Melodie Menzer, a partner at Trenam Law’s Business Transactions and Private Client Services Practice Groups, has attended the Tax Planning Forum in Orlando since 2016.
At Trenam Law, a top-rated firm in Tampa Bay, Florida, Melodie has focused on a large variety of business tax issues, including classification elections, structuring, and special allocations.
She sat down to talk about approaching the Forum from an attorney’s standpoint, why she keeps coming back to learn from the experts, and how the Forum is “like gold” for attorneys who work with pass-through entities.
Many Tax Planning Forum attendees are accountants, but you’re a tax lawyer. How did you first learn about the Forum and start attending?
I earned my LL.M. from the University of Florida in 2014. After spending a year practicing in North Carolina, I returned to Florida to work at another firm. The tax partner there had attended several Forums and told me very plainly that if I planned to do any meaningful work involving partnership and S corporation tax, I needed to go.
She more or less dragged me along, and I fully expected to sit there and doodle. Instead, I was feverishly taking notes and thinking, I have been doing everything wrong. I remember panicking a bit, and she just laughed and told me not to worry. She said that after a few years of attending, it would all start to click. She was absolutely right.
How do you approach learning tax as an attorney?
I do not have an accounting background, so the Forum has been invaluable in helping me understand how CPAs think and analyze issues. Every year, I come away having learned something new. Sometimes it is a new structure, sometimes a nuance, sometimes a provision I knew once but needed a refresher on. It helps reinforce concepts while also expanding how I think about applying them in practice.
You’ve attended every year since 2016. Why do you keep coming back?
The Internal Revenue Code is constantly changing, and there are always new provisions or interpretations that I may not have had time to fully digest. Hearing Chuck and Michael walk through those changes and apply the Code and regulations in ways I would not have considered is incredibly valuable. They do not just explain the rules. They show you how to use them in real-world scenarios.
It is honestly one of the only CLEs I attend where I am confident I will still learn something new every single year.
How have you used what you learned to help your clients?
I had a client whose father passed away a few years ago, and the family held real estate in partnerships and S corps. Because we didn’t represent the decedent and were not involved in filing any tax returns for the year of death, I normally wouldn’t have thought to ask about a 754 election. I had just heard about late 754 elections at the Forum, so I asked if they made a 754 election when their dad died, because it was on my mind. The great part about the Forum is that they give you all the material as a PDF, and you can go back if you don’t know how something works and look it up.
One of the best parts of the Forum is that all of the materials are provided in PDF form. If you need to refresh your understanding or double-check how something works, you can go back and look it up. In this case, that knowledge helped ensure the family did not miss a potentially significant tax opportunity.
What would you say to a newer tax lawyer who is considering attending the Forum?
It is like taking your favorite class. You need to show up with a notebook and be ready to learn. If you do any work involving pass-through entities, this program is invaluable. It is absolutely worth the time and investment.