Federal and State Taxation

Litigation Engagements

• On behalf of defendant — a Big Four international accounting firm — regarding standards of care in federal tax practice and alleged economic damages in connection with 14 lawsuits for professional malpractice brought by former clients who invested in allegedly abusive tax shelter transactions – in both federal district and state courts in Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and the District of Columbia.

• On behalf of defendants – a local public accounting firm and CPA partner of the firm – regarding standards of care in federal tax practice and alleged economic damages in connection with a lawsuit for professional malpractice brought by 10 former clients that pertained to the reporting of allegedly abusive tax shelter transaction positions on their federal income tax returns – in state district court in Texas.

• On behalf of defendants - a local public accounting firm and CPA partner of the firm – regarding standards of care in federal tax practice and alleged economic damages in connection with a lawsuit for professional malpractice brought by related-party former clients because the CPA partner did not discover while preparing their income tax returns that an investment manager had embezzled funds from their brokerage accounts – in county court at law in Texas.

• On behalf of defendant – a CPA tax preparer – who was indicted by the Internal Revenue Service for willfully aiding and assisting in the preparation of federal income tax returns which he allegedly knew to be materially false and fraudulent – I provided an expert report in which I concluded the CPA did not violate the standards of practice – in federal district court in Texas.

• On behalf of plaintiff – the United States Air Force – which indicted a member of the military for monetary larceny in connection with her alleged willfully aiding and assisting in the preparation of federal income tax returns for other members of the military which she allegedly knew to be materially false and fraudulent – I assessed the dollar amount of erroneous federal income tax refunds generated from these tax returns and testified at trial on this and other related issues – military court martial tribunal at Holloman AFB, New Mexico.

• On behalf of plaintiff – a state department of revenue – that sued a publicly-held publisher of newspapers after it sold some of its assets to another publicly-held publisher of newspapers after it restructured itself in order that that the sale transaction would allegedly legitimately avoid state taxes – before the Appellate Tax Board of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

• On behalf of plaintiffs — creditors and former shareholders of an independent power producer that was formerly a subsidiary of a regulated public utility – who sued the former parent company for alleged misconduct related to the subsidiary’s initial public offering and later spinoff, including potentially adverse federal income tax consequences – in federal district court in Georgia.

• On behalf of defendant – a businessman in the real estate business – who was indicted by the Internal Revenue Service for criminal tax evasion for allegedly underreporting income – I performed a reconstructive accounting of his income and expense accounts to prove the amount of the income understatement was comparatively minimal, which resulted in his receiving probation and no jail time – in federal district court in Texas.

• On behalf of plaintiff – a wealthy entrepreneur who owns banks, automobile dealerships, and a professional sports team – who sued the Internal Revenue Service with regard to investment interest vs. business interest, leasing, and net operating loss carryforward issues – in the United States Tax Court.

• On behalf of defendant — a Big Four international accounting firm – regarding standards of care in federal tax practice and alleged economic damages claimed by a former client asserting professional malpractice for failure to timely prepare a generation-skipping transfer tax allocation election — in state district court in Texas.

• On behalf of plaintiff – a member of a wealthy family – I performed a 10-year reconstruction of the partner capital accounts of a family limited partnership on behalf of one of four adult children of the grantors who alleged they had been improperly maintained to his disadvantage – in state district court in Texas.

• On behalf of defendants – two trucking companies in the flatbed oilfield hauling business – that were sued by a certified class of trucker owner-operators with regard to employee vs. independent contractor and payroll tax (FICA, Medicare, FUTA, and SUTA) issues — in state district court in Texas.

• On behalf of defendant – a local public accounting firm – regarding standards of care in federal tax practice and alleged economic damages in connection with a lawsuit for professional malpractice brought by seven former clients who invested in a book publishing tax shelter – in state court in Texas.

For professional misconduct cases involving matters other than taxation, see Professional Misconduct.

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