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. 

REIT Qualification – a closely held but public company was seeking to minimize its taxes and maximize shareholder value. Mr. Hanley has assisted the company in restructuring the entities and renegotiating its relationships with certain customers in such a way 

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.