Taxation

Taxes impact virtually every facet of daily life for successful businesses and financially-sophisticated individuals. The MBK tax team excels in providing highly-skilled advice in one of the most technically challenging areas of the law. Our tax professionals combine in-depth technical skills with an appreciation for the nuances of business in the 21st century to provide practical, clear-headed tax advice to guide our clients’ tax-oriented business decisions.

MBK clients include high-net-worth individuals; publicly traded and privately held businesses; complex, multi-entity non-profit entities; hospitals and healthcare systems; health and human service providers; start-up, early-life-cycle and emerging growth ventures; and trusts and estates. We work with our clients to develop sophisticated income, estate and gift tax planning strategies. Our overriding goal is to provide competent, prudent tax planning advice that maximizes tax savings while minimizing exposure to government scrutiny.

Business

MBK’s Tax team advises clients at every phase of the business lifecycle with competent, strategic tax advice. From choice of entity (C corporations, S corporations, Limited Liability Companies, Limited Partnerships or Trusts) to state of domicile decisions, MBK helps new enterprises make tax-efficient decisions from their outset.

As the business matures, MBK provides ongoing tax advice on executive compensation plans, dividend and earning distribution strategies, qualified and non-qualified retirement plan architecture, and techniques for accessing tax-credit and tax-deferral opportunities. In the merger and acquisition arena, MBK’s early involvement in the purchase or disposition of a business (or a segment or division thereof) can add significantly to the net after-tax benefits of a transaction.

Individuals

MBK counsels high-net-worth individuals and their families on income, estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax strategies aimed at preserving wealth for multiple generations. The use of limited liability companies, family limited partnerships, private foundations and various trust structures encourages wise and prudent wealth stewardship across generations.

Trusts and Estates

As an integral part of our Estate Planning & Wealth Preservation practice, we advise families on the income, gift and estate tax considerations of complex estate and trust matters. We assist executors and trustees in discharging their fiduciary duties, including filing U.S. Estate and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Return (IRS Form 706) and Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Return (REV-1500). We ensure that families take advantage of available tax credits such as Pennsylvania’s Qualified Family-Owned Business Exemption and Business of Agriculture Exemption. In addition, we help families navigate the audit process for estates that have been selected for an Estate or Gift Tax audit or a Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax audit.

Non-Profit Organizations

MBK counsels non-profit and tax-exempt organizations at every stage of their lifecycle. We assist non-profit clients with all aspects of formation, obtaining tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service, registering with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Charitable Organizations, and structuring operations to avoid federal, state and local unrelated business income, excise and property taxes. We also work with tax-exempt organizations to obtain or preserve state and local sales tax and property tax exemptions as Institutions of Purely Public Charity under Pennsylvania’s HUP Test and Act 55.

Tax Controversies

We have extensive experience representing individuals, businesses and non-profit and tax-exempt organizations in audits and other administrative inquiries. This includes representation in examinations, audits or inquiries before:

• The Internal Revenue Service (including matters before the IRS Appeals Division and the US Tax Court)
• The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, as well as appeals to the Board of Appeals, the Board of Finance and Revenue and the Commonwealth Court
• Local Pennsylvania Business Privilege and Earned Income Tax audits
• County Real Estate Assessment Appeals

Our experience has shown that our early engagement with taxing bodies on a client’s behalf often affords the best opportunity to deliver a favorable outcome in any tax controversy.