Practice Areas

Retirement Plans can benefit the business owner

“I Wish I Met You Sooner” is a statement we frequently hear from our business owner clients because:

• Our clients save a significant amount of taxes by increasing their tax deductible contributions to the retirement plans we design.
• Our clients reduce the amount of the retirement plan contributions they make for their rank and file employees.
• Our clients and their staffs save countless hours of administrative time by working with their dedicated retirement plan administrator at our firm.
• Retirement Plan Design Brochure (click to download)

Our advice is conflict free.

We do not provide financial or investment advice or sell any products in connection with the retirement plans that we design and administer.

We keep your plans in compliance.

Our pension lawyers, actuaries and retirement plan administrators handle all issues relating to retirement plans including IRS, PBGC and Department of Labor audits. We monitor retirement plans so that they comply with ever-changing statutory and regulatory requirements. Similarly, we help clients deal with retirement plans and arrangements when extraordinary events occur, such as when businesses or divisions are bought or sold, and provide guidance for complex or unusual plan investments.

Need new ideas on how to retain your key employees?

Often a well-designed, properly prepared executive compensation plan or agreement will be just what is needed. Our experienced pension and executive compensation attorneys are here to help you decide whether to use:

• An employment, retention, severance or change in control agreement.
• An annual bonus program.
• A stock-based or other incentive compensation arrangement.
• A nonqualified deferred compensation plan.

Complimentary Plan Proposals

For those business owners who are not yet pension clients of the firm, we are so confident that we will be able to significantly enhance your current retirement plan that we will perform a complimentary review of your plan. Provide us with the following information and documentation so that a complimentary plan study and proposal can be prepared for your review:

• Plan document, summary plan description and any recent plan amendments.
• Most recent actuarial valuation report.
• Most recent Form 5500.
• Employee Census.

If you do not currently maintain a qualified retirement plan, send us an employee census and we would be happy to prepare a complimentary study and proposal for your review.

A well designed cafeteria plan, health reimbursement plan, or a tuition reimbursement arrangement can help your employees immensely. We will walk you through all the options and prepare the correct plan for you.

IRS, PBGC and DOL Audits

Danziger & Markhoff LLP’s pension attorneys have substantial experience in dealing with audits of qualified retirement plans initiated by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”),the Department of Labor (“DOL”) and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”). read more

We look forward to hearing from you.

Practice Integrated Professional Expertise

The firm’s actuarial and retirement plan servicing department [Third Party Administration] designs, prepares (in conjunction with our pension attorneys), and administers retirement plans for businesses of all sizes. Our firm is unique in that it includes pension attorneys, Enrolled Actuaries and retirement plan administrators. By combining these disciplines under one roof, we are able promptly to resolve the multi-disciplinary issues that may arise in connection with retirement plan design and administration.

Independent Advice

Since our firm does not provide financial or investment advice or sell any products in connection with the investment of plan assets, we are able to offer conflict-free advice to our clients. We are concerned only with designing the proper retirement plan for our clients’ needs and ensuring that the plan meets all qualified plan rules and regulations on an ongoing basis.

Comprehensive Administrative Services

The firm’s Third Party Administration department provides retirement plan administrative services necessary for the plan to meet all governmental requirements. Our annual administration services include annual calculation of plan contribution costs, annual nondiscrimination testing (and advice as to methodologies to correct a failure of such nondiscrimination tests), processing plan loans and benefit distributions for participants, and preparation of all necessary filings required by IRS and Department of Labor.

We also compile and prepare annual benefit statements which detail the amount contributed (or the amount of benefit accrued) for each plan participant and an annual valuation report for use by the business owner in evaluating the investment results of the plan for each year.

We integrate our administrative services with your investment advisor.

Your Own Designated Retirement Plan Administrator

As a pension client of the firm, you are assigned your own designated Retirement Plan Administrator who has an intimate understanding of the terms and provisions of your retirement plan. Your Retirement Plan Administrator has access to our actuaries and pension attorneys so you can be certain that your Plan will remain in full compliance with the law and your questions will be answered accurately and promptly. To help us achieve our goal of providing our clients with the best service possible, your Retirement Plan Administrator is available to meet with you at your offices in the New York metropolitan area, to address any questions or concerns and provide you with options to enhance your retirement plan if so desired.

Director of Pension Administration

• Alex Nahoum

Protect Your Family. Protect Your Assets

We’ve been helping clients protect their families and assets since 1960. Our nationally renowned estate planning attorneys draw on their vast experience to create practical solutions for you. We use time-tested creative solutions to resolve your estate planning concerns.

What best describes your situation?

• My spouse and I just had our first child.
• How do I plan for children from my prior marriage?
• How do I treat my children equally when my major asset is my business?
• What if my spouse is not a citizen of the United States?
• How do I continue my charitable giving in a more coordinated manner?
• How should I protect my assets from creditors?
• What is the best way to leave assets to my grandchildren?
• I am concerned that my children are incapable of managing the money I leave them.
• I want to limit (or preferably eliminate) estate taxes.
• I need to appoint someone to act for me if I am incapacitated.
• I want my estate to pass to my children and grandchildren and not my son or daughter­ in-law.
• How do I pass my family business to my children actively involved in the business while being fair to my other children?

Contact us. We can help.

Protect Your Family. Protect Your Assets

Our trusts and estates attorneys understand that the death of a loved one can be overwhelming and emotional. The attorneys at Danziger & Markhoff have substantial experience with guiding you through the process of administering the estate and will help facilitate the transfer of assets to the beneficiaries. We prepare the documents to be filed in the Surrogate’s Court, work with you and your financial advisor to retitle assets, help you negotiate with creditors of the estate, maintain estate records, assist in the sale of assets in order to provide liquidity to pay debts and estate taxes, and prepare accountings and releases in settlement of the estate.

Most importantly, the attorneys at Danziger & Markhoff have significant experience preparing federal and state estate tax returns as well as defending them against the IRS and state taxation authorities. There are many elections to be made when preparing an estate tax return which require knowledge and experience with the interplay between tax law and the provisions in a Will and trust. Danziger & Markhoff’s estate administration attorneys are uniquely qualified in this area and can guide you through this process in order to minimize taxes.

Practice your profession, let us handle the rest

We have provided legal advice to professional practices even before the professional service corporation law was enacted by New York State in 1970. We work with healthcare practitioners not institutions (i.e. hospitals) to provide conflict-free advice on all aspects of healthcare practices.

We provide counsel in the following areas:

• Forming new practices
• Structure and implement mergers, acquisitions and the sale of professional practices
• Prepare and negotiate shareholder, partnership, license and joint venture agreements
• Succession planning
• Employment contracts
• Represent physicians in Medical Billing and Coding audits
• Establish ambulatory surgery centers and diagnostic and treatment centers
• Establish multispecialty and single specialty professional practices

We also counsel clients on the federal and state laws and regulations governing self-referral, anti-kickback, HIPAA, fee-splitting, corporate practice of medicine issues, and professional misconduct issues

Practical solutions + experience-based legal advice = extraordinary results

Our corporate attorneys achieve extraordinary results by combining their legal knowledge with a practical experience-tested approach to problems. We help business owners structure and prepare employment contracts, severance pay and executive compensation agreements, review equipment and real estate leases, structure and implement merger and acquisition transactions, and refinance corporate debt.

We understand family businesses.

Family businesses are an extremely important part of our practice. We have been representing them since 1960 and recognize that these companies have their own unique challenges:

• Succession Planning – how and when to cede control to the next generation.
• How to allocate responsibilities and profits.
• How to treat non-family members fairly while protecting family members.
• When to sell or merge the business.
• When and how to expand the business.
• How to recognize and address the strengths and weaknesses of each family member.

Taxes, taxes, taxes

Receiving the highest sale price for your business is critical … paying the least amount of tax on the sale proceeds is paramount. We structure transactions so that our client, whether the seller or buyer of a business, achieves the best tax result possible. The interplay of the legal, tax and actuarial skills in our firm allows us to achieve outstanding results for our clients that are unavailable at most other firms.

Need new ideas on how to retain your key employees?

Often a well-designed, properly prepared executive compensation plan or agreement will be just what is needed. Our experienced pension and executive compensation attorneys are here to help you decide whether to use:

• An employment, retention, severance or change in control agreement.
• An annual bonus program.
• A stock-based or other incentive compensation arrangement.
• A non-qualified deferred compensation plan.

Contact us. We can help.

We think about the tax consequences of everything we do.

We provide our clients with sophisticated advice on the federal and state income tax consequences of:

• Their proposed business transactions.
• Their estate planning needs.
• Implementation of employee benefit programs.
• Real estate transactions.
• Non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements.
• The formation and operations of tax-exempt organizations.
• Establishing Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs).

ESOPs are an important business succession planning option.

Providing business owners with succession planning options is of paramount importance to the attorneys at the firm. Our pension, corporate and estate planning attorneys are highly skilled and experienced in the creation and administration of ESOPs and are able to apply the intricate ESOP rules to our clients’ maximum benefit.

Selling stock in your business to an ESOP provides clients with unique benefits:

• Receive payment for the value of your business while retaining operational control.
• Defer (or eliminate) taxes on the sales proceeds.
• Generate significant annual tax deductions.
• Sell your business gradually.
• Motivate your work force.
• Diversify your financial portfolio.

Call us to discuss whether your business is an ESOP candidate.

Great Service, Great Price, Great Experience

• Are you or your accountants frustrated that the GASB #75 report is delayed?
• Frustrated that your actuary cannot explain the GASB #75 report in plain English?
• Frustrated that you are paying too much for the GASB #75 report?

Municipalities throughout the country have been engaging Danziger & Markhoff’s GASB #75 services ever since the Governmental Accounting Standards Board required municipalities to account for and report these post-retirement health benefits.

Our actuaries are currently assisting over 150 public sector employers throughout the country in complying with these GASB #75 rules. We know. We understand. We can help. Call us. We will provide you with a competitive price quote from an actuary you can understand.

CLICK HERE to Request a Quote

CLICK HERE if you are ready to send us your GASB #75 RFP now.

We offer practical real estate counsel

Danziger & Markhoff LLP’s Real Estate department represents clients in a broad range of real estate transactions in both New York and Connecticut. Our real estate attorneys have the depth and breadth of experience to deliver practical and efficient legal services for our real estate clients. Our key areas of experience:

• Acquisition financing and refinancing
• Contract negotiation
• Leasing
• Purchases and sales
• Structuring of ownership entities

Leasing

We advise building owners and tenants on a wide variety of commercial leasing matters. Our experience includes:

• Preparing and negotiating complex commercial office and ground leases.
• Structuring sale/leaseback transactions.
• Negotiating and drafting real estate brokerage commission and listing agreements.
• Negotiating architectural and construction contracts for tenant improvements, with significant expertise in representing healthcare clients with respect to construction of medical and dental offices, ambulatory surgery centers and diagnostic and therapeutic radiology facilities.

Residential Purchases and Sales

Our real estate lawyers have significant experience counseling clients on the purchase and sale of commercial properties, including:

• Preparing option agreements for the sale, purchase, or exchange of property
• Preparing purchase and sale agreements and conveyancing documents
• Preparing related purchase-money financing and sale-leaseback documentation
• Advising on third-party loan documents
• Responding to due diligence and underwriting inquiries