Symphony Tax

Risk Solutions In M&A and Tax Planning

Symphony Tax is the specialty business of Symphony Risk Solutions focused on mitigating tax risks in M&A transactions, business planning and compliance, and tax credit protection. Bespoke tax insurance policies transfer quantifiable tax risks, along with coverage for interest and penalties, audit defense costs and an income tax gross up, to the insurance markets. These solutions are primarily utilized by private equity firms and their portfolio companies, strategic corporations, renewable energy developers and investors, family offices and high net worth individuals and estates.

About

Symphony Tax

Symphony Tax works closely with private equity and strategic tax departments and their advisors to design solutions for tax risk identified during the course of buyside or sell-side M&A transactions that are typically much more efficient than purchase price adjustments, indemnities or escrows.

We also team with Symphony Transact on all representations and warranties insurance policies and transactional risk advisory consultations, ensuring that all parties fully understand and appreciate the potential tax opportunities and risks and available mitigation strategies.

Outside of M&A, Symphony Tax creates solutions for businesses restructuring their operations or legal entity structures, taxpayers looking to protect the quantity and quality of tax credits and attributes, and tax departments facing uncertainties with respect to return positions, accounting methods and other tax compliance matters.

Tax Risk Mitigation Services

The Symphony Tax team is passionate about mitigating risk, facilitating frictionless closings, and unlocking tax opportunities by utilizing tax insurance policies to supplement written tax advice and provide economic certainty.  There is a broad array of industries and situations that can benefit from tax insurance, including the following:

M&A Transactions

  • Buyside Protection
  • Backstop to Seller indemnity or escrow
  • Broad coverage for tax risks excluded from R&W policies
  • US federal, state and local, cross-border and local country tax risks
  • Ability to bind pre-signing, pre-close and post-close

Internal Restructuring

  • Related-party asset transfers
  • Internal and external spinoffs
  • Transfer pricing and related-party debt
  • Legal entity and capital structure
  • Generation and utilization of tax attributes and credits

Portfolio Companies

  • Revisiting the Due Diligence Report
  • Opening balance sheet and ongoing tax positions, accounting method changes
  • Debt restructuring and recapitalizations
  • Internal Restructuring, including IP migration, separation of non-core assets and integration of bolt-on acquisitions

Real Estate

  • Protecting REIT status and transactions
  • Like-kind exchanges
  • Opportunity Zone and other tax-advantaged investments
  • Internal real estate separations including “OpCo/PropCo” transactions

Renewable Energy Tax Credits

  • Investment and tax structuring protection, including partnership flip transactions
  • Investment and Production tax credit protection
  • Coverage for adders such as domestic content and prevailing wage and apprenticeship
  • Tax credit transfer protection for developers and buyers

Family Offices and High Net Worth

  • Section 1202 Qualified Small Business Stock transactions
  • Trust and Estate planning and valuation concerns
  • Transactions between Partners and Partnerships
  • Loans and distributions between businesses and stakeholders

Specialized Industry Experts. Focused on You.

Symphony Tax puts our best on your side. Our best people. Our best ideas. Our best partners. Your best outcomes.

Doug Brody

President, Symphony Tax

Tailored solutions means we are not confined to our internal resources. Whenever and however necessary, we will access — at our cost and for our clients’ benefit — the appropriate service or technical partner required to create exceptional value.

The Symphony Difference

Decades of M&A Tax Experience

Symphony Tax leadership has the most M&A transaction advisory experience in the industry, having led hundreds of buyside and sell-side tax due diligence engagements before joining the insurance industry.  The deep understanding of how advisors and taxpayers identify and interpret tax risks, and the various mitigation strategies that are available, distinguishes Symphony Tax from all other tax insurance brokerages.

Teaming with Taxpayers and Advisors

Symphony Tax is a relationship-driven business, focused on teaming early in the process to reduce complexity and ensure clear communication and a problem-solving focus.  Our team leverages its significant tax expertise to ensure proper framing of the tax exposure in the tax insurance market submission, and reviews supporting documentation and analysis in advance of underwriting to produce more efficient and successful outcomes.

Seamless Teamless with Symphony Transact and Solutions

Symphony Tax aligns with Symphony Transact seamlessly on all transactions, providing the Transact team, clients, and underwriters with resources that can expertly identify, discuss and mitigation tax exposures.  Across Symphony Risk’s many industry solutions, Symphony Tax works with each Solution leader to identify and implement tax insurance policies specific to each industry and market participant.

Our Reach

We service clients in all 50 states and worldwide through our global partnerships. Our teams are built around experts in both industry- and product-specific specialties.

Our method to create, implement, and execute our capabilities separates and differentiates us from publicly traded multinational behemoths, regional/local generalists, and “buy-and-flip” aggregators.

Contact Symphony Tax

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