Mr. Hovancik’s practice concentrates in the areas of federal and state taxation, corporate partnership and limited liability companies. Mr. Hovancik has been involved in providing legal, estate and tax planning services to real estate development companies, technology companies, medical practices, manufacturing companies, auto dealerships, service-oriented businesses and non-profit organizations (including 501(c)(3) organizations). Mr. Hovancik has received the highest professional rating (“AV”)from Martindale-Hubbell, based on an extensive review conducted among the legal profession in the community.

Mr. Hovanick also provides sophisticated estate and succession planning to his clients with a particular emphasis on planning for owners of closely held companies and entities. This planning has involved the use of various techniques including, the drafting of buy/sell agreements, the formation of grantor retained annuity trusts for “pre-transaction” planning purposes, sales of assets (including stock and partnership interests) to grantor trusts and family limited partnerships. Mr. Hovancik has also provided advice regarding the use of life insurance, including funding buy/sell agreements with life insurance.

Education

Holds an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law and earned his law degree from Albany Law School of Union University. He also holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Siena College.

Representative Engagements

• Provided tax advice regarding capitalization of costs and accounting method changes for a real estate development project with hundreds of millions of dollars in project costs.
  
• Provided advice regarding entity structure, tax credits and economic development incentives for a real estate development project with hundreds of millions of dollars in project costs.
  
• Provided advice regarding New York State sales tax and audit representation, for an out-of-state corporation making sales to New York customers.
  
• Assisted and advised a Canadian Services Company in forming a U.S. subsidiary to conduct its U.S. operations.
• Assisted a Canadian manufacturing company in forming a U.S. subsidiary for the conduct of manufacturing operations in New York State and in the U.S.
• Assisted a U.S. based manufacturing company in the sale of a Canadian subsidiary and its U.S. parent company.
• Assisted U.S. and Spanish based companies in the formation of a U.S./Spanish joint-venture arrangement to conduct operations in both the U.S. and Spain.
• Assisted a U.S. based company in the formation of subsidiary companies in India and France to conduct software development and provide services to the U.S. based parent company.
• Restructured the ownership of a U.S. subsidiary within an affiliated group of corporations for an international conglomerate based in Switzerland.
• Assisted a UK company in forming a U.S. subsidiary for its U.S. operations including the distribution and sale of software and the provision of software consulting services. This matter also considered tax matters raised by arrangements with the UK company’s subsidiaries located in Guernsey and Indonesian countries.
• We routinely provide ongoing U.S. tax compliance services for multi-national businesses involving non-U.S. resident individual’s employment with U.S.-based corporations and entities.

Affiliations

Mr. Hovancik is a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Tax Section. He is also a former member of the Tax Section's Executive Committee and Chair of the Section’s CLE Committee. He is also a member of the American and Albany County Bar Associations. Mr. Hovancik is admitted to practice in the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York.

Representative Speeches, Presentations, and Articles

Chair, Lecturer and Author: “The New Limited Liability Company and Limited Liability Partnership Law;” “Professional Limited Liability Partnerships and Professional Limited Liability Companies;” Limited Liability Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships; New York State Bar Association Program, 1994, 1995. Lecturer and Author: “LLCs and LLPs: What Have We Learned?” New York State Bar Association, 1997; “Advanced Zoning, Planning and Economic Development in New York,” Lorman Education Services, April 2004; “Profitable Strategies for Real Estate Investment Properties,” Lorman Education Services, December 4, 2007. Author: “The New York Limited Liability Company Law: Classification and Conversion Issues,” Taxes - The Tax Magazine (January 1995); “Another Blow to a Municipality’s Tax Base-New Owners of Generating Facilities may be Denominated Article 9-A Corporations and thereby “Exempt” from Real Property Taxation,” N.Y. Real Property Law Journal, Summer 1999; “New York’s New Brownfields/Superfund Legislation,” Environmental Law in New York, January 2004. Comprehensive Tax, Business Law, and Estate Planning for New York Clients in INSIDE THE MINDS: STRATEGIES FOR TRUSTS AND ESTATES IN NEW YORK(Aspatore, 2011).