23rd Annual North Carolina Tax Section Workshop

FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2024

8:00 Registration and Continental Breakfast

Sponsored by U.S. Bank - Private Wealth Management.

8:25 Welcome and Introductions

8:30 Recent Federal Income Tax Developments

Cassady V. "Cass" Brewer, Georgia State University College of Law, Atlanta, GA

This session highlights significant changes affecting taxpayers and advisors over the past 12 months, addressing selected court decisions, rulings, and statutory and regulatory developments.

9:30 Break

9:45 The Income Tax and Estate Tax Benefits for Encumbered Real Estate With Negative Capital Accounts Using the Preferred Partnership

Jerome M. Hesch, Meltzer Lippe Goldstein & Breitstone LLP, Boca Raton, FL

The preferred partnership is used to obtain both an income tax-free step-up in basis at death for the preferred partnership interest included in the decedent's gross estate and an estate freeze by disposing of the common partnership interest that is allocated the appreciation in the value of the partnership's assets. The step-up in basis at death is especially attractive for encumbered real estate with negative capital accounts since it can eliminate the potential for having to report the phantom capital gains without a transfer tax cost. This session first describes how to structure the partnership so that the decedent owns the preferred partnership interest at death and how to transfer the common interest that is allocated the appreciation in value to a grantor trust.

10:45 Break

11:00 Code Section 409A and You: Common Pitfalls and Traps for the Unwary

Taylor Bracewell, Ogletree Deakins, Atlanta, GA

This session begins with a primer on Code Section 409A and its applicable exceptions, as well as the consequences for violating Section 409A, before focusing on common pitfalls that can result in the inadvertent application (and violation) of Section 409A.

12:00 Adjourn for the Day

6:30 Networking Reception

6:30–7:30 PM | Osprey Point Clubhouse, Kiawah Island Golf Resort

Sponsored by Schell Bray PLLC.

SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2024

8:00 Continental Breakfast

8:25 Introductions

8:30 North Carolina State Tax Case Law Update

Ronald D. Williams, NC Department of Justice - Revenue Division, Raleigh

Hear a discussion of recent decisions from the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings, the North Carolina Business Court and the North Carolina Supreme Court relating to North Carolina tax law. This update includes opinions involving disputes in sales and use tax, corporate tax, franchise tax, and individual income tax.

9:30 Break

9:45 Current Trends in IRS Enforcement

Clint Massengill, EY, Hartford, CT

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) committed significant resources to IRS enforcement. We review the IRS's stated enforcement goals following the IRA and the IRS's progress in meeting those goals. In addition, we highlight less-obvious trends reflected in recent administrative actions and judicial proceedings.

10:45 Break

11:00 A Most Taxing Profession: Navigating Stress in Your Practice and in Your Life^†

Judge Lucy Inman, Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC, Raleigh
Edward Thomas Lewis, III, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

This session examines the stressful challenges lawyers face in our profession and personal lives and explores strategies for not just surviving but thriving. Judge Inman uses an anonymous polling system to engage the audience in discussion about how lawyers can respond to stressful circumstances, even if they can't control them, and how to identify small problems before they become big problems.

12:00 Adjourn for the Day

Tax Section Annual Meeting

Robert J. "Bob" Gallagher, Carolina Tax, Trusts & Estates, Southern Pines, 2023-2024 Section Chair, presiding

SUNDAY, MAY 26, 2024

8:00 Continental Breakfast

8:25 Introductions

8:30 Multistate SALT Update

William W. "Bill" Nelson, Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan LLP, Raleigh

This session focuses on significant recent state and local tax decisions from the United States Supreme Court and state courts around the country other than North Carolina.

9:30 Break

9:45 Tackling the To-Do List: Task and Project Management^‡

Catherine Sanders Reach, North Carolina Bar Association, Cary

Are you looking for a way to effectively stay on top of tasks for you or your team? Do you need to delegate, supervise, and stay current on projects whether you are in the office or working remotely? Do forgotten or overdue tasks wake you up at night? Keeping a task list with assignments and deadlines can help you and your team stay synced, reduce risk, and help your practice with everything from productivity to business continuity. We walk through some concepts and technology options (including some you may already have!) and see what might work well for you or your firm.

10:45 Break

11:00 Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) in College Sports: Current Developments and Tax Implications

Micha Malouf, Schell Bray PLLC, Chapel Hill

During this session, we discuss the tax-exempt status of NIL collectives after recent IRS guidance which concludes that an organization that develops paid NIL opportunities for student athletes will not, in many cases, qualify for exempt status. We explore taxpayer reliance on prior favorable IRS determination letters, strategies for advising tax-exempt clients in this ever-evolving space, and considerations for NIL transactions and entities (both nonprofit and for-profit) engaging in these transactions. Attendees also hear about federal, state and university requirements to keep in mind and tax consequences for student athletes.

12:00 Adjourn

† Indicates portion providing Professional Well-Being credit
‡ Indicates portion providing Technology Training credit

Description

Are you ready to dive into the latest tax law updates and strategies to enhance your practice? Join us for an in-depth analysis and discussion of federal, state, and local tax laws, policies, procedures and practices.

Contributors

Taylor Bracewell

Taylor Bracewell is a Shareholder at Ogletree Deakins in Atlanta, GA. He focuses his practice on qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, ERISA compliance, and executive compensation arrangements, including in the context of mergers and acquisitions.

Taylor's clients range from tax-exempt to publicly traded companies. They include private foundations, hospital systems, and credit unions, as well as companies in industries such as hospitality, insurance and other financial services, technology, pharmaceuticals, metals, and manufacturing.

Taylor routinely advises employers regarding the design and operation of qualified retirement plans, including preparation of relevant plan documents, strategy and submission relating to corrections of plan failures, and representation of clients in response to inquiries from the IRS and DOL.

Taylor provides regular advice to clients regarding executive compensation arrangements, including phantom equity arrangements and omnibus equity plans and advice relating to negotiating executive employment, retention, and severance agreements. Additionally, Taylor advises clients in the establishment and ongoing administration of nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements, including correcting failures under Code Section 409A. Further, Taylor regularly advises tax-exempt clients on structuring executive compensation arrangements to be in compliance with Code Section 457(f), and in avoiding the excise tax under Code Section 4960 on highly compensated employees.

Taylor earned his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Georgia and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgia State University College of Law.

Click here for more information about Taylor.
Cassady V. "Cass" Brewer

Cassady V. "Cass" Brewer is an Associate Professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta, GA who teaches Basic Federal Income Taxation, Nonprofit Organizations, Taxation of Business Organizations, Partnership Taxation, and the Law of Social Enterprise. His research primarily focuses upon the legal and tax aspects of the intersection of tax-exempt, nonprofit organizations with for-profit enterprises and commercial activity. He speaks regularly on federal income tax topics as well as the legal and tax aspects of emerging "hybrid" business forms such as the benefit corporation and the low-profit limited liability company.

Cass earned his LL.M. (Taxation) from New York University, where he served as graduate editor of the Tax Law Review. He is a graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Arkansas Law Review. He earned his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University.

He co-founded the Nonprofit Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia, and he is a past co-chair of the Section. Brewer also has participated in drafting and amending the Georgia Limited Liability Company and Limited Liability Partnership Acts and continues to serve as a member of the Partnerships and LLCs Subcommittee of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia. Brewer currently serves as the Reporter for the Legislative Proposals Committee of the Nonprofit Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia.

Cass is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and previously was a partner and practice leader in the Tax Group of Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Click here for more information about Cass.
Jordan L. Fieldstein

Jordan L. Fieldstein is a tax and corporate attorney with Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan LLP in Raleigh. She focuses her practice on tax and business law matters. She routinely advises clients on the federal and state tax aspects of merger and acquisition transactions, equity investments and financing transactions. She also regularly works with flow-through businesses, such as limited liability companies, partnerships and S corporations on a wide range of tax and business law matters including formation, capitalization, equity transfers, equity redemptions and liquidations.

Prior to joining Smith Anderson in 2018, Jordan practiced law with a Connecticut law firm providing tax planning and structuring advice to private investment funds.

Jordan earned her B.A. in Political Science from The University of North Carolina at Chapel HIll, her J.D., with a Certificate in Taxation, from the University of Connecticut School of Law and her LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law.

Click here for more information about Jordan.
Jerome M. "Jerry" Hesch

Jerome M. "Jerry" Hesch is Counsel at Meltzer Lippe Goldstein & Breitstone LLP in Boca Raton, FL. He's is with the firm's Business & Real Estate Taxation, Trusts & Estates, Tax Exempt Organizations and Private Wealth & Taxation Practice Groups.

Prior to joining the firm, Jerry served as an income tax and estate planning consultant for lawyers and other tax planning professionals throughout the country. Jerry was a consultant for Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone, LLP, Dorot & Bensimon PL, Jeffrey M. Verdon Law Group and Oshins & Associates LLC.

Jerry is the Director of the Notre Dame Tax and Estate Planning Institute and is on the Tax Management Advisory Board. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Council and the American College of Tax Council. He is also a member of the NAEPC Estate Planning Hall of Fame. He has published numerous articles, Tax Management Portfolios, and co-authored a law school casebook on federal income taxation, now in its fourth edition.

Jerry presented papers for the University of Miami Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the University of Southern California Tax Institute, the Southern Federal Tax Conference and the New York University Institute on Federal Taxation, among others. He has participated in several bar association projects, including the Drafting Committee for the Revised Uniform Partnership Act.

Jerry was with the Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service (1970-1975) and was a full-time law professor at the University of Miami School of Law and the Albany Law School of Union University for 20 years. He continues to teach courses as an adjunct law professor and has taught courses for Vanderbilt University Law School, University of Miami School of Law Graduate Program in Estate Planning, University of Buffalo School of Law, Florida International School of Law, On-Line LL.M. Programs for University of San Francisco Law School and Boston University School of Law. In addition, he was the Director of the Graduate Program in Estate Planning at the University of Miami from 1982-1992.

Jerry earned his B.A. and M.B.A. from the University of Michigan and his J.D. from the University of Buffalo.

Click here for more information about Jerry.
Judge Lucy N. Inman

Judge Lucy N. Inman is a Senior Counsel with Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC in Raleigh. She brings to Milberg wide ranging experience in civil litigation and more than a dozen years serving North Carolina as a trial and appellate judge. She focuses on the firm's appellate work.

From 2010 through 2014, Judge Inman served as a Superior Court judge in North Carolina, presiding in communities large and small. Of the thousands of rulings, she made in trials and hearings, seven were reversed on appeal. She won statewide election to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and served there from 2015 through 2022, authoring more than 450 appellate opinions, including decisions on issues of first impression in constitutional, criminal, civil, and administrative law. Fewer than three percent of her appellate opinions were reversed.

Judge Inman serves on the Judicial Independence Committee of the National Association of Women Judges. She has served in leadership roles in the North Carolina Bar Association and the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys.

Judge Inman earned her J.D., with honors, from The University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill, where she served as an article's editor for The North Carolina Law Review. She clerked for Chief Justice Exum of the North Carolina Supreme Court and practiced civil litigation for 18 years, first in Los Angeles, then in Raleigh. Her first jury trial was covered gavel-to-gavel on Court TV. She has represented businesses, celebrities, death row inmates, and survivors of negligence, fraud, and sexual abuse,

Click here for more information about Judge Inman.
Kristin King

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.
Edward Thomas Lewis, III, MD

Edward Thomas Lewis, III, MD is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, SC. He also completed his medical school and residency training in general psychiatry at MUSC. He then went on to complete an addiction psychiatry fellowship and a forensic psychiatry fellowship.

In his current role, Edward is the attending physician on the addictions inpatient unit at the MUSC Institute of Psychiatry. He also serves as the forensic psychiatry fellowship director. He has been recognized as an expert witness in forensic psychiatry by the South Carolina court of general sessions. He also conducts forensic evaluations and has provided psychiatric treatment to inmates within the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

Edward is involved in organizational psychiatry. He is a South Carolina American Psychiatric Association Assembly representative and a national membership committee member. He has also served as President of the South Carolina Psychiatric Association, the only state-wide association for psychiatric physicians in South Carolina, representing over 400 members.

Edward earned his B.S. in Biochemistry from Queens University of Charlotte, Fellowship at Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine, Fellowship at Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine, Residency at Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine and Medical School at Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine.

Click here for more information about Edward.
Micha Malouf

Micha Malouf is Special Counsel, Tax-Exempt Organizations and Philanthropy at Schell Bray PLLC in Chapel Hill. He joined Schell Bray PLLC in February 2022, bringing to the firm's clients his deep experience working with foundations, educational institutions, donor-advised fund sponsors, endowments, and other charitable entities. He is passionate about philanthropy and the impact that organizations of all sizes make on the people and places they serve.

Micah advises philanthropic organizations and their officers, directors, and trustees on formation and structuring, corporate governance, tax compliance, significant charitable gifts, endowments and investments, and other legal issues. He serves as co-author of Bloomberg (BNA) Tax Management Portfolio No. 482-2nd Tax Issues of Educational Organizations.

Prior to joining the firm, Micah served as Associate University Counsel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In this role, he focused on charitable giving, endowment and investment management, university-related foundations, trusts and estates, and board governance.

Micah previously served as a senior attorney of the Advanced Planning and Complex Asset Group at Fidelity Charitable, an independent public charity and donor-advised fund sponsor. At Fidelity Charitable, he worked directly with donors, their advisors, and corporate and business lawyers to facilitate charitable contributions of non-publicly traded assets to achieve the most favorable tax treatment with the greatest charitable impact. Prior to joining Fidelity Charitable, Micah served his alma mater as General Counsel of the Texas Tech Foundation, Inc. for more than five years.

He is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) and has completed the Nonprofit Management Certificate Program at the University of Texas at Austin.

Micah earned his B.B.A. in Finance and Economics from Texas Tech University and his J.D. from Texas Tech University School of Law.

Click here for more information about Micha.
Clint Massengill

Clint Massengill is Managing Director at EY's federal tax controversy practice in Hartford, CT.

Before joining EY recently, Clint spent over a decade in the tax controversy practice at a major law firm. He has litigated matters in federal and state courts and advised clients in a variety of industries, including banking, energy, insurance, manufacturing, real estate, and technology. He represents clients at all stages of federal and state administrative tax proceedings, including audits and administrative appeals.

Clint's experience includes five years as Senior Tax Counsel at a major insurance company and, before attending NYU's Graduate Tax Program, several years owning a general litigation practice in eastern North Carolina.

Clint earned his B.A. in Political Science and Government from Davidson College, J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his LL.M. in Tax Law/Taxation from New York University.

Click here for more information about Clint.
William W. "Bill" Nelson

William W. "Bill" Nelson is a Partner at Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan LLP in Raleigh. His principal practice areas are federal and state tax planning for businesses. He also assists taxpayers with federal and state tax controversies and has been active in numerous state tax legislative reform efforts.

Bill Nelson is recognized as a leading attorney in tax law and has over 30 years of experience with transactional tax planning, tax controversies and litigation, dealing with state and federal tax authorities as administrative agencies and representing taxpayers before the North Carolina General Assembly. He is consistently honored with the highest rating available by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business.

Bill earned his A.B. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his J.D., with high honors, from the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Click here for more information about Bill.
Catherine Sanders Reach

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.
Ronald D. "Ron" Williams

Ronald D. "Ron" Williams serves as a Special Deputy Attorney General and Section Head of the North Carolina Department of Justice in Raleigh. He manages a staff of six while representing the North Carolina Department of Revenue in contested tax matters.

Ron has successfully litigated matters in North Carolina Appellate Courts and Federal Bankruptcy Courts across the country.

Ron previously served as the Assistant General Counsel for Tax Administration for the North Carolina Department of Revenue. In that role, he advised Tax Administration and the Department on a variety of areas related to State and Local Taxation.

Ron earned his B.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and his J.D., cum laude, from North Carolina Central University School of Law.

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IN-PERSON LIVE LOCATION
Kiawah Island Golf Resort, 1 Sanctuary Beach Drive, Kiawah Island, SC

HOTEL INFORMATION
Contact hotels directly for reservations at the special NCBA room rate. Rates are based on availability and rooms may sell out.

Kiawah Island Golf Resort, 1 Sanctuary Beach Drive, Kiawah Island, SC
Nightly Rates: $215 One Bedroom Scenic View Villas | $285 Two Bedroom Scenic View Villas | $325 Three Bedroom Scenic View Villas | $580 Two Bedroom Oceanview Villas
Reservations: Request reservation online or call 866.763.5056 (Ask for North Carolina Bar - Tax Section group rate, or booking number 20398.)
Hotel Cutoff Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Group rates will be available two days before and after the event dates, based on availability. Reservations received after the cutoff date will only be filled on a space-and-rate available basis.

Description

Contributors

Taylor Bracewell

Cassady V. "Cass" Brewer

Jordan L. Fieldstein

Jerome M. "Jerry" Hesch

Judge Lucy N. Inman

Kristin King

Edward Thomas Lewis, III, MD

Micha Malouf

Clint Massengill

William W. "Bill" Nelson

Catherine Sanders Reach

Ronald D. "Ron" Williams

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