WALA Creative Entrepreneurs Series: Tax Strategies

Tax Strategies

Presentation and Q & A with:

Benjamin Grosz, Benjamin Takis, & Jonathan Holbrook

“Pursuing your art as a business can be daunting, and one of the biggest challenges is understanding the tax laws. Between the many types of federal and state taxes that apply to your business, it is easy to make a mistake that can set back your business for years.”

“Benjamin Takis, Benjamin Grosz, and Jonathan Holbrook, each having active experience in the arts in addition to practicing as tax attorneys, will provide an overview of the federal income tax, a guide to the different business structures you should consider, as well as more advanced federal tax issues relevant to artists in the Washington, DC area.”

Benjamin Takis is the founding attorney of Tax-Exempt Solutions PLLC, a law firm specializing in tax, corporate governance, employment issues and business transactions for non-profit organizations and social entrepreneurs. Since beginning his practice in 2006, Ben has devoted his career to representing non-profit organizations and tax-exempt entities. Ben honed his skills as an associate at the premier Washington D.C. labor firm Bredhoff & Kaiser and the leading employee benefits boutique Groom Law Group. At Bredhoff and Groom, Ben represented some of the largest pension funds, health care trusts, and labor organizations in the country, along with public charities, lobbying groups, trade associations, and other non-profit organizations of all types and sizes.

Benjamin Grosz is a partner with Ivins, Phillips & Barker, where he advises clients on a broad range of federal income, estate and gift tax planning matters, as well as employee benefits issues. Before law school, Ben started his own financial planning business. Prior to that he was a business manager at Capital One Financial Corporation, where he developed strategy and analysis for its credit card and banking businesses. His experiences in starting his own financial planning business and developing business strategy for Capital One help him understand the needs of clients ranging from entrepreneurs to large corporations. Although lacking the talent to be a professional artist, Ben spent years singing with various choirs and has had the privilege to sing at the Kennedy Center and Wolf Trap, and the good fortune to participate in a singing “tour de France” with one of his college choirs.

Jonathan Holbrook is an associate with Ivins, Phillips & Barker. His practice focuses on federal income taxation, as well as estate planning and employee benefits issues. As a student at Harvard Law School, Jonathan co-founded HLS Effective Altruism, advised low-income taxpayers through Harvard’s Federal Tax Clinic and was a winner of the 61st annual Williston Negotiation Competition.