Wm. Roger Prescott

Roger Prescott provides tax advice and planning to clients on a wide range of issues, including choice of entity, complex stock and asset acquisitions, executive compensation and transactions involving United States investments by foreign entities. He advises clients in connection with a variety of state and local tax matters, including tax audits, appeals and structuring business activities to minimize state tax liabilities. He leads the firm's Tax Law Group.

Roger is also part of the firm's team of attorneys serving as national insurance defense counsel for accountant professional liability claims, concentrating on federal and state tax issues and development of related strategies for mitigation of damages. He is tax counsel to a number of tax-exempt entities engaged in health care, education and related activities. Roger is also a member of the Captive Insurance Group focusing on the treatment of captives as “insurance companies” for income tax purposes and as supporting organizations when formed to insure the risks of related tax exempt entities.

In recent years we have:

Successfully negotiated the refund of several million dollars of sales and use taxes

Obtained 100% abatement of non-Vermont income tax assessed against a Vermont captive

Obtained favorable determinations of tax exempt status for several captive insurers

Reviewed client tax returns and discovered omitted and underutilized deductions worth hundreds of thousands of dollars

Advised client in connection with $50 million financing utilizing high yield, pay-in-kind debt obligations

Persuaded the Vermont Supreme Court that our clients were entitled to claim a disputed income tax credit resulting in one of the largest refunds of personal income taxes in the state's history

Assisted several clients in obtaining tax credits and other preferences in connection with an expansion of their business

Restructured the sale of a business using an obscure provision of the federal tax law to save the client several hundred thousand dollars in federal and state income taxes

Obtained significant property tax exemptions for satellite facilities of a nonprofit healthcare institution

Advised clients on U.S.-Canadian cross-border taxation issues

Roger is listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2008, and he received Martindale-Hubbell’s AV® peer rating, the highest rating attainable. He chairs the Vermont Bar Association Tax Committee.

Roger is on the board of the Tree Farm Management Group, and he is a coach for Lamoille Union High School’s girls varsity soccer team. Roger is a past president of the Nordic Spirit Soccer Club.

Tarrant v. Vermont Tax Department, 169 Vt. 189 733 A.2d 733 (Vermont 1999) (income tax credit for non-Vermont income taxes paid through S-corporation).
Mountain Cable Co. et. al. v. Vermont Department of Taxes; 168 Vt, 454, 721 A.2d 507 (1998)(sales tax on cable television fees).