Tax Law

On behalf of pro bono client Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Heller Ehrman attorneys established a “supporting trust” to hold title to valuable period instruments to be loaned to members of the orchestra. Attorneys in the firm’s corporate and tax departments drafted the trust documents and completed lengthy applications to the IRS and the California taxing authorities to obtain tax-exempt status for the trust.

The trust has already acquired its first instrument, a violin made in Cremona, Italy in 1660 by Andrea Guarneri. Guarneri, along with Antonio Stradivari, apprenticed to Nicolò Amati, who is credited with the basic design of the modern violin.  The instrument, valued at $350,000, is now on loan to renowned baroque violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock.

In United States v. Burke, Heller Ehrman attorneys filed an amicus brief on behalf of Equal Rights Advocates seeking to convince the U.S. Supreme Court that an award of back pay in a gender discrimination case under Title VII should be excluded from gross income under Section 104(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Attorneys from Heller Ehrman have given tax law advice to religious organizations offering sanctuary to Central American refugees.