Being both an Attorney and a Certified Public Accountant with a Masters of Science in Taxation, I consult and advise clients on a variety of tax issues and tax planning ideas to save client’s tax dollars. Prior to attending Law School, I was a Tax Manager with a then Big Eight Accounting firm, Ernst & Whinney in Chicago. I was in the privately owned business group and my clients included an NFL football team, major taxi-cab company, major appliance maker’s founding family and other successful privately owned businesses and their owners.
We counsel clients on the proper entity to establish to run a business/profession and the best way to title and hold real estate as part of that business to minimize any potential liability. By preparing our estate planning client’s Federal and State Income Tax returns we monitor how a client’ assets are titled and thus are able to correct any titling issues we uncover in preparing their tax returns. Frequently clients fail to keep financial assets titled in their trusts when they move money to different banks or brokerage houses, thereby risking the need to “probate” their estate upon their death even though they have a revocable trust set up. Our review of a client’s asset holdings while preparing their individual income tax returns each year allows us the opportunity to correct any mis-titling of assets so to avoid a potential probate issue in the future.