Syracuse Chapter Taxation Conference

Brian is an associate in the firm's Federal & International Tax Practice. He counsels clients on federal and international tax law, including assisting U.S. and non-U.S. clients with U.S. tax matters. Prior to joining Hodgson Russ, Brian was a senior associate in the New York City office of a Big Four accounting firm, where he assisted U.S. and non-U.S. based large multinational companies with U.S. tax-related issues. Brian also has experience working on tax controversy matters, including advising clients on IRS audits.

Jen serves as Barclay Damon’s Trusts & Estates Practice Area co-chair. Her practice focuses on trusts and estate litigation, planning, and administration, with her litigation practice including will and trust contests; fiduciary litigation; and will-construction, fiduciary-removal, accounting, spousal-rights, and kinship proceedings. Jen also works with fiduciaries, beneficiaries, and creditors and handles litigated guardianship cases and guardianship and supplemental-needs trust matters. She is certified with the NYS Office of Court Administration to receive fiduciary appointments as court evaluator, guardian, guardian ad litem, receiver, referee, and attorney for alleged incapacitated persons. Jen has significant experience working with individuals on marital agreement plans, including pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements; working with clients regarding business-succession planning; and handling planning involving sophisticated transfer and income-tax considerations. In addition to her role at Barclay Damon, Jen serves as the Erie County public administrator.

Joe counsels clients on a wide range of state and local taxation issues and represents taxpayers in disputes with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance as well as the New York City Department of Finance. As the Sales & Use Tax Practice Leader, Joe’s practice focuses on sales and use tax issues, especially in the technology (software as a service, cloud computing, digital products, etc.), fine arts and construction industries. Joe is the primary author of our firm’s sales tax blog, All About Sales Tax. Joe is a contributing editor (New York Chapter) of the American Bar Association's Sales and Use Tax Deskbook. Joe also counsels clients regarding personal income tax planning and residency issues. He co-authored, with Mark S. Klein, the 2019 Guidebook to New York Taxes, a reference source of information on this topic and he writes a column for Tax Notes State called “The Endres Assessment." He also advises clients with respect to various federal and state tax incentive-based programs such as the federal renewable energy investment and production tax credits, New York State's Start-Up NY Program, the Excelsior Program, the former Empire Zone Program, the Brownfield Tax Credit Program and the Historical Building Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program. As the Abandoned Property Audits Practice Leader, Joe counsels clients in this area of law and has represented large corporations in complex compliance matters such as multistate abandoned property audits and voluntary disclosures.

As a member of the State and Local Tax (SALT) Practice, Joseph (Joe) works with clients to navigate New York State’s vast system of tax laws. His primary focus is on New York State and New York City taxes, but he also counsels clients on multistate SALT matters, including sales tax and various business taxes. Joe works to simplify the ins-and-outs of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for his clients. During his tenure, he has worked extensively with Department of Taxation personnel, which has given him insight into what auditors look for, allowing him to craft nuanced strategies focused on efficiently resolving each client’s audit. Joe understands that the best way to win a residency audit is to plan ahead. He counsels clients moving out of New York State through the entire audit process from start to finish – including helping to develop a legally-grounded strategy for a move that aims to help clients strengthen their change of domicile position and decrease their audit risk. Joe also assists clients looking to move out of California. When a client is met with an audit notice, Joe focuses on not only easing that burden for his client, but also quickly and proficiently working through the process in order to obtain an economical outcome. When working with clients to help resolve tax disputes, Joe crafts unique and individualized approaches for each scenario. He understands that not all clients are the same and develops distinctive solutions for each case. In addition to his work with clients, Joe also is the host of the first ever Hodgson Russ LLP podcast, “State Tax Talks with Joe Tantillo.” As the host, Joe works to un-complicate some of New York State’s most complicated tax laws and requirements for listeners, bringing in SALT experts to provide additional commentary on current issues faced by taxpayers around the United States. Joe is a regular contributor to the Noonan’s Notes tax blog, and has published several articles on various topics in the world of SALT. Joe also enjoys public speaking on tax topics, and has presented on SALT issues both in person and in Webinars. Joe is licensed to practice in New York State, California, and Washington, D.C.

Brandon is a member of the firm’s State & Local Tax Practice. He counsels individual and business clients on all aspects of state and local tax, including planning, compliance, audit, and litigation. During law school, Brandon served as a student practitioner in the Syracuse University College of Law Transactional Law Clinic. Brandon was a member of the Travis H.D. Lewin Advocacy Honor Society Negotiation Team and an Executive Editor of the Syracuse Law Review.

Alexander Lee, CPA is a New York State–licensed CPA who focuses exclusively on the U.S. research credit under §41 and its interaction with §174 and related incentives. He works with CPA firms, CFOs, and privately held companies to scope, quantify, and document R&D credit claims, translating engineering, manufacturing, and software development activity into positions that can withstand IRS and state scrutiny. Alex often acts as a technical bridge between engineering teams and practitioners, helping firms identify qualifying activities, avoid “R&D mill” pitfalls, and integrate credits into broader tax and cash-flow planning. He is an active member of the New York State Society of CPAs, where he delivers CPE programs, and collaborates on practitioner education around credits and incentives. Across his work, Alex’s focus is simple: protect the CPA–client relationship while unlocking meaningful, recurring tax benefits for innovative businesses through clear, defensible R&D credit advice.