Mauricio D. Rivero is an associate in Holland & Knight's Private Wealth Services Practice Group, concentrating his practice in the areas of tax planning, tax controversies/compliance, and international estate planning.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Rivero served more than 10 years in the Examination Division of the Internal Revenue Service where he examined individual, partnership and corporate returns, including substantial cross-border transactions, and served as an instructor on a variety of subjects including F-BAR requirements, foreign tax credits, withholding requirements and indirect income examination methods.
Mr. Rivero has experience:
- providing estate planning to foreign and domestic high net worth individuals to minimize gift and estate tax exposure
- providing pre-immigration planning to foreign individuals planning to establish domicile in the U.S.
- advising and assisting U.S. companies on establishing a presence abroad through the use of offshore entities to realize tax savings
- advising foreign companies on the proper vehicles for investment in U.S. real estate
- assisting in the drafting of agreements and closing documents for a domestic client's sale of a foreign enterprise.
In the areas of tax compliance and controversy, Mr. Rivero has represented taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service in various matters, including:
- representing clients who have not filed tax returns or tax compliance forms in several periods against penalty assertions
- representing a client in a tax court settlement in connection with fines brought by the Internal Revenue Service
- defending an estate from a $75 million proposed IRS deficiency
- negotiating an appeals settlement for a client involving an IRS proposed $5 million deficiency
Mr. Rivero is adjunct professor at the Florida International University College of Law. As a student at FIU, Mr. Rivero served as a member of The FIU Law Review, Trial Advocacy Team, and as president of the Student Bar Association.