Edward
T. Hanley,
Director and Principal
Ed Hanley recently joined the tax advisory practice at Shea
Labagh Dobberstein. Mr. Hanley’s career spans fifteen years,
nine years with a national accounting firm, two years experience
with a large financial institution and the past four years with a
regional accounting firm.
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| that the company may elect to be taxed as a Real Estate
Investment Trust ("REIT"). As a REIT, the corporate
level of tax is eliminated while shareholders retain the liquidity
afforded by having a public market for their shares.
Condemnation and Reinvestment/Cost Segregation - a real
estate company had a taxable gain from the condemnation of a
parcel of property. Mr. Hanley identified an opportunity to use
the effective date of a recent tax law to reinvest in property
owned by an affiliate saving in excess of $1 million dollars in
tax while retaining the condemnation proceeds. Additionally, with
the advice of counsel, Mr. Hanley was able to identify assets for
reinvestment that qualified as real property, yet were depreciable
over 7 years generating substantial current tax deductions for the
company.
Like-Kind Exchange – a luxury yacht manufacturer was
selling its operations and the underlying real property. After the
terms of the deal had been negotiated, Mr. Hanley provided tax
advice that allowed the company to segregate the real property
portion of the sale and engage in a like-kind exchange. The real
property was appraised and exchanged for three properties subject
to long-term, triple-net leases to AAA-rated public companies. The
like-kind exchange also allowed the company to avoid a $600,000
built-in-gains tax. Since the principal shareholder of the company
is in his late seventies, it is anticipated that the $2.5 million
dollar tax deferral will become permanent.
Deductibility of Fines / IRS Representation – in 1995, a
government contractor incurred a large criminal and civil
price-fixing fine and was paying that fine over a number of years.
One of Mr. Hanley’s clients purchased that company in 1986,
agreeing to absorb any audit adjustments for years before the
purchase. Upon audit, Mr. Hanley successfully argued that the
entire fine should be deductible because the amount of damages
paid was in direct proportion to the economic harm suffered by the
government under the Clayton Act.
Mr. Hanley was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts in 1996. He
started his tax career with the international accounting firm of
Ernst & Young, LLP in Boston. In 1991, he transferred to Ernst
& Young’s national tax department in Washington, D.C. where
he specialized in real estate and pass-through entity taxation.
Mr. Hanley also served as tax counsel at GE Capital Corporation
before moving to Providence, RI, where he practiced in its largest
regional accounting firm for four years and recently completed
three semesters an adjunct lecture in economics at Brown
University. Mr. Hanley received his A.B., cum laude in History
& Economics, from Harvard University in 1983 and his J.D., cum
laude, from Boston College Law School in 1986.
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