Tax and Financial Planning for Individuals Conference

George, a Senior Tax Manager in the Private Client Services Group at Andersen, specializes in tax planning and financial planning for high net worth individuals. He has over 12 years of experience working for large national accounting firms, and is both a New York State Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®). George is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPAs) and the New York State Society of CPAs (NYSSCPAs). He has taken on different leadership roles in his career, including Chair of the Taxation of Individuals Committee for the NYSSCPAs from June 2018 – May 2020, and Chair of the Tax Division Oversight Committee for the NYSSCPAs from June 2021 – present. George was recipient of the NYSSCPAs Outstanding Committee Chair Award in 2020.

Frank Agostino, Esq., is counsel at Kostelanetz LLP.  Before joining Kostelanetz, Mr. Agostino was the founder and president of Agostino & Associates, P.C.  Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Agostino was an attorney with the Internal Revenue Service’s District Counsel in Springfield, Illinois and Newark, New Jersey. He also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney, where he prosecuted primarily criminal tax cases. As an adjunct professor, Mr. Agostino taught tax controversy at Rutgers School of Law and served as the co-director of the Rutgers Federal Tax Law Clinic. Mr. Agostino is a frequent speaker and author on tax controversy and litigation matters. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Journal of Tax Practice and Procedure. Mr. Agostino is actively involved with the American Bar Association and the New York County Lawyers’ Association. Mr. Agostino is also the President of the Taxpayers Assistance Corp., which provides tax and legal advice to low-income taxpayers in the NY/NJ area.

Carl Fiore has significant experience with tax and financial matters affecting entrepreneurs, executives and other high net worth individuals. He has worked with numerous families and closely held businesses to develop and implement wealth maximization plans through the use of family entities, income tax planning, stock option planning, charitable giving strategies, and effective gift and estate tax planning. Carl’s primary practice areas are gift and estate planning as well as fiduciary income tax. He also has experience in federal and state income tax consulting and compliance for individuals, partnerships, fiduciaries, estates, corporations and private foundations. Carl is a lead member of the firm’s estate planning group, which has extensive experience in serving the estate, gift, and fiduciary tax consulting and compliance needs of corporate and private trustees as well as individuals. Carl has also been published in Trusts & Estates. Before joining Andersen Tax, Carl worked in the Private Client Services practice of Arthur Andersen, and as a trusts and estates associate at Capell and Vishnick.

Dean L. Surkin, JD, LLM, is a tax attorney with broad based experience in tax planning and research, has litigated major cases in the fields of taxation, probate and general commercial matters, and has been peer reviewed by Martindale Hubbell. He holds the highest rating for legal ability and ethical standards, AV. Mr. Surkin received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973 (double major in mathematics and political science), his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1976, and his LLM. in taxation from New York University School of Law in 1985. He is admitted to the New York State Bar, the Federal District Courts of the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Tax Court. Mr. Surkin holds the faculty appointment of Professor (Adjunct) at Pace University Graduate School of Business where he currently teaches taxation of entities. He formerly served as Adjunct Associate Professor at the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies where he was program coordinator of the Estate and Gift Taxation and Planning Certificate Program. He has also served as Adjunct Assistant Professor at Hunter College, CUNY. He has presented seminars to the Foundation for Accounting Education, the New York State Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association, the American Society of Women Accountants, and many private groups. His published articles on tax law have appeared in peer reviewed journals, practitioners’ journals, and the popular press. He publishes a monthly newsletter for his granddaughters detailing the possibly imagined adventures of the Lighted Collar Gang, a group of neighborhood dogs led by master cheese thief Jazz.

With nearly 20 years of experience in firms like PwC, EisnerAmper and Withum, Chaya is highly regarded in the industry as an expert consultant in international business tax.

Chaya advises U.S. and foreign multinational enterprises and individuals on the tax implications of their international operations, and coordinates between U.S. and foreign tax laws to develop optimal global tax strategies.

Chaya’s expertise include her fluency in the rules and regulations regarding controlled foreign corporations, PFICs, withholding taxes, income tax treaty analysis, check-the-box planning, FIRPTA, and informational reporting.

Chaya received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in accounting from SUNY Empire State College, and received a Master of Science in Taxation from Golden Gate University.

John Driessen is a Manager in Citrin Cooperman’s New York City office with nearly a decade of experience providing tax compliance and consulting services. As a part of the firm’s commercial tax service practice, he works closely with clients in a variety of industries including real estate, technology, cryptocurrency, and digital assets. Experience: John works with his clients to help them achieve their personal goals. Ranging from individual business owners to global enterprises, John assists his clients throughout every stage of their investment lifecycle with elegant, cost-effective strategies. As a member of the firm’s technology practice and digital asset group, John has a deep understanding of the industries and in conjunction with his knowledge of corporate and partnership taxation, he offers a unique forward-thinking and pragmatic perspective. Prior to joining Citrin Cooperman, John worked with various startups and owners providing system analysis and c programming. Education: Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Marist College Master of Business Administration, Marist College Licenses: Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York Outside of the Office: John enjoys spending time with his family, playing volleyball, drumming, videogaming, and cryptocurrency trading.

David M. Barral is a Sr. Wealth Advisor at The Northern Trust Company in New York City. Prior to joining the firm, he worked for a large regional CPA firm in New York City, with a focus on individual tax compliance and advisory services. He is a CPA licensed in the state of New York, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional (CFP®), and a Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) through the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. David received his bachelor and his master of science in accounting, both from St. John’s University, and he later received his master of taxation degree from Villanova University. Outside of Northern Trust, David is an adjunct professor at NYU’s School of Professional Studies, where he teaches a Retirement Planning Strategies course. A member of the AICPA and the NYSSCPA, he was past Chair of the Society’s Personal Financial Planning Committee and is still currently an active member there. David has written articles that have appeared in The CPA Journal, the Journal of Accountancy, and The Tax Adviser. As of 10/2/2024

Elisa Shevlin Rizzo is the Regional Chief Fiduciary Officer for the East Region of The Northern Trust Company. In that role, she oversees the delivery of fiduciary and advisory services by trust professionals along the East Coast and Florida and provides guidance and advice on fiduciary questions, risk management, trust administration and best practices. Elisa joined Northern Trust in 2017 as Senior Legal Counsel and Senior Fiduciary Officer for the Northeast and has also served as the Regional Chief Fiduciary Officer for The Northern Trust Company of Delaware. Previously, she was Managing Director, Trust Counsel and Director of Estate Administration at Fiduciary Trust Company International. Earlier in her career, Elisa was Counsel at Cummings & Lockwood LLC in Stamford, CT and an associate with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in New York City.

Tim focuses his practice in the state and local tax area. His work primarily involves New York State and New York City tax litigation and controversy. Over the past 25 years, he has handled more than 3,000 personal income tax, sales tax, corporate tax, or other New York State and City tax audits, and over 100 cases in New York’s Division of Tax Appeals. Tim is also a member of the Board of Directors of Hodgson Russ.

Tim leads the firm’s Tax Residency Practice and he is one of the leading practitioners in this area of the law. He has handled some of the most high-profile residency cases in New York, including a significant win in the Gaied case, one of the first New York residency cases to ever reach New York’s highest court. He is often quoted by media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and Forbes, on residency and other state tax issues. Under his direction, the Tax Residency Practice authored What to Expect in a Residency Audit, a detailed guide to residency rules and audits in New York and other states. And over the past 25 years, he has guided literally thousands of taxpayers moving from high-tax states to low-tax states and successfully defended them in state residency audits.

As the “Noonan” in “Noonan's Notes,” a monthly column in Tax Notes State, Tim is a nationally recognized author and speaker on state tax issues. He co-authored the CCH Residency and Allocation Audit Handbook and Contesting New York State Tax Assessment- Fourth Edition, published by the New York State Bar Association. In addition, Tim has served as a contributing author or editor for several other tax publications and treatises, including the American Bar Association's Sales and Use Tax Deskbook, the "New York Sales Tax Guide" published by practicallaw.com, the corporate apportionment chapter in Thomson Reuters’ Checkpoint Analyst, the New York chapter of LexisNexis’s Practice Insights, and the New York Tax Litigation chapter in Thomson Reuters’ Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts treatise. He has also written more than 400 articles in state and local tax publications around the country over the past two decades, and he runs the award-winning Noonan's Notes Blog, where he and his colleagues offer regular commentary on developments in the world of New York and multistate tax law.

Tim also has extensive experience on New York City corporate and entity tax matters, and handled a significant number of residency and sales tax issues in other states, including work with many national and international clients on multistate compliance or voluntary disclosures. He has also appeared before the Connecticut Supreme Court and the Michigan Court of Appeals in litigated matters and is admitted to practice law in Connecticut.

Chaim Kofinas has over 40 years experience in accounting and taxation specializing in state and local taxation issues. He has spent the last 35 years advising clients on income tax and sales tax matters as well as representing clients before the IRS and State on exams and on appeals. Chaim has also advised clients in the construction field as well as Not-For-Profit clients. Chaim is a frequent lecturer for this and other conference in the past and has written articles on a variety of tax issues. At Goldstein Lieberman & CO LLC Chaim is a Tax Director who advises high net worth clients as well a working small business clients regarding U. S. and state and local taxation. Chaim also works with the tax group to set tax policy for the firm. Prior to joining Goldstein Lieberman & CO LLC Chaim was a senior tax manager at WithumSmith+Brown PC, and later at Beacon CPA PC, where he advised multistate businesses and individual clients on federal and state and local tax matters including representation before the IRS and other taxing agencies. Chaim has also worked with foreign individual sand businesses making inbound investments into the US . Chaim is currently the immediate Past Chair of the New York State Society CPA New York, Multistate & Local Taxation Committee as well as being active with the New York State Society CPA International Committee. During his tenure as Chair Chaim initiated a dialogue with the NYS Commissioners office and lead a delegation to meet the Commissioner in Albany

Mairav is one of a Tax Counsel team of three tax lawyers within the Wealth Management Group. In that role, Mairav fields questions ranging across the Internal Revenue Code (and state tax statutes), but focuses on federal and state fiduciary income taxation, charitable tax and compliance, and tax aspects of IRAs. Prior to joining Northern Trust over 17 years ago, Mairav worked as an estate planning associate in private practice.