CLEonline.com, together with the Houston Bar Association, are pleased to present a special online CLE seminar on a cutting edge topic that affects most all Texas attorneys. The 2008 changes to the franchise tax, popularly called the “margin tax”, affect most Texas attorneys, and virtually all their clients. The boiler-plate contractual tax clause and net lease agreements that most Texas lawyers use urgently need remodeling. Both borrowers and lenders must consider the tax’s effect on existing loan covenants. By contrast with the prior regime, most law firms are now subject to the franchise tax, and a number of new provisions are very beneficial to attorneys. Don’t close another Texas business deal until you learn how this new statute alters the landscape for Texas businesses-– and their lawyers.
This seminar features an audio presentation from a live CLE seminar on this topic that was originally conducted by the Houston Bar Association (HBA) on March 6, 2008. This audio presentation features attorney Fredric J. “Fritz” Attermeier of UHY Advisors, Tax & Business Consultants in Houston. This is a streaming audio presentation that you can access on demand at any time during the course of the seminar session. The audio presentation runs for approximately 1.5 hours. This seminar is entitled:
HBA Presents: "Margin Tax: What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About the New Texas Franchise Tax"
** (available at any time of the day and in time increments convenient to you during the above referenced dates) **
Subjects to be discussed during this CLEonline.com seminar include:
- Brief Overview of the Margin Tax Provisions
- Basis of the tax
- Entities liable for the tax / tax rates
- Unitary combined reporting
- Revenue
- Managing Lawyers’ Own Margin Tax Challenges
- Revenue exclusions specific to lawyers
- The deduction for compensation and benefits
- Apportionment of total margin to Texas
- The exclusion for pro bono work
- Advice to Business Clients
- The ineluctability of the margin tax
- Merging-out old 99%/1% structures
- Tax clauses and margin tax characterization
- Consider extending the 2008 report
The instructor/moderator for this CLEonline.com seminar will be:
Mr. Fredric J. “Fritz” Attermeier, CPA, J.D., M.S., LL.M., who is an a board-certified tax attorney and certified public accountant, and practices tax law in Houston, Texas. A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he attended public schools in Milwaukee and Houston. He received a B.A. in economics from Rice University; an M.S. in accounting from the University of Houston; a J.D. from South Texas College of Law; and an LL.M. in taxation from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. He is board certified in taxation law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Fritz concentrates his practice in multi-state and excise taxes, and accounting for income taxes. He has handled significant tax matters in every U.S. state and possession, and most Canadian provinces. His experience in excise taxes involves federal, state and Canadian levies. He writes case notes for legal publishing services and continuing education courses in taxation and business law. He was the lead attorney for Texaco Inc. in the U.S. Supreme Court windfall profit tax case Amerada Hess Corp. v. Dir., N.J. Div. of Tax’n, 490 U.S. 66, 104 L.Ed.2d 58 (1989), and in the major taxpayer victory in Texaco Inc. v. N.J. Dep’t of Treas., 13 N.J. Tax 572 (N.J. Tax Ct. 1994). He has represented taxpayers in income, franchise, excise, sales and use, employment, motor fuels, occupation, intangibles, insurance, alcohol, tobacco and firearms, severance, inheritance, and property taxes, and in unclaimed property matters. In addition to his practice, Fritz is a frequent speaker at legal and accounting continuing education seminars and an adjunct faculty member for graduate and undergraduate curricula at Houston-area law schools and colleges.
The seminar registration fee for this CLEonline.com seminar is only $38. SPECIAL DISCOUNT: If you are a member of the HBA, you are entitled to a 20 percent discount and the registration fee is only $30. NOTE: If you are eligible and you wish to receive this special discounted fee, you will need to call the HBA Office in Houston (713-759-1133) and request the 'HBA Discount Code' for CLEonline.com seminars. When you register for this seminar on our site, enter this discount code on the Shopping Cart page to receive the discounted rate.
This seminar is accredited for 1.5 hour of participatory CLE credit (no ethics) by the MCLE Committees of the State Bar of Texas and the State Bar of California. In addition, regular CLE credits for this seminar are also available in a number of other states. CLEonline.com is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider pursuant to Sec. 9 of the California MCLE Rules and Regulations. (These are not self-study credits, but rather 'participatory' credits as you would receive for attending a traditional, live CLE seminar.)
PLEASE REMEMBER-- All of our online CLE seminars are covered by our 'Full Satisfaction' guarantee. If for any reason you are dissatisfied with this or any other CLEonline.com seminar, we will gladly issue you a prompt refund. Thus, you have nothing to lose in trying one of our convenient online CLE seminars. If you have never participated in an online seminar before, we think you'll be pleasantly surprised!
