Pierce Atwood's Tax Group works closely with the Business Group to structure transactions in the most tax-efficient manner possible. Tax considerations often determine the form and the viability of contemplated transactions. Accordingly, members of our group become involved in transactional matters at the outset, learning and understanding the client's business, structure, and balance sheet to achieve the client's objectives. Members of the Tax Group regularly advise clients on the federal, state, and international tax aspects of corporate reorganizations, mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs and other dispositions, joint ventures, financings, and restructurings.

Over the past several years, renewable energy projects have frequently been driven by federal and state tax credits and other tax incentives. Members of the Tax Group regularly work with the Energy Practice Group and the Renewables Team to structure and develop renewable energy projects, including wind, solar, and biomass projects, to achieve our client's objectives in the most tax-efficient manner possible. Often this involves the syndication or monetization of tax credits. We have expertise and experience with all tax aspects of renewable energy projects, including investment tax credits, production tax credits, new markets tax credits, and the Section 1603 cash grant program.

In today’s tight credit market tax credits are often an important piece of financing a project. Pierce Atwood’s attorneys have substantial experience with tax credit financing, including both state and federal new markets tax credits, historic rehabilitation tax credits, and renewable energy tax credits. We regularly work with businesses and developers to utilize these programs in a variety of ways, including real estate, manufacturing, and energy infrastructure projects. Because Pierce Atwood is a multi-service law firm, our tax credit attorneys draw on the knowledge and experience of our other practice groups (e.g., Business, Real Estate, Environmental, and Energy) to successfully bring projects to a financial closing. We pride ourselves on working collaboratively with our clients to find practical, efficient, and creative ways to achieve our client’s goals.

Our tax team assists companies seeking to locate or expand in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island to take advantage of available economic incentives. The team also regularly lobbies on behalf of business groups in Maine to maintain or expand incentives, including Business Equipment Tax Exemption benefits, investment tax credits, tax increment financing, employment tax increment financing, new markets tax credits, and Pine Tree Zone benefits.

Along with our Trusts and Estates Group, we provide advice and counsel to tax-exempt organizations regarding all organizational and operational aspects of obtaining and maintaining federal tax exemption and public charity status. We also counsel clients and plan for the taxation of unrelated business activities. We help clients comply with all applicable tax rules, including structuring compensation arrangements to meet deferred compensation rules and intermediate sanctions regulations. We regularly prepare exemption applications. We also provide guidance regarding state tax exemptions, including exemptions from sales tax and property tax.

Our team serves clients with every variety of Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire income, business profits and financial institution franchise tax issues from nexus, to tax base, apportionment and credits. In addition to handling controversies at all levels, from audit to state supreme courts, our attorneys provide assistance with planning, including entity structure issues.

We have decades of experience with both planning and controversy issues arising from real and personal property taxes in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island that involves appeals starting at the local level, through State Boards and trial courts and all the way up to the state supreme courts. We can help obtain tax abatements, business property tax reimbursements or exemptions.

Examples of our property tax clients include pulp and paper mills, power plants, interstate pipelines, federal superfund sites, hotels, real estate developments, telecommunications assets, summer camps, and high-end residential properties.

Our tax attorneys are called upon to assist clients with a full range of sales and use tax issues in Maine and Massachusetts, as well as nexus issues arising in other states as a result of remote sales, activities of affiliates or independent contractors, remote use of servers or programming and other activities. We help clients with issues arising from other transactional taxes in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, including real estate transfer taxes, meals and lodging taxes, service provider taxes and fuel taxes.

Members of the Tax Group represent clients in tax controversy matters, including trial litigation and IRS audits and appeals. We regularly advise clients during the audit process by assisting in responses to IRS requests, developing strategies to identify and address issues. Many concerns are resolved at the audit level, but when they are not, we obtain successful resolutions at the appeal level or before the United States Tax Court or the Federal District Courts. We work closely with our Litigation Group in many controversies so that our clients have the benefit of both experienced tax lawyers and innovative litigators.