Advising nonprofits

Charity begins with good planning.

Nonprofit organizations generally fall into one of two categories:  family foundations and broadly based, publicly supported organizations, including donor advised funds and community foundations. Our attorneys are well versed in these types of nonprofits and support our clients in the following areas:

• Formation.  We advise new nonprofits on a spectrum of legal and tax issues such as choice of entity, formation and governing documents. We also assist nonprofit clients in applying for tax-exempt status with the IRS and registering with the state to ensure that they will be recognized as charities.
• Governance and compliance. We assist nonprofits with fundamental governance and operational issues, such as compliance with federal and state laws, including tax laws.  The tax deductibility of donations, for example, is a fast-evolving area, and nonprofits, as well as the donors who support them, need to ensure that contributions to the charity will be deductible.  Strict adherence to the tax laws is critical in order to avoid the imposition of a variety of excise taxes.
• Termination.  If it is necessary to wind down a nonprofit organization, careful planning is crucial, as the stakes can be high:  terminations are subject to significant oversight and penalties for failing to strictly adhere to the governing documents and applicable laws can be costly.

We also assist in setting up specialized kinds of charitable split-interest trusts, such as charitable lead trusts (CLTs) and charitable remainder trusts (CRTs), which are principally estate planning tools for our clients who are charitably inclined.

International tax planning

Have a sound global tax strategy.

Tax and estate issues can be highly technical and complex for individuals and entities that conduct business across national borders. Lourie & Cutler’s international tax and estate planning practice assists U.S. citizens and domestic entities in their activities abroad; we also assist foreign nationals and foreign entities with a presence in the U.S.. Our services include:

• Legal issues that arise when U.S. nationals receive non-U.S. income or have an offshore presence. Our attorneys are highly experienced in the breadth of legal issues, including special tax and information reporting requirements, that apply to U.S. nationals with interests in offshore business entities, investments, or estate planning vehicles such as trusts.
• Legal issues that arise when foreign nationals receive U.S. income or have a domestic tax presence. We also advise foreign nationals who have a tax presence in the U.S., either through their investments, their business activities, or interests in domestic trusts and estates.
• The interaction of U.S. and foreign estate and gift tax laws. Our attorneys can assist in interpreting the special rules derived from treaties and other international arrangements. We assist both U.S. nationals living abroad and foreign nationals living in the U.S. with their estate and tax planning while staying mindful and vigilante of the interaction between U.S. and other applicable tax and inheritance laws.

For more than 75 years, we have helped our clients pursue global opportunities. We have developed expertise and formed professional connections in many countries, and we are prepared to provide you with the best strategy to manage your most complex international tax issues.

Tax controversy

Your day in court… or preferably, out of court.

We have a successful and highly respected tax controversy practice and will work to resolve our clients’ tax disputes before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or other state taxing agencies.  As your representative before the IRS and other taxing agencies, we will zealously represent you in the following areas:

• Representation in U.S. Internal Revenue Service matters. We represent clients in all stages of the tax controversy process before the IRS, including audits and conferences with the Office of Appeals of the IRS.  We also handle all types of taxes, including income, gift and estate taxes.
• Representation in state tax controversies.We represent clients in audits by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) as well as at hearings before the DOR’s Office of Appeals, including domicile audits.
• Litigation. Although our goal is always to achieve the most favorable result for our clients without resorting to trial, we litigate when necessary.  Our attorneys have represented clients in the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board, U.S. District Court for Massachusetts and the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.

Our attorneys handle tax cases for individuals and businesses, and we also advise CPAs and attorneys in other fields of law, such as family, divorce and employment law, who need specialized tax counsel.

Probate & trust administration

Putting your estate plan to work.

The attorneys at Lourie & Cutler bring a wealth of experience to advising clients with respect to probate and trust administration.  We assist clients in all aspects of the probate process and in the administration of estates and trusts.  Our services include:

• Preparation of probate court filings and notices. We advise clients regarding required probate court filings and assist in managing the probate process.  We also assist clients in identifying and distributing estate assets.
• Estate tax return and fiduciary income tax return preparation. Our attorneys are leaders in estate-tax planning matters, and we provide guidance in the valuation of complex assets and the availability of credits and deductions. The IRS audits a significant percentage of estate tax returns, and we provide knowledgeable and vigorous representation throughout the audit process.
• Trust administration counsel. We counsel clients regarding all trust administration matters, including the trustees’ exercise of discretionary powers, trust funding, the preparation of trust accountings and the preparation of fiduciary income tax returns. We also offer guidance on the duties and responsibilities of fiduciaries and, in appropriate circumstances, provide fiduciary services to our clients.

At Lourie & Cutler, our attorneys strive to provide a tax-efficient perspective to a variety of probate and trust administration matters.

Pension & employee benefits

For your benefit — and your employees’.

Our attorneys have extensive experience in serving clients’ needs relating to pension and other employee benefit plans.

• Qualified retirement plans. We help design and implement defined contribution plans (including 401(k), profit sharing and money purchase plans) and defined benefit plans for both taxable and tax-exempt employers. Our attorneys draft individually designed plans or work with prototype plan providers to customize such plans to meet a client’s specific needs. We also help clients deal with ongoing operational issues, plan amendments and plan terminations.
• Nonqualified Retirement and Deferred Compensation Plans. We frequently work with clients in connection with executive compensation arrangements, SERPs and other non-qualified deferred compensation plans and are experienced in drafting and implementing these arrangements. Our attorneys also regularly advise employers and executives concerning compliance with the highly complex rules of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code.
• Other benefit plans. Our attorneys design and draft cafeteria plans to provide employees with flexible benefits and significant tax advantages.
• Compliance. We have extensive experience in dealing with Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Labor audits of qualified plans and with issues involving Form 5500, including late filing problems. We frequently help clients address operational problems with qualified plans and assist with the utilization of the voluntary corrections programs of both the IRS and the U.S. Department of Labor.  In addition, we help clients keep plans in compliance with the ever-changing tax rules governing employee benefit plans.

Business Planning

Minding your business: success and succession.

Businesses face a wide range of choices that have important tax implications. At Lourie & Cutler, we serve as corporate counsel for our clients and assist in all phases of business development: from formation to operation to transfer. Some of the tax and business planning areas our attorneys specialize in include:

• Business entity formation. We counsel clients establishing new ventures on the most appropriate choice of entity, such as an LLC, partnership or corporation. We can suggest optimal structures given the goals, ownership and expected operations of your new business.
• Governance and operations. As businesses grow, our attorneys assist with ongoing operations and governance matters. We assist not only with day-to-day business matters — such as employment agreements, leases, and other types of contracts — but also with more significant transactions and structural changes such as acquisitions, mergers, reorganizations and sales.
• Succession planning. By integrating tax, business planning and estate planning, our team advises clients on the most advantageous way to transfer business interests. For instance, in the case of a family business, this can be accomplished through gifts, stock issuances and installment sales, as well as well-crafted estate plans. When succession planning involves third parties, we can assist you with the transition of your business through redemption agreements, cross-purchase agreements and other arrangements.

Estate Planning

Where there’s a will, there’s a way: your way.

Lourie & Cutler’s estate planning practice is innovative and comprehensive. Our attorneys customize plans that are appropriate for each client, whether it’s planning for family, future generations, charitable institutions or the other important individuals and organizations in a client’s life. From simple wills and trusts to the most sophisticated wealth transfer vehicles, our estate plans are tailored to meet each individual client’s needs. Given our attorneys’ experiences in a broad range of practice areas, we can integrate estate planning with business and tax planning, as well as asset protection, to provide a holistic approach to a client’s legal issues that require attention. We help our clients pursue a wide range of estate planning strategies and vehicles, including the following:

• Grantor retained interest trusts, commonly known by their acronyms — GRATs, GRUTs, and QPRTs — which allow assets to be transferred to beneficiaries with significant gift tax savings.
• Family limited partnerships and family limited liability companies, which ensure centralized management of gifted assets and may be structured to take advantage of discounts and other valuation opportunities.
• Life insurance trusts, which can increase estate liquidity and avoid taxation of insurance proceeds.
• Charitable organizations, which enable our clients to meet their charitable goals, using vehicles such as private foundations, from which charitable donations may be made, or split-interest trusts (commonly known as charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts), which may provide an income stream or valuable tax benefits.
• Dynasty and generation-skipping trusts, which minimize estate taxes for current and future generations.

In addition to setting up various estate planning vehicles, we offer counsel on how to administer and gain tax advantages from these vehicles. We take pride in the fact that many of our clients are multi-generational –-in many cases, the close relationships we build with our clients continue from one generation to the next.

Tax Planning

The key to tax savings is planning.

Individuals and businesses face a wide range of choices that have important federal and state tax implications. At Lourie & Cutler, we take a multidimensional perspective that encompasses areas such as estate planning, business planning and tax law in order to tailor a customized plan to meet each client’s unique goals and needs.

• For business owners. From choice of business entity to acquisitions, mergers, reorganization and dissolutions, income taxes are a key component of any transaction. The transfer of business interests, whether through gifts, bequests, installment sales, redemption agreements, or cross-purchase agreements, has complex tax ramifications. Our attorneys have a wealth of tax and business knowledge and can assist our clients in structuring the transfer of business interests in the most tax-efficient manner, whether the transfer is to a family member, a key employee or an unrelated purchaser. Business owners will also benefit from our expertise in the pension and employee benefits
• For individuals. We advise individuals on a wide variety of income tax matters, including the structure of real estate investments and other business opportunities, investment in pass-through entities, planning with highly appreciated assets, charitable giving and the optimal disposition of IRAs and other qualified plan benefits.