• Responsible for all matters concerning employee handbooks, such as:
o drafting,
o reviewing,
o modifying, and
o counseling.
• Responsible for assisting firm clients on a wide variety of issues with respect to qualified and nonqualified retirement plans and welfare plans
• Specific expertise includes:
o Drafting Employee Handbooks,
o Preparing and managing Form 5500 filings,
o Preparing summary annual reports,
o Preparing submissions to the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor under various correction programs (e.g., VFCP, DFVC and VCP),
o Drafting SPDs,
o Managing the termination and administration of orphaned plans, including IRS Filings of Forms 5310 and distributions of account balances to participants,
o Drafting cafeteria plans to comply with Massachusetts' recent health care laws,
o Drafting various welfare plan documents (e.g., premium only plans, SPDs) and employer administrative forms (e.g., COBRA, beneficiary designation).
Burt, Staples & Maner, LP/CTI LP: Boston, MA, July 2007 – March 2010
Attorney/Consultant
• Counseled clients' International Taxation departments preparing for IRS audits related to Voluntary Compliance Program (the ‘VCP'); analyzed samples of clients' business units to assess their adherence to IRS regulations; created memoranda and Excel spreadsheets summarizing such results.
• Recommended strategies to be implemented by clients going forward to ensure complete compliance with the VCP Agreement reached between the IRS and clients in order to facilitate the remediation of clients' liability exposure.
• Implemented agreed-to compliance strategies at clients' facilities; modified clients' tax withholding and reporting applications and record keeping procedures to meet IRS mandates.
• Drafted a 300-page manual detailing Compliance Technologies International's (‘CTI') form outsourcing procedures that incorporates IRS rules and regulations relevant to the validation of IRS forms specific to nonresident aliens. Trained CTI outsourcing associates on integrating these procedures into their daily validation of clients' IRS forms and appurtenant documentation.
Internal Revenue Service: Andover MA, January - June 2007
Lead Tax Examiner
• Reviewed taxpayers' filings for veracity, accuracy, and completeness; edited and audit coded such filings according to Internal Revenue Manual (‘IRM') procedures.
• Analyzed taxpayer inquiries, requests for adjustment action, and other taxpayer input documents; recommended action to be taken going forward.
• Trained new tax examiners on practical application of policies and procedures relevant to tax document review and processing as outlined in the IRM.
New England Patriots LP, Kraft Group LLC: Foxboro MA, March 2005 - June 2006
Legal Intern
• Created an automated application to streamline the drafting process of all marketing agreements used by the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium.
• Researched Bankruptcy Code regarding preference payments; drafted motions and assembled documents, financial statements, and Excel spreadsheets to refute the validity of preference payment claims made by Trustees against Kraft Group LLC.
• Examined legal developments in numerous areas of law (including Intellectual Property, Independent Contractor laws, and MA safety regulations); drafted memoranda and presented findings at Kraft Group Legal Department meetings.
ARTICLES PUBLISHED
"Constitutional Challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," PDF, New York University Review of Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, 2010
SEMINARS AND PRESENTED PAPERS
"ERISA Compliance is Critical to Brokers & Employers - A Legal Perspective," Presentation for the 2013 Workplace Benefits Mania (Las Vegas, Nevada) August 1, 2013
“Complying with PPACA,” CPA South Shore Breakfast Forum (Braintree, Massachusetts) June 27, 2013
