Tax and Financial

Gould & Ratner's Tax and Financial Practice Group is preeminent in Chicago in terms of representing entrepreneurs and multi-generational family businesses.  We excel in devising and implementing strategies to address all facets of the business and business owner's tax, financial and succession planning goals.  Our lawyers are by design and necessity, uniquely cross-trained.  While our lawyers each maintain areas of technical expertise, our role as business advisor requires us to understand and integrate a broad range of tax (income, gift and estate, state and local), business, financial and family issues.

TAX-FINANCIAL-WEALTH TRANSFER-SUCCESSION PRACTICE.pdf

Simply stated, our history of 60 plus years of counseling a wide array of Chicago's successful family and closely-held businesses provides us with a wealth of insight into the development and implementation of family business succession, tax and financial planning strategies not available elsewhere.

Representative Transactions

• Advisor to multi-generational family businesses to successfully develop and implement strategies to assure the harmonious transition of the business and related management responsibilities.
• Designed and implemented successful strategies for home builders and developers to separate business properties and investment properties to preserve favorable capital gains rate potential, and tax-deferred roll-over of recognized gains on disposition of investment properties.
• Developed strategies and business organizational structure and related planning for acquisition of major retail and related operations out of bankruptcy.
• Counsel on transaction design and capital structuring for myriad corporate acquisitions of domestic and foreign operations.
• Represented multi-state retail business in the tax-free spin-off of various real property interests to shareholders.
• Represented subchapter C corporate entity with over $150 million of investment assets to unlock appreciation potential from unfavorable double-taxed corporate structure.
• Advisor to closely held corporate businesses in design and implementation of various deferred compensation and pseudo-equity plans for key management personnel.
• Represented multi-state manufacturing business in tax-free spin-out of real estate assets.

Sub-services

• Business Transactions - Acquisitions and Dispositions
• Real Estate Transactions
• Business Succession Planning
• Estate Planning and Family Office Administration

News

• Steve Gustafson and Mark Leipold Spoke on Tax and Legal Issues Relating to Financially Distressed Limited Liability Companies

Articles

• The Future Holds Higher Taxes for Top Earners, Summer 2010
• New Tax Benefits for the Down Economy, Spring 2009
• The Importance of Choosing a Home for Your Trust, Fall 2008
• IRS Disavows Popular Year-End Tax Planning Move, Spring 2008
• The Dilemma of Partnership "Divorce" in the Context of Tax-Deferred Like-Kind Exchanges, March 2008
• New Tax Rules for Deferred Compensation
• Tax Exempt Private Foundations - Distributions Can Affect Excise Tax Obligations
• Income Tax Aspects: Choice of Business for Operations in the United States, 2004
• The Alternative Minimum Tax and the Home Mortgage Deduction
• Restricted Stock and Stock Options: Tax and Other Consequences to the Family Business
• Preserving Family Assets: The Use of Planned Charitable Giving, 1996
• Tax Consequences of Eminent Domain