Curtis Elliott has practiced tax law with the firm since 1983. He has repeatedly been recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in America in tax law. Mr. Elliott represents family business owners. He helps clients achieve their tax, estate planning, trusts and estates and business succession planning goals.
Mr. Elliott has helped many business owners develop effective estate planning structures for their family businesses. His clients range from closely held companies to large industrial enterprises owned and actively managed by multiple family generations. His work involves shareholder trusts, buy-sell agreements, corporate stock transactions and recapitalizations. Mr. Elliott also represents owner clients in corporate mergers and acquisitions with particular industry experience in healthcare and healthcare data management.
Mr. Elliott is highly experienced representing taxpayers to resolve their tax problems. He handles major tax controversies and litigation involving the IRS or state tax agencies. His tax litigation advocacy has resolved some of the most complex and challenging tax problems for clients. His tax controversy clients range from Fortune 500 corporations to large private companies, to individuals and descedent's estates. In addition to tax litigation, Mr. Elliott represents fiduciaries, heirs and trust beneficiaries in trust and estate disputes. He represents heirs seeking to challenge or defend the validity of a will, and he represents family members, executors and trustees in will caveats, estate disputes and trust litigation. Mr. Elliott confronts these issues on behalf of clients in Clerk of Court hearings, North Carolina Superior Court litigation or through mediation.
Mr. Elliott handles all types of civil and criminal tax cases, including IRS audits, IRS administrative appeals, CID criminal tax investigations, grand jury proceedings and tax trials in the state and federal courts including the U.S. Tax Court. He also represents taxpayers seeking to come into tax law compliance by making voluntary disclosures of offshore financial accounts, including the IRS' most recent OVDI program in 2011. Mr. Elliott has been asked to speak at numerous tax controversy and litigation panels across the country, including the ABA Section of Taxation, the Georgetown University School of Law Graduate Program in Taxation, and the U.S. Tax Court Judicial Conference. He is a past Chair of the ABA Tax Section's Committee on Court Procedure and Practice, and a past Chair of its Committee on Appointments to the U.S. Tax Court. Additionally, Mr. Elliott is a co-author of the nationally published treatise entitled Valuation Practice in Estate Planning and Litigation, published by Clark Boardman and Callahan in 1994. Mr. Elliott also serves as an expert witness in taxation in complex trust and estate cases in state court.
Representative Engagements:
Representation of client in U.S. Tax Court dispute relating to innocent spouse claims by client and involving over $20 million of taxes, penalties and interest, pending.
Successful defense in multi-million dollar tax dispute with IRS in U.S. Tax Court involving the sale and leaseback of fleet of Boeing 727 jet aircraft.
Successful defense of corporate deductions for officer compensation involving CEO of a regional securities Brokerage firm, before IRS Appeals.
Successful defense of NOL carrybacks by national real estate developer in U.S. Tax Court.
Successful treatment of stock losses as ordinary losses for international textile manufacturer following litigation in U.S. Tax Court.
Successful defense of national medical device manufacturer in N.C. sales tax case.
Trial victory in U.S. Tax Court involving estate tax value of manufacturing business, saving the estate over $8 million in estate taxes and income taxes in Disanto v. Commissioner, TC Memo 1999-421.
Litigation and settlement of probate dispute between heirs involving executor's use of annnuities to misappropriate probate assets.
N.C. state income tax litigation before the Office of Administrative Hearings regarding allocation of personal customer goodwill to shareholder in a sale of assets by C-Corporation.
Criminal defense of building contractor involving charges of tax fraud conspiracy, Western District of North Carolina.
Trial victory in U.S. Tax Court, sustaining deductions of sales distributorship.
Articles and Seminars:
National Co-Moderator, NBI September 2011 Teleconference on "Recent Developments in IRS Tax Enforcement."
Panelist and Speaker, "Using Trusts with Buy-Sell Agreements," Queens University Estate Planners Day, May 17, 2011.
Moderator and Mock Trial Panelist, "Litigating the Valuation of a Business," Mecklenburg County Bar - CLE, December 8, 2010.
Panelist and Speaker, "Defending the Innocent Spouse in Tax Court," 2010 North Carolina/South Carolina Tax Section Workshops, May 28, 2010 - May 30, 2010.
Panelist and Speaker, "Tax Litigation Ethical Concerns in Responding to IRS IDRs and Requests for Formal Discovery," Court Procedure and Practice Committee, ABA Tax Section May Meeting, May 7, 2010.
Moderator, "Trial Strategies in Complex Tax Prosecutions: Evidentiary and Procedural Challenges," ABA Tax Section, Committee on Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties, September 2009.
Co-Author (with Briani Bennett), "Closely Held Business Interests and The Trustee's Duty to Diversify," Trusts & Estates, April 2009.
Panelist at the ABA Tax Section Committee on Estate Planning entitled, "Using Trusts with Buy Sell Agreements," (Mid Year Meeting, January 2009).
Speaker on the topic of "Handling an IRS Estate Tax Audit" at the 2009 and 2011 North Carolina Bar Association Seminar, Estate Planning and the Marital Deduction, Greensboro, North Carolina.
Panelist, "Tax Court Litigation Institute," 1999, Georgetown University Law Center.
Author, "Scanlan, Federal Estate Tax Valuation and Subsequent Events," 1997, the National Association of Certified Valuation Analyst's Valuation Examiner Magazine.
Moderator and Panelist, "Ethical Issues in Federal Tax Litigation," 1995 ABA Tax Section Committee on Court Procedure.
Blog:
Please visit Curtis Elliott's Tax Blog, Tax Controversies Today
