection, securities matters, tax controversies, and mergers and acquisitions.
Chris has a proven track record of handling sophisticated transactions and developing effective solutions to minimize taxes and legal risks, preserve wealth and achieve other client objectives.
Chris has led or participated in many of the corporate transactions the Firm has recently handled as part of the CEC Business Planning and Transactions Practice. He is a member of the Business Law, Elder & Special Needs Law and Tax Sections of the North Carolina Bar Association.
Chris earned his B.A. in Political Science from Allegheny College, his J.D., with honors, from The University of Florida and his LL.M., with honors, in Taxation from The University of Florida.
Click here for more information about Chris.
Candace A. Hoffman is the Field Coordinator with the North Carolina Lawyers Assistance Program in Raleigh. She is a licensed North Carolina lawyer and recovery enthusiast. As Field Coordinator, Candace assists the Executive Director and clinical staff in LAP volunteer management, in providing administrative support for clinical staff to ensure continuity of care, treatment placement, reporting and program support.
Candace comes to LAP from the Department of Justice, where she worked in health care, representing the Division of Health Benefits and the Division of Health Service Regulation of the Department of Health and Human Services. She was a litigator and appeared in Superior Court as well as the Office of Administrative Hearings. Her work exposed her to the challenges and complexities of the mental health and substance abuse treatment fields. Before taking this position as LAP Field Coordinator in the spring of 2020, Candace was a LAP volunteer for six years.
Candace graduated from Meredith College, cum laude, and Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.
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R. Milton Howell III is a partner and Director of Tax Services at DMJPS PLLC in Greensboro. For more than twenty five years, he has focused on taxation issues, including tax research for both open and closed transactions, structuring complex tax transactions, estate and income tax planning, and representing clients before federal, state, and local tax authorities. His focus is on the tax needs of closely-held businesses and their owners, and extending to their estate planning, personal trusts, and investment entities. Much of his technical expertise is in partnership and S-corporation transactions, particularly involving ownership changes, and mergers and acquisitions.
Milton's passion is truly strategic tax planning for tax compliance for businesses, their owners, their children, trusts, investment or real estate partnership, and estate with the focus on an entire group working as one unit. What is the best plan for the whole family unit? In addition, Milton regularly writes and reviews articles for local, regional and national publications on tax matters and spends significant time monitoring current tax issues and legislation.
Milton regularly writes and reviews articles in local, regional and national publications on tax matters and spends significant time monitoring current tax issues and legislation. His speaking engagements include the Southern Federal Tax Institute, the North Carolina Association of CPAs, CPAmerica International, and many other venues and organizations.
Milton earned his B.S. in Accounting from East Carolina University. He holds designations as a Certified Public Accountant and as a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, and has held Series 7 and 66 securities licenses, and NC life, health, and long-term care insurance licenses.
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Kristin King is Special Counsel at Schell Bray PLLC in Greensboro. Her practice covers a diverse range of tax and business matters across a broad spectrum of business and investment industries. She advises individuals, partnerships, LLCs, S corporations, C corporations, and other business and investment entities on tax-efficient structuring of their ongoing business or investment operations and on transactions including acquisitions, dispositions, reorganizations and debt and equity restructurings. Clients include tech entrepreneurs, manufacturers, U.S. sales agents, investment fund managers, real estate developers, services-focused companies, family investment companies and tax-exempt organizations. She advises both domestic and cross-border business concerns.
Kristin also works with companies on employee compensation matters including the structuring and implementation of equity incentive plans and non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements.
Kristin also has significant experience with private client matters. She advises high net worth individuals, their family offices and their enterprises on federal, state and local income tax, transfer tax and other legal matters, and has particular expertise in the international tax aspects of these matters. She frequently advises trustees, beneficiaries, and grantors on cross-border trust operations. Kristin counsels individuals regarding U.S. tax residency and global taxation considerations, pre-immigration and post-residency tax planning, and the tax implications of relinquishing US citizenship or green cards. She helps U.S. persons investing or doing business across borders through the maze of foreign information reporting requirements and alphabet soup of U.S. tax regimes (PFIC, CFC, GILTI, etc.).
Before moving to North Carolina in 2016, Kristin lived and practiced in New York City. She spent several years in the transactional tax department of a large international law firm and then practiced for 15 years at a boutique law firm focused on domestic and cross-border taxation.
Kristin is a member of the American, Greensboro and North Carolina Bar Associations.
Kristin earned her B.A., magna cum laude, from Clemson University, her J.D. from Duke University School of Law and her LL.M. in Taxation from Washington University School of Law.
Click here for more information about Kristin.
Reginald Mombrun is a Professor of Law at North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham. He joined the school of law in the fall of 2008. Previously he taught at the Florida A&M College of Law from the fall of 2004 to the summer of 2008. He has taught on contracts, fundamentals of income taxation, corporate taxation, advanced taxation, sales, secured transactions and selected issues in family law.
Prior to teaching, Reginald spent 14 years in the national office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) specializing in corporate mergers and acquisitions and served as an Assistant Branch Chief his last two years at the IRS. He was responsible for a number of regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures and countless private letter rulings in the corporate tax area. In sum, as he likes to tell his students, he was responsible for some of the complexities of corporate tax law.
Reginald is the lead author of two books on corporate taxation, has written countless articles on technical and policy aspects of the federal income tax and has introduced a tax certificate and a low income taxpayer clinic at the law school. He is also active in the Durham community and has served on Boards of various Durham based non-profit organizations.
Reginald is a member of the Florida Bar and the American Bar Association (ABA).
Reginald earned his B.S. from Boston University, his J.D.,cum laude, from NCCU School of Law and his LL.M. from the University of Florida.
Click here for more information about Reginald.
Catherine Sanders Reach is Director for the Center for Practice Management at the North Carolina Bar Association, providing practice technology and management assistance to lawyers and legal professionals. Formerly she was Director, Law Practice Management and Technology for the Chicago Bar Association and the Director at the American Bar Association's Legal Technology Resource Center.
Prior to her work at the NCBA, CBA and ABA she worked in library and information science environments for a number of years, working at Ross and Hardies as a librarian. She received a master's degree in Library and Information Studies from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa in 1997.
Catherine's professional activities include articles published in Law Practice magazine, Law Technology News and GPSolo Magazine, as well as numerous other publications. She has given presentations on the use of technology in law firms for national bar conferences, state and local bar associations and organizations such as the National Association of Bar Council and the Association of American Law Schools. In 2011 she was selected to be one of the inaugural Fastcase 50, celebrating fifty innovators, techies, visionaries, and leaders in the field of law and in 2013 became a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. She served on the ABA TECHSHOW Board from 2007-2009, 2014-2016 and is co-vice chair in 2019.
Click here for more information about Catherine. Connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Ronii Rizzo is Global Employer Services Partner at BDO United States in Charlotte where she heads the Global Reward Taxation Group under Global Employer Services. In this role, she aids clients with various services in setting up, reviewing, advising and supporting U.S. and global payroll obligations especially in the cases of cross border and traveling employees and contractors. She also serves as the Chair for the Customized Payroll Services Center of Excellence which coordinates a global team of BDO payroll professionals for benchmarking and detailing best practices as related to payroll compliance obligations.
Ronii has experience in the practice of expatriate tax and has used this expertise to bridge the gap between the world of tax and payroll compliance. She is a frequent speaker and teacher for many professional organizations such as the American Payroll Association, Financial and Tax Executives Institute and Global Payroll Management Institute.
Ronii earned her B.S. in Accounting the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Click here for more information about Ronii.
Hale E. Sheppard is a Shareholder in the Tax Controversy Section of Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry in Atlanta, GA. He defends individuals and businesses during tax audits, tax appeals and tax litigation.
Hale has participated in over 150 tax cases before the Tax Court, Court of Appeals, District Court, and State Tax Tribunals. In addition to resolving issues through tax litigation, Hale has obtained dozens of favorable Private Letter Rulings for clients from the IRS National Office on procedural, tax, and international issues.
During his studies, Hale received several awards for academic excellence, including the prestigious Harry S. Truman Foundation Scholarship, Janice Dawson Quinn Tax Scholarship, Tinker Foundation Scholarship, and Senator James B. Pearson International Fellowship. He also served as a graduate editor of the Florida Tax Review and member of the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy. Chambers USA, Legal 500, Super Lawyers, and Best Lawyers in America have recognized him as a leader in tax litigation, with the latter naming him tax attorney of the year for 2023. He has also been inducted into the American College of Tax Counsel.
Hale holds five college degrees. At the University of Kansas, he earned a B.S., with distinction, M.A., with honors, and J.D. He later received an LL.M. in international law, with highest distinction, from the Universidad de Chile in South America. Finally, he obtained an LL.M. in tax from the University of Florida, where he was a graduate tax scholar.
Hale ranks among the most active tax writers in the country. He has published nearly 170 major articles in top tax journals and university law reviews, both domestically and abroad.
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Kathleen D. Thomas is the George R. Ward Term Professor of Law at University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill. She joined the Carolina Law faculty in 2013. Her teaching and research interests include federal income taxation, tax policy, and contracts law.
In 2018, Kathleen received the Frederick B. McCall Award for Teaching Excellence from the graduating class. She is the author of numerous articles on tax policy, and has written extensively on the intersection of tax compliance and behavioral law and economics, as well as the intersection of technology and the tax law. Her work has appeared in Virginia Law Review, Pennsylvania Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Boston College Law Review, UC Davis Law Review, University of Washington Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal, and Tax Notes, among others.
Kathleen earned her B.S., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in Mathematics from the College of William & Mary and her J.D., cum laude, and her LL.M. in Taxation from NYU School of Law.
After law school, Kathleen practiced tax law in New York for six years, working at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP (2005-2007) and Cooley LLP (2007-2011). Immediately prior to joining Carolina Law, she was an Acting Assistant Professor of Tax Law at NYU School of Law (2011-2013).
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