The Advanced Tax Institute exists to help high-performing lawyers and CPAs bring the best advice to their clients and their firms. Access in-depth updates on NEW tax laws and regulations across a variety of focus areas.
Kick off your Tax Week strong with a comprehensive session designed for high-performing CPAs, tax attorneys, and advisory professionals aiming to sharpen their edge.
There will be a $25 fee for changing from IN PERSON format to Virtual after October 31, 2026.
Please note – materials for this event will be provided electronically ONLY. Please feel free to bring your own device to view the materials. We recommend that you download them prior to the event date rather than on-site.
Please note – materials for this event will be provided electronically ONLY. Please feel free to bring your own device to view the materials. We recommend that you download them prior to the event date rather than onsite.
Hale E. Sheppard is a Partner and Co-Chair of the Tax Controversy & Litigation Group at Eversheds Sutherland, a global law firm with approximately 3,000 attorneys located in offices throughout the United States and the world.
Hale defends individuals and businesses during federal tax audits, tax appeals, and tax litigation. He has participated in over 250 cases with the Tax Court and obtained dozens of positive Private Letter Rulings for clients.
Hale holds five college degrees. At the University of Kansas, he earned a B.S., with distinction, M.A., with honors, and J.D. He later received an LL.M. degree in international law, with highest distinction, from the University of Chile. Finally, he obtained an LL.M. degree in tax from the University of Florida, where he was a graduate tax scholar.
Hale served as a graduate editor of the Florida Tax Review and member of the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy. More recently, he has been recognized as a frontrunner in tax litigation by Chambers USA, Legal 500, Law360 and other respected organizations, and he was inducted into the American College of Tax Counsel. Hale has also held leadership positions in many professional organizations, including as editor of several national tax publications and President of the Tax Section of the Georgia Bar.
Hale regularly speaks at the national, regional and local level, presenting at more than 60 major tax conferences, some multiple times.
Hale is best known for being one of most active tax writers in the country, publishing over 315 articles in top tax journals and law reviews, both in the United States and abroad.
Many entities treated as partnerships are now under attack. The IRS claims that they are incorrectly treating their owners as “limited partners,” thereby escaping self-employment taxes on their distributive shares. This presentation analyzes the root of the issue in 1977, relevant administrative and court rulings over the following decades, current IRS Compliance Campaign, recent Tax Court decisions, pending cases with various Courts of Appeals, and what it all means for partner characterization in the future.
Ryan McCormick
Senior Vice President & Counsel
The Real Estate Roundtable, Tax Policy
Ryan McCormick is Senior Vice President and Counsel at The Real Estate Roundtable, where he is responsible for managing the organization’s tax policy activities. The Real Estate Roundtable brings together leaders of the nation’s top publicly held and privately owned real estate ownership, development, lending and management firms and leaders of major national real estate trade associations to jointly address key national policy issues relating to real estate and the overall economy. The Roundtable (www.rer.org) is located in Washington, D.C.
Ryan coordinates the activities of the Real Estate Roundtable’s Tax Policy Advisory Committee, a group of 150 leading real estate tax experts, including the in-house tax directors, general counsel, and chief financial officers of Roundtable members and senior partners from the country’s preeminent real estate advisory firms. The Roundtable’s Tax Policy Advisory Committee works to help lawmakers and federal officials understand how tax rules affect real estate activity, and it promotes pro-growth tax reforms that will facilitate sound, environmentally responsible real estate investment and development.
Ryan joined the Roundtable in May 2013 after serving nearly 11 years in the U.S. Senate as a tax and economic policy advisor for Senators Bob Graham, Pat Moynihan, John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, and Bill Nelson. In the Senate, he developed policy initiatives, drafted tax legislation, and devised legislative strategies to advance his Members’ economic priorities. In the 112th Congress, Ryan was Staff Director of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth. As staff director, Ryan guided and oversaw all aspects of the subcommittee’s activities, including bipartisan hearings on tax reform and tax policy matters.
In addition to his service in the Senate, from 2006 until 2008, Ryan practiced tax law as an associate at Miller & Chevalier (“shev-a-leer”) in Washington, D.C., the oldest tax law firm in the country. He is a graduate of Georgetown University; Sciences-Po (“see-ons pō”) in Paris, France; and the University of Texas School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Texas International Law Journal and received the Vinson & Elkins Presidential Scholarship in International Law. From 2000 to 2001, Ryan researched tax reform in West Africa as a Fulbright Scholar.
This session will identify and examine key real estate tax issues likely to arise in the next Congress and beyond. The discussion will focus on the major tax policy challenges and opportunities for U.S. real estate and the real estate industry. How will the recent election influence tax legislation going forward? Topics we will discuss include capital gains, unrealized gains, wealth tax proposals, like-kind exchanges, step-up in basis at death, carried interest, taxation of foreign investment in U.S. real estate, partnership and pass-through tax reform, the net investment income tax, cost recovery/bonus depreciation, affordable housing, Opportunity Zones, tax credits/incentives, tax legislation aimed at institutional owners of housing, and more.
Paul Wilner
Professional Activities
Consultant Grossberg Company LLP
Retired, was past Managing Partner/ Head of Tax Practice
Technical Quality Control, Real Estate and Estate and Gift Taxation
Business and Transactional Consulting
IRS Tax Controversy Matters
Professional Organizations
Served as/on:
Tax Executive Committee, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
Member AICPA Tax Executive Committee: Technical Reviewer - Partnership, S Corp., and Individual Tax Committees
Chair NYU annual National Real Estate and Partnership Tax Conferences
Chair AICPA’s National Partnership Technical Resource Panel (partnership taxation committee)
Chair AICPA’s annual National Real Estate Tax Conferences
Chair AICPA Task Force on Debt Reduction Basis Adjustments
Chair of Greater Washington Society of CPA’s Federal Taxation Committee
Member of AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants)
Member of AICPA’s Federal Tax Division
Chair of AICPA’s Task Force on Partnership Debt Allocations
Member of AICPA Tax Shelter Regulation Task Force
Member of Executive Committee, Jeffrey Henry International; Region of the Americas
Professional Development
Expert Witness Testimony before Treasury
Expert Witness for criminal and civil taxation matters
Author
Relief for Real Estate Professionals From Passive Activity Loss Rules,
TAX IDEAS, Warren, Gorham & Lamont
Disguised Sale Rules, §707(A), Taxation for Accountants, WG&L
Associated Accounting Firms International Booklet on Tax Aspects of Domestic Relations
Jeffreys Henry International Tax Planning Opportunities Guide
Associated Accounting Firms International, Year End Tax Planning Strategies
Lecturer/Instructor
The College of William and Mary, School of Law
NYU Real Estate and Partnership Tax Conferences
D.C. Bar / GWSCPA Pass-through Taxation Division
GWSCPA on Taxation of Real Estate
D.C. Bar Residential Property Committee
Kentucky Institute of Taxation
AICPA National Conference on Taxation and National Real Estate Tax Conference
MICPEL Annual Tax Seminar
Guest Instructor / Lecturer numerous other seminars on Taxation and Business
Listed in Washingtonian Magazine as one of the Top Tax Accountants in Washington D.C.
Career Experience
Comprehensive Tax Planning for High Net Worth Individuals and Family Groups
Specialization in Partnership Taxation and all phases of Real Estate Industry and related fields
Estate, Gift and Trust Taxation
Real Estate Transactional Tax and Business Consulting
Business and Real Property Acquisition Due Diligence Analysis
With a focus on real world transactional experiences, the presenter focuses on the tax aspects of certain complex real estate and partnership transactions and the opportunities and often missed issues, pitfalls, and challenges under these types of business transactions.
Norm Lencz is a tax attorney who focuses his practice on matters relating to international, federal, state, and local tax. Norm advises clients on issues associated with corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, joint ventures, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and regulated investment companies (RICs); tax-free and taxable mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs; compensation planning; installment sales and like-kind exchanges; and real estate development and investment. His counsel covers all aspects of tax planning and tax controversy, leveraging his deep knowledge base and broad experience to provide creative solutions to any tax issues his clients confront.
Insights Thought Leadership 3 Key Improvements to Maryland Pass-Through Entity Tax March 26, 2021 March 2021 Update: SALT Deduction Workaround for Maryland Pass-Throughs Expanded and Improved March 16, 2021 Issues and Limitations with the Maryland SALT Deduction Workaround September 22, 2020
Brian O'Connor is co-chair of Venable's Transactional Tax Group.
Brian provides sophisticated tax and business advice to publicly traded and closely held businesses and their owners. His practice focuses on foreign and domestic tax matters for partnerships, limited liability companies, joint ventures, both C and S corporations, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and regulated investment companies (RICs). He is also regularly consulted by wealthy individuals and entrepreneurs on federal and state income tax matters and federal estate and gift tax issues.
As a transactional tax attorney, Brian works on transactions ranging from small sales transactions to merger or acquisition transactions in the billions of dollars. Similarly, as a tax controversy attorney, he has represented both individual clients in small audit matters and publicly traded corporate clients in tax disputes with amounts at issue in excess of $1 billion.
Before joining Venable, Brian was an attorney-advisor for the Office of Chief Counsel at the IRS, where he worked on high-profile legislative projects, regulations, and other published guidance related to partnerships, S corporations, trusts, common trust funds, and cooperatives.
His valuable experience and continuing connections with the government, when combined with his significant private practice experience, permit Brian to provide unique insights to his clients, both large and small, on important tax and business issues.
Christopher S. Davidson
Partner
Chris Davidson advises clients on a wide range of federal and state tax issues involving corporate, partnership, international, and individual income tax. Chris focuses primarily on foreign and domestic tax matters for partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations. He frequently provides tax planning advice to wealthy individuals and entrepreneurs.
Maryland
Matthew Carruth advises clients on federal and state income tax planning, structuring, and compliance matters. Matthew brings to his practice years of experience as an attorney-advisor at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a senior associate focusing on M&A tax services at a "Big Four" accounting firm, and an attorney handling tax transaction matters and tax controversy matters at his previous law firm. He relies on that experience when helping clients handle stock and asset acquisitions, restructurings, and other transactions.