Scott P. Borsack Partner

Scott Borsack focuses his practice on transactional tax planning, estate planning and tax controversy defense. Working as part of a team representing clients in a transaction, Scott is routinely called upon to structure a variety of transactions to minimize the burden of federal and state taxes. Scott has worked with clients and their advisors to bring tax efficiency to mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, fund formations, workouts and debt restructuring, inbound and outbound investments, compensation planning and the use of tax pass through entities such as partnership and S corporations. Developing a tax strategy before transactions get off the ground allows for efficient implementation and maximization of  client goals.

Scott also counsels clients on the means of passing wealth from one generation to another while limiting federal and state taxes, using sophisticated techniques involving pass through entities and trusts. With an eye toward wealth succession, Scott is able to introduce estate tax saving concepts to entrepreneurs while developing plans for a liquidity event, as well. Inevitably, estate planning also requires participation in estate administration matters, and Scott is equally adept in this arena as well. 

Additionally, Scott represents clients before federal and state taxing authorities. He has represented clients involved in all phases of civil and criminal tax investigations before administrative agencies as well as federal and state courts. As the Internal Revenue Service, in particular, has gotten more aggressive in its enforcement activities, the ability to defend positions before governmental authorities can be a real benefit to clients. 

Scott has developed a specialized practice, working with owners of real estate in the Marcellus Shale formation who have leased their property for natural gas exploration. Working with geologists, market analysts and real estate appraisers, Scott is able to craft plans for clients which allow for the passage of future wealth to family members without the significant bite of estate, gift and inheritance taxes. 

Before entering private practice, Scott began his career as a trial attorney for the United States Department of Treasury, representing the Commissioner of Internal Revenue before federal courts.

Scott is a frequent author and lecturer on topics of tax planning, estate planning and estate administration. 

Representative Matters

• Represented an individual in a gift tax audit, securing a reduction of more than $2 million in proposed gift taxes
• Represented a lender restructuring a loan and taking an equity interest in the borrower that saved more than $25 million in income taxes
• Represented a family wishing to pass a majority interest in the family owned business to the next generation; using sophisticated gift giving techniques more than $10 million in gift taxes were saved
• Represented a family with 500 acres in the Marcellus Shale region; devised a plan that allowed the parents to retain several million dollars of future royalties while passing on the excess to the next generation, saving several million dollars in estate and gift taxes
• Represented shareholders in a corporation on the sale of their business; structured the transaction to meet the purchaser’s requirement that there be an asset sale, while getting capital gain treatment for the shareholders saving more than $5 million in income taxes