International Tax

Pontius Tax Law, PLLC strives to resolve sensitive tax problems through trust, dedication, and value. The law firm was founded by John Pontius. Mr. Pontius regularly represents individual and business clients with sensitive and serious tax matters before the Internal Revenue Service and state taxing authorities. His client base is local, national and international. Over the course of his career, Mr. Pontius has represented businesses and individuals with complex tax issues in the following areas: FBAR examinations, offshore disclosures, FATCA, tax planning, unfiled tax returns, release of tax liens and levies, trust fund recovery penalty, IRS and state audit examinations as well as Appeals, penalty abatement, US Tax Court litigation along with defense of tax fraud and evasion. Mr. Pontius has extensive examination experience with federal and state audits, protests of proposed adjustments and audit reconsideration. He represents clients on tax liens and levies, collection due process hearings, offers in compromises and requests for penalty abatement. He has experience with employment tax issues such as worker classification and the trust fund recovery penalty. Prior to founding Pontius Tax Law, PLLC, Mr. Pontius practiced for five years at Maryland tax controversy law firms in Rockville, Annapolis, and Bethesda. Mr. Pontius has two years’ experience in the international corporate tax group at KPMG in Tysons Corner, Virginia where he researched and analyzed a wide range of complex tax matters in the areas of compliance, provision, planning, and restructuring. At the accounting firm, Mr. Pontius worked with a broad range of U.S. multi-national and foreign-owned clients doing business as corporations and partnerships in the communications, financial services, and defense contractor industries.

As a lawyer for over 30 years, on a daily basis, John Teter has assisted thousands of clients in achieving their business and personal goals. He draws on this wealth of real-world experience, coupled with interaction with colleagues and a lifetime commitment to continuing education, to provide his clients the best legal representation possible. It is a great source of personal pleasure to apply these tools to assist others. Mr. Teter considers each case to be a personal challenge to achieve what is best for each of his clients. As an experienced taxation law attorney, he has the knowledge and resources to handle complex tax problems of individuals and business owners. Whether it involves a tax audit, tax appeal, or other matter, you can depend on John D. Teter for insightful analysis and skillful representation. Mr. Teter founded his own law firm to provide personalized service to each and every client. The law firm has the resources and experience of a large firm but the focused and customized attention you would expect from a smaller firm.

A. Antonio Tomas is a Board Certified Tax Lawyer, Board Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer and a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Tomas's practice focuses on two main areas: Tax Law and Criminal Law. Mr. Tomas has successfully represented clients against the Internal Revenue Service at the field and appeals level, as well as before the United States Tax Court. He has also advised and counseled clients on various issues, including trust and estate planning, corporate structuring and general tax planning. Mr. Tomas has extensive experience at the state and federal level litigating all phases of a criminal case. He has defended clients charged with various white-collar crimes, as well as other crimes such as grant theft, child molestation and murder. Mr. Tomas graduated with honors from the University of Miami School of Law in 2003. During law school, he interned with the Miami-Dade state attorney's office and was an editor for the Inter-American Law Review. He went on to earn an L.L.M. degree (Masters of Law) in Taxation from the University of Miami in 2006. Prior to law school, he majored in Accounting and earned a Master's Degree in Taxation from Florida International University. He has been a C.P.A. (Certified Public Accountant) in the state of Florida since 2002.

EXPERIENCE: ScaleUp Legal – Managing Partner Miami, FL • Manage formation and development of ScaleUp program for startups seeking representation and counsel to raise capital, overcoming due diligence difficulties, and structuring deals. • Qualify, evaluate, and manage affiliated PE investments and portfolio of startups. • Counsel US and global clients (businesses and executives), on corporate structure, immigration, PE/VC, international tax, compliance, and complex international transactions. • Review, negotiate, and supervise hundreds of commercial, procurement, and licensing contracts, DPAs, and more with clients, vendors, and partners . • Counsel clients on the legal aspects of investing in blockchain technology and making other cryptocurrency investments. • Counsel domestic and international (including Egypt, Philippines, Spain, and Argentina) clients on entity formation in Delaware, Florida, and Nevada, tax implications, registered agents, power of attorney, and tax IDs for corporate and individual clients. • Search, and file for, new trademarks, respond to office actions, and manage trademarks. CoachHub – Sr. Legal Counsel Miami, FL and Berlin, Germany • As VP and officer of the US subsidiary, negotiate and manage hundreds of deals in the US, Latin America (including Brazil), and Spain. Counsel and negotiate with C-level executives, on corporate structure, immigration, PE/VC (more than $300M raised in VC), international tax, compliance, and complex international transactions. • Review and determine adequacy of software as service platforms, and their compliance with our internal requirements as well as FedRAMP, GovCloud, GDPR, CCPA, SOC II, and ISO. • Hire, lead, and mentor team members in the UK, Germany, and the US by examining their work, setting priorities, providing feedback, and facilitating improvements and growth. • Work with Human Resources to establish a nationwide employment strategy minimizing labor costs and risks for a workforce of around 150 employees across 27 states and several countries. • Clients and partners included Silicon Valley Bank, Amazon, Meta, Twitter, T. Rowe Price, Capital One, Kellogg's, Thomson Reuters, Repsol, Banco Santander, and more. Indiana Department of Workforce Development – Investigator Miami, FL and Indianapolis, IN • Determined the facts and created a record relevant to the claimants’ claims by using questioning techniques similar to the ones used for deposition, direct, and cross examination. • Applied relevant Indiana labor law and jurisprudence to assist in adjudicating unemployment and COVID-19 pandemic benefits claims. Maine Department of Labor – Appeals Hearing Officer Miami, FL and Augusta, ME • Heard appeals from unemployment claimants in the state of Maine and applied relevant law concerning unemployment benefits and emergency assistance related to COVID-19. • Conducted hearings with claimants over the phone, created a record, and made decisions over the qualifications of claimants to receive unemployment benefits. • Affirmed or reversed decisions by unemployment benefit deputies based on the record created during the hearings and the applicable law. M3N – Founder Miami, FL and Barcelona, Spain • Founded M3N, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and established the corporate documents necessary for corporate governance and operations in Florida. • Developed the business and technology to invest in triple net CRE using data science. • Through the COVID-19 pandemic, developed and leveraged the network of contacts necessary to raise the funds necessary to begin operations and deploy capital. Trueba & Suarez – IP Law Miami, FL • Drafted motions for Federal court, State court, and TTAB proceedings. Drafted responses to USPTO office actions. Provided litigation support including document management, document review, eDiscovery, and client coordination. • Researched and summarized TMEP, the Hague convention (for service on international defendants), Federal (Lanham Act, DMCA, and the Copyright Act), and Florida statutes related to trade secrets, international copyrights, trademarks, and franchises. • Initiated, followed up with, negotiated, and delivered take down notices, demand letters, and cease and desist letters to content and service providers (like YouTube, GoDaddy, and others) and opposing parties as necessary to protect the intellectual property rights of our clients. • Evaluated searches performed by outside vendors on trademarks and patents. Evaluated potential pre, and post, AIA patent cases, patent office actions, and patents used by examiner to deny patents. InternetDynamo – Founder Miami, FL • Acquired clients generating more than $800,000 in revenue per year. • Led the team responsible for the design, deployment, growth, and maintenance of the hosting infrastructure necessary to sustain the website ranked number 20 in traffic in the world. • Led the design and development, with a team of DBAs, the cluster database infrastructure responsible for hundreds of millions of transactions per day spanning several databases, servers, networks, and geographic locations. EDUCATION: Universidad de Barcelona, Facultad de Derecho Barcelona, Spain Grado en Derecho (Legum Baccalaureus (LL.B.)/Bachelor of Law) – EU Law and Data Privacy University of California - Berkeley, School of Law Berkeley, CA Legum Magister (LL.M.)/Master of Law – Intellectual Property (IP) Nova Southeastern University, College of Engineering and Computing Miami, FL Master of Science in Management Information Systems (M.MIS) – Data Science Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad College of Law Ft. Lauderdale, FL Juris Doctor (J.D.) – International Law & Civil Law Stetson University College of Law: Tampa, FL International Institute of Social Studies The Hague, Netherlands Truman Bodden Law School Georgetown, Grand Cayman Florida Institute of Technology, Nathan M. Bisk College of Business Melbourne, FL Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), cum laude – Business Administration & Computer Information Systems OTHERS: Native Reader, Writer, and Speaker of Legal and Business English and Spanish Member of the Florida Bar – Bar No. 1027712 Miami, FL CIPP/US Miami, FL Startup @ Berkeley Law/VC University – Certificate in VC Berkeley, CA Chairman of Board of Our Children, Our Future (non-profit) Hollywood, FL Nova Southeastern University – Certificate in Civil Law Ft. Lauderdale, FL University of California, Berkeley – Certificate in Law and Technology (IP) Berkeley, CA InfraGard, South Florida Members Alliance Miami, FL Nova Southeastern University – Certificate in International Law Ft. Lauderdale, FL HNBA/Microsoft, Intellectual Property Law Institute (IPLI) Scholar Washington, DC Master Swimmer Miami, FL

Ernest established the firm with offices in Pennsylvania and London in 2005, providing professional services to multinational individual, corporate and private equity clients.  Ernest continues to bring together people with the shared belief that a practice should be built on providing reliable professional service while maintaining the trust of its people and of its clients.  Ernest's commitment to providing his clients with personal attention is carried forward today by each of the firm's service professionals.

Mr. Guttman is AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®, the highest recognition possible in the legal industry, for his professionalism and ethics. Consistent with the concentration of the firm, Mr. Guttman continues to focus his law practice in the areas of real estate assessments, property tax incentives and tax exemptions. He has extensive experience with representing a variety of property owners including multi-unit residential, commercial and industrial properties, as well as downtown Chicago office buildings. Mr. Guttman has considerable experience with litigation including acting as associate counsel before the Circuit Court of Cook County on a number of cases that challenged the constitutionality of the assessment methodology applied by taxing officials. His trial experience includes one of the first tax objection cases to be heard in the Circuit Court under the amended 1995 Revenue Act, which abolished the antiquated constructive fraud standard. Mr. Guttman co-authored two chapters, “Tax Objection Complaints” in the book, “Real Estate Taxation” and “Real Estate Tax Considerations” in the book “Residential Real Estate Transactions” for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education. He also co-authored the article “Five Things Every Attorney Should Know About Appealing Their Client’s Real Estate Taxes” appearing in the January, 2004 edition of the “CBA Record.” He was the former Chairman of the main committee, Legislative Liaison, and Chairman of the Assessment and Appeals Sub-committee of the Chicago Bar Association’s Real Estate Taxation Committee. He currently acts as Treasurer of the Illinois Property Tax Lawyer’s Association – an advocacy and lobbying group established to inform, educate and promote tax policies and legislative efforts affecting tax payers throughout the State of Illinois. Mr. Guttman lectured before the Chicago Bar Association’s continuing legal education seminar entitled, “Real Estate Taxation: An Overview for the Non-Specialist” in 2005 and acted as Special Assistant State’s Attorney on behalf of Maria Pappas, Cook County Treasurer, as Trustee of the Indemnity Fund in the defense of a claim against the Indemnity Fund. He also served on the Cook County Treasurer, Maria Pappas’ Joint Committee for the automation of the Illinois Transfer Tax Form.

Bob Weinstein offers federal counsel and representation in most areas of the United States and is a California licensed attorney (focused on business taxation advisory and resolution), lives with his wife, three (highly) active sons, and a free-will thinking golden retriever lap dog weighing in at 85 lbs named Dexter. He’s also a stock market junkie, real estate broker, and of course…a business and tax consultant. Interests include his family, economics, marketing, technology, real estate, finance/investing, history, and Asia. Bob is also an accomplished syndicated writer whose work can be found in TheStreet, MainStreet, CNBC, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Seeking Alpha, MSN Money, The Money Show, Stock Saints, Motley Fool, Fidelity, Minyanville, RealMoney Pro, and many national and international newspapers. Interestingly enough, he has even been published by the Tehran Times, the state newspaper of Iran (although it denies being state directed). Bob graduated from Northwestern California University School of Law with a Juris Doctor in Law. Was a one time taker of the California Bar Exam, and has been admitted to the United States Tax Court, California State Bar, United States District Court Southern District of California, United States District Court Western District of Wisconsin, and United States District Court Eastern District of Wisconsin. Bob is also registered as In-House Counsel in Wisconsin, albeit does not practice state law in Wisconsin other than pro bono work. That may change at some time in the future, albeit for now, he’s staying busy with a focus on taxation. Practice in federal matters, including taxation and trademarks for clients in most states, so just because you’re not located in California or Wisconsin doesn’t mean he can’t help you. With modern technology, including Zoom meetings, either actual or virtual face-to-face meetings can be realized for most. Licensed in Wisconsin as a Real Estate Broker since 1998, and licensed as an Insurance Broker in about 15 states. After honorably serving in the Navy submarine service, Bob Weinstein bought and sold several businesses, including starting several from the ground up. Currently, Bob operates several businesses, including 1 Reason Tax, 1 Reason Insurance, 1 Reason Business Solutions, and 1 Reason Realty. By merging these business related skill sets, he is able to spend a greater amount of time with any given client and get to know his clients at a much higher level. This makes Bob particularly well versed in providing valuable guidance for business and real estate owners with an emphasis on maximizing client’s after tax income. If you’re seeking someone who will do more than simply treat you as if you’re just another one on an assembly line, you owe it to yourself and your company to give us a call. Find out the difference from what you’re used to and what it can be.

Davis Law’s CEO is Marshal H. Davis, Esquire, MBA, LLM. Davis Law is a Bucks County law firm and serves the Philadelphia area and its suburbs, New Jersey, and elsewhere in Pennsylvania. He is an attorney licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the federal courts of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Western District of Pennsylvania. Attorney Davis is a native and long-time resident of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Dr. Davis’s primary practice areas include business law, commercial transactions, non-profit law, tax-exempt entities, real estate tax assessment appeals, and corporate law. In his spare time, he coaches fencing at Liberty Fencing Club LLC in Warrington, PA. In addition to running this local Bucks County law firm, in Spring 2013, Dr. Davis was an instructor at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law for the practicum of the JD-level Nonprofit Corporations class.

As much as I consider myself a legal generalist, I am also highly knowledgeable in several areas of law to be able to offer services at a level expected of an expert in his field. Upon graduation from Villanova’s Masters in Taxation program, I embarked on a career that afforded my clients the full spectrum of services from estate planning, including fiduciary taxation, to estate administration and probate. Having worked at accounting firms as well as law firms, I am highly regarded as an expert in my field providing my clients with a complete spectrum of the work I do for them from its inception to completion. In connection with my expertise in international matters having to do with tax and law, I also provide a complete array of services to the import and export business community in connection with their customs requirements and export controls. Having developed a passion for international trade, I embarked on an intensive self study and hands on learning of customs regulations and export controls.

Cliff Capdevielle focuses his practice on income and estate tax planning, tax controversies, and trust and estate matters. As the leader of MOBO’s trusts, estates and tax practice, Cliff counsels high-net-worth US and international clients on a variety of tax and estate matters, individuals, families and businesses. His practice often requires him to advise clients on a variety of US-based and cross-border estate planning and wealth preservation matters with a focus on estate and gift tax minimization strategies, tax credits and incentives, and tax planning.