Paul advises high net worth clients and global families on a variety of international tax and estate planning issues. Representing individuals predominantly from Latin America and Europe, he provides customized, tax-efficient solutions to address clients’ needs. Paul’s experience includes advising on inbound and outbound tax planning matters, foreign trusts, pre-immigration planning, expatriation, and the acquisition and disposition of U.S. real property holdings and other investments.
Q & A
How would you describe your practice?
As an international tax and private wealth attorney, my practice is truly cross-border in that, while I am responsible for providing U.S. tax advice, the United States is usually not the only jurisdiction involved. Our clients often come to us as a tax resident in another country, and planning that is beneficial from the U.S. perspective may not always work in a client’s home country. This is where coordination with local tax advisors becomes crucial. Whether I am advising a client on pre-immigration tax planning issues, the implications of creating a trust, or even something as seemingly simple as purchasing U.S. real estate, rarely can I advise without having to consider the consequences that the U.S. tax planning will have abroad. This is why it is so important to take a collaborative approach to international tax work as, throughout a representation, I find myself in constant communication with a client’s foreign advisors. Building these solid foundational relationships at the outset will ultimately lead to better outcomes for the client.
What do you find most interesting and surprising about tax law?
It may not be a word that regularly comes to mind when you think of tax law, but I find it to be an extremely dynamic area of law, given how much our tax laws are continually changing. These changes require tax lawyers to reevaluate clients’ tax positions and holding structures regularly and nimbly change direction and strategy as needed. This can present its challenges, but it also creates opportunities. Helping clients to realize those opportunities is an extremely rewarding and gratifying process.
How do you keep your clients up to date on the ever-changing tax law?
Good tax planning anticipates and plans for the unexpected. As a tax and private wealth lawyer, it is my job to constantly monitor federal regulatory and legislative activities to stay fully informed and ready to act if, or more likely when, the law changes. I publish articles and give presentations about new laws and regulations to help clients keep abreast of important changes. When something is relevant to a particular client, I work with that client, and many times the advisors in the client’s home country, to explain the changes and the planning implications that those changes will have. Above all else, we have a duty to keep our clients informed at all times so that they can make educated decisions when it comes to their U.S. tax planning.
