Maria S. Otero

Maria Otero advises high-net-worth individuals, families and multinational businesses on international income tax planning and compliance, helping clients manage tax exposure across multiple jurisdictions. Based in Century City, she counsels private clients with cross-border businesses and investments on international tax and estate planning and helps corporate clients optimize their worldwide effective tax rate.

For individuals and families, Maria addresses the tax and estate planning issues that arise from cross-border businesses and investments. For corporate clients, she works to reduce foreign taxes through tax-efficient financing, efficient cash management, repatriation of earnings to the U.S. and transfer pricing analyses.

Her perspective is shaped by a career spanning law and accounting. Before joining Holland & Knight, Maria was an attorney at a boutique private wealth services law firm in Los Angeles. Previously, she worked for a national firm of certified public accountants, where she concentrated on cross-border tax planning and compliance. Maria advises individuals and families from abroad who invest in or move to the U.S., as well as U.S. individuals and families who invest and move abroad, guiding them through the ever-increasing regulatory and reporting obligations associated with those activities. Pre-immigration and expatriation planning are an important part of her work.

Maria began her career at a Big Four accounting firm in Switzerland, consulting with individuals subject to multiple taxing jurisdictions. Her clients there included corporate executives on international assignments, multinational high-net-worth individuals and families, business owners and investors. This international foundation allows her to anticipate how tax rules in different countries interact and to guide clients toward coordinated, practical solutions.

Maria is a regular speaker on tax, estate planning and business issues and has contributed articles to professional publications, including the University of Southern California Tax Institute and Éditions JFA's Ingénierie Patrimoniale.