SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

James Barrett, Baker McKenzie

James Barrett is a partner in the Miami office tax department and is a senior editor for Baker McKenzie North America Tax Practice Group's Tax News & Developments. He is the immediate past chair of the Tax Section of the Florida Bar. Barrett advises on United States federal income tax planning focusing on outbound and inbound international tax issues. He has extensive experience in: (i) tax planning associated with cross-border mergers and acquisitions; (ii) structuring offshore operations of and repatriations by US multinationals; (iii) advising clients with regard to tax issues arising in the use of partnerships in international transactions, and (iv) addressing issues relating to debt and equity investments in the US. He also advises on state and local tax issues particularly relating to tax issues concerning the State of Florida. Barrett is recognized in Chambers USA for Tax in the Band 1 category, the highest ranking available.

 

Barrett is the co-founder and chairman of the board of directors of CasaBlanca Academy, Inc., a school which, for over nine years has provided a comprehensive program to address the unique sensory, perceptual and motor planning difficulties that are experienced by many children with autism. Barrett also is a member of the External Advisory Board for the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences at Duke University. Barrett is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law and an adjunct professor at the University of Florida School of Law.

 

Mark Daly, Tax Division, Department of Justice

Mark Daly is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Duke University School of Law. He joined the Department of Justice in 2002 and the Tax Division in 2006. Prior to joining the Division, he handled complex civil litigation in the Department's Civil Rights Division and in private practice with the well-regarded law firms Drinker, Biddle & Reath, LLP and Goodwin Proctor LLP. Since joining Tax Division, Daly has successfully handled the investigation and prosecution of numerous complex criminal tax cases.

During the past 3 years, he has also taken a leading role in three separate grand jury investigations of major financial institutions involved in schemes to defraud the United States by aiding and assisting U.S. taxpayers to evade their taxes through undeclared offshore bank accounts. In that role, he has been actively engaged in developing overall strategy and managing teams of Tax Division prosecutors and IRS Special Agents, while assisting other prosecutors and investigating agents throughout the country. In 20 I 0, Daly conducted the grand jury investigation and served as lead trial counsel for the first trial arising from the offshore initiative, United States v. Cohen, et al. (S.D. Fla.), which involved a decades-long, $30 million scheme by father and son international hotel developers who evaded taxes through the use of nominees, sham corporations, and offshore bank accounts. After a monthlong trial, both defendants were convicted and later sentenced to ten imprisonment and millions of dollars in fines and restitution.

 

 

 

 

E. Martin Davidoff, CPA, Esq., Davidoff & Caruso CPAs, LLC

Davidoff established the firm on December 1, 1981 with a vision of providing the highest level of tax expertise in a warm, friendly environment. Today, the firm specializes in taxation and tax controversy work. Davidoff is a Past President (2008-2009) of the American Academy of Attorney-Certified Public Accountants. Using his extensive knowledge base as the impetus, he founded and chairs the group's IRS Tax Liaison Committee, which enables him to work side-by-side with high level officials at the IRS and other tax agencies, as well as with state and federal lawmakers. Davidoff has written over 30 articles on IRS representation in CPA Magazine. He has also been distinguished as one of the nation's "Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting" by Accounting Today in each of the years 2004 through 2010, as one of the "Top 50 IRS Representation Practitioners" by CPA Magazine in their April/May 2008 edition, and as one of the "Top 40 Tax Advisors to Know During a Recession" by CPA Magazine in their April/May 2009 edition.

 

Davidoff is a staunch advocate for small businesses. He represented their best interests at two White House Conferences on Small Business, authored New Jersey's S Corporation legislation and frequently testifies on small business issues. The U.S. Small Business Administration named him the Regional Accountant Advocate of the Year in 1997. As a nationally recognized tax expert, he speaks at seminars across the country educating other tax professionals about IRS procedures and policies, tax law changes, and various tax planning strategies.

 

As one of the founders of Make A Smile Foundation, Inc., Davidoff chairs the annual programs for its Children's Holiday Shopping Sprees and Clothing Sprees for underprivileged families. Throughout his career, he has held leadership roles in prominent professional associations including the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, and the National Federation of Independent Businesses. Davidoff earned his undergraduate degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MBA from Boston University Graduate School of Management, and his JD from Washington University School of Law. Davidoff and his bride, Beth, live in Hightstown, NJ and enjoy traveling to visit their nine children (including spouses) and six grandchildren.

 

Logan E. Gans, Shutts & Bowen LLP, Tax and International Law Practice Group

Gans regularly represents clients on U.S. Federal tax, international tax, and state and local tax matters. He also advises U.S. clients on outbound corporate and tax planning. He also counsels foreign clients on their inbound investments in the United States, including U.S. real property, corporate restructurings, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Logan also advises high net worth private clients on estate, trust, and gift tax matters.

 

A Florida Certified Public Accountant, Gans also is experienced in advising clients on partnership tax planning, pre-immigration tax planning, tax due diligence, transfer pricing, and tax compliance. He also represents clients on tax controversy matters, including the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) and Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures.

Prior to joining Shutts & Bowen, Logan was an International Tax Senior Consultant with the multinational accounting firm of Deloitte LLP. He is a member of the Florida Bar Tax Section, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and currently serves on the International Taxation Committee for the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Gans earned his B.A., Economics & History at Emory University, his J.D. at University of Florida College of Law and M.S., Accounting from Boston College Carroll School of Management.

 

Alan S. Gassman, Gassman, Crotty & Denicolo

Gassman is the founder of the firm Gassman Law Associates, P.A., which focuses on the representation of physicians, high net worth individuals, and business owners in estate planning, taxation, and business and personal asset structuring. 

He is the lead author on Bloomberg BNA's Estate Tax Planning and 2011 and 2012, The Annihilation of Wealth 2013, Florida Creditor Protection, The Florida Physician Advertising Handbook and The Florida Guide to Prescription, Controlled Substance and Pain Medicine Laws, among others. 

Gassman is a frequent speaker for continuing education programs, and is a prolific author for publications such as Bloomberg BNA Tax & Accounting, Estates and Trusts Magazine, Estate Planning Magazine, The Florida Bar Journal and Leimberg Estate Planning Network (LISI). He is also a commentator for LISI and is a past President of the Pinellas County Estate Planning Counsel.

He holds a law degree and a Masters of Law degree (LL.M.) in Taxation from the University of Florida, and a business degree from Rollins College. Gassman is board certified by the Florida Bar Association in Estate Planning and Trust Law, has the Accredited Estate Planner designation for the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. 

 

Mark R. McBride, Mark McBride & Associate

Mark R. McBride is an attorney and a Certified Public Accountant licensed to practice both disciplines in Ohio.  Additionally, he is admitted to, and has argued cases before, a number of federal courts and U.S. Courts of Appeals. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1977 where he obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration degree, majoring in both accounting and finance.  He obtained both his Masters degree in Business Administration in Taxation and his law degree from the University of Toledo in 1981.

 

McBride served as an Instructor of Accounting for the University of Toledo College of Business Administration, where he taught a variety of accounting and taxation courses until 1985.   He then became the Director of Financial Planning for The New England Financial Advisors, a division of the New England Life Insurance Company in northwest Ohio before entering private legal practice in 1987.

 

He has represented clients with tax and financial issues before numerous federal, state and municipal courts.  He has represented clients in several U.S. Court of Appeals cases, including United States v. Storey, 640 F.3^rd 739 (6^th Cir. 2011), In re Mickens, 173 F.3^rd 855 (6^th Cir. 1999), and In re Myers, 216 B.R. 402 (6^th Cir. BAP 1998).  Mr. McBride also presented oral arguments in the case of In re Hindenlang, 164 F. 3^rd 1029 (6^th Cir. 1999), a published U.S. Court of Appeals case judged by The Lasser Tax Guide to be the 8^th most important tax case in the United States for 1999.

 

McBride has also represented clients with criminal tax issues before the Department of Justice, United States District Courts and Courts of Appeals, as well as before a variety of Michigan and Ohio state courts. He maintains his own law practice to this day, operating offices in Toledo and Columbus, Ohio. 

 

McBride served on the Board of Directors of a small publicly-traded telecommunications company located in North Central Ohio and was the Chairman of this company’s Audit Committee and the Committee of Independent Directors.

He has lectured on a variety of legal and business topics nationwide and has written questions accepted for use in the CPA examination.  He is a member of numerous professional business and legal associations and is a former President of the Ohio chapter of the American Association of Attorneys-CPAs.

 

Vicki Meyer, Meyer Consulting, PLLC
Meyer has extensive experience in providing auditing, accounting, tax, consulting and general business advice to clients in various industries. Her practice areas include business mergers and acquisitions in both the corporate and partnership arena, IRS examinations and appeals, private letter rulings, business succession, compensation planning, structuring limited partnerships and limited liability companies.

Additional areas of focus include planning for high net worth individuals; fiduciary accounting for trusts; transactional analysis for corporations and partnership; restructurings and refinancings; state tax planning and compliance; international tax planning for corporations, partnerships and trusts; litigation support services; and quality control peer reviews of tax departments of mid-size CPA firms (revenues up to $60M).

Meyer is a published writer and lecturer of technical tax and tax practice management issues.

 

Jeffrey Neiman, Marcus, Neiman & Rashburn
Jeffrey Neiman is an experienced trial lawyer who regularly defends individuals and corporations in white collar criminal litigation, matters involving tax controversies, government regulatory enforcement matters, internal investigations, compliance counseling, and complex civil litigation. He has tried more than a dozen white collar matters in federal court. Having worked at the forefront of the United States government’s offshore tax enforcement efforts, Neiman has vast experience assisting clients who find themselves with unreported or undeclared bank accounts outside of the United States. Neiman advises clients regarding the Internal Revenue Service’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program as well as clients who face civil and criminal penalties for failing to file Foreign Bank Account Reports (“FBARs”).

 

Prior to being a Founding Member of Marcus Neiman & Rashbaum LLP, Neiman had his own law firm that focused on white collar and tax controversy matters. An alum of the United States Department of Justice Attorney General’s Honors Program, he began his career working for the Department of Justice Tax Division and then the Criminal Division, Fraud Section in Washington, D.C. He then served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, where he received national recognition for handling complex, high profile matters including the ground-breaking and historic prosecution of Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS AG, for aiding American citizens to commit tax fraud. For his efforts on the UBS investigation, Neiman was awarded the Attorney General’s John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement and the Internal Revenue Service Commissioner’s Award, the highest recognition a prosecutor can receive.
 

Raised in South Florida, Neiman graduated with honors from the University of Florida and also graduated from law school at the University of Florida where he was a member of Order of the Coif. Jeff currently serves as an adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University, where he teaches Criminal Procedure and Tax Fraud in their graduate accounting executive program.  He also is a frequent lecturer, panelist, and contributor at national conferences on topics including offshore tax evasion, tax fraud, Ponzi schemes and trial practice.

 

Michael Sardar, Kostelanetz & Fink, LLP
Joining Kostelanetz & Fink, LLP in 2009, Sardar's practice focuses on all stages of civil and criminal tax controversies. H, e represents taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service, state tax authorities, the Department of Justice, and local prosecutors. Sardar has vast experience representing clients making voluntary disclosures of unreported income to the Internal Revenue Service and state tax authorities.

 

Sardar has successfully represented scores of clients with unreported foreign assets who have repatriated over half a billion dollars of offshore assets through the IRS's Offshore Voluntary· Disclosure Program and the Streamlined Compliance Procedures. Sardar also represents taxpayers in New York State and City residency audits and investigations. Sardar is the Vice-Chair of the New York County Lawyers' Association (NYC LA) Taxation Committee, member of the Committee on Personal Income Taxation, New York City Bar Association, as well as Co-Chair of the Sub-Committee on Offshore Enforcement of the ABA Committee on Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties. Michael lectures frequently on tax controversy issues including foreign asset reporting.

 

Prior to joining Kostelanetz & Fink, Sardar was a tax associate in the New York office of Heller Ehrman, LLP, where his practice focused on federal and state transactional tax matters. While at Heller Ehrman, Sardar also advised many nonprofit organizations on federal and state tax issues including general tax exemption and Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT).  Sardar received his B.B.A., summa cum laude, from Baruch College in 2004, and his J.D. in 2007 from Cornell University Law School.

 

 

James Sutton, Moffa, Sutton, & Donnini, PA
Sutton serves as the State and Local Tax Chairman for the AAA-CPA.  He was the lead author of an Amicus Curiae Brief filed on behalf of the AAA-CPA in the SD v Wayfair case and attended oral arguments before the Court.  Sutton also testified before the House Judiciary Committee on “Alternatives to the Marketplace Fairness Act.” He taught state and local tax for over ten years at Stetson University College of Law and Boston University’s LLM in Taxation program. 

 

With an almost exclusive focus on Florida Sales and Use Tax and over 100 years of cumulative experience in sales and use tax law in his firm, Sutton can provide in-depth, off the cuff discussions on Florida sales and use tax law in virtually every industry in Florida. Sutton’s firm handles audits, protests, petitions for reconsideration, litigation, appellate litigation, voluntary disclosures, collections, and criminal defense - all in the realm of sales and use tax.  Sutton speaks regularly on various sales tax topics for the FICPA, NBI, Lorman Education, and many other organizations.