Estate Planning
We are involved in all aspects of estate planning, including: advising clients on how to formulate lifetime and estate transfer strategies; compiling federal estate gift and generation-skipping tax returns; and drafting wills and all forms of trusts and other estate planning documentation, including but not limited to powers of attorney, advance health care directives, Qualified Personal Residence Trusts, Family Limited Partnerships and charitable foundations. We advise corporate and individual trustees on their legal and fiduciary obligations and assist these administrators on a multitude of estate-planning issues that arise during the course of administration. We have advised clients on post-mortem issues, including resolving various issues that arise during the course of a probate or trust proceeding.

Business Tax Planning
We work in all aspects of tax planning for individual, domestic and foreign corporate clients. For our corporate clients, we have successfully structured mergers, reorganizations, acquisitions and divestitures of businesses while minimizing, eliminating or deferring taxes. We advise our clients on the tax issues inherent in conducting operations through partnerships, limited liability companies and other flow-through entities. We have assisted in establishing start-up companies and outlining choice-of-entity issues in light of the tax consequences inherent in different entities. We have also assisted our clients in the formation of federally recognized tax exempt and charitable organizations. Because tax planning can have wide ranging, non-tax implications, our tax lawyers frequently draw upon the expertise of Kobayashi, Sugita & Goda lawyers in the securities, banking, labor, corporate and other areas of practice to ensure that any business plan is comprehensive.

Individual Tax Planning
We work with individual tax clients to deal with their tax issues, advise them on general tax and compensation planning, and help to develop an overall estate plan that allows a tax efficient transfer of assets. We also advise non-resident individuals and foreign executives on the tax consequences of operating within and without the United States, including advising on treaty implications.

Federal and Hawaii State Tax Controversies
We see a wide range of tax controversies, and have favorably reduced federal and state taxes assessed against our clients at appeals conferences or during audits. We currently represent clients in administrative tax controversies before the Internal Revenue Service and the State of Hawaii Tax Department.

Retirement Planning
Our attorneys assist with plan design, including compliance with ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code, and have designed employee benefit plans of all types that not only comply with legal requirements, but also provide the sponsor with maximum flexibility and future value. Plans include tax-qualified and non-qualified pension, stock bonus, profit-sharing and 401(K) plans. We advise clients on the implications of new legislation, regulations, rulings and court decisions that can have an impact on compensation and benefit plans. With respect to plan audits, we represent clients before government agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor.