Biography
Mark Aquadro is a tax and business attorney experienced in state and local tax planning, economic development and tax appeals.
Mark has extensive experience representing companies locating or expanding business operations in Mississippi with negotiating tax and other incentives and assistance from state and local governmental agencies and authorities. He has represented companies establishing, relocating and expanding distribution centers and manufacturing facilities. Representative individual projects have involved capital investment in excess of $100,000,000. Mark also has extensive experience with Mississippi ad valorem tax incentives and planning. He is the Mississippi state chapter author for the American Bar Association publication, The Property Tax Deskbook.
Mr. Aquadro has represented a variety of clients in tax matters, controversies and appeals including a federally recognized Indian tribe. Appeals have involved various taxes from federal income tax and excise taxes, state income, franchise, sales and use taxes, and county and municipal ad valorem taxes.
Mark has also assisted clients with the formation of business entities including tax-exempt organizations and limited liability companies, and with general corporate governance. He is experienced with applications for tax-exempt Section 501(c)(3) status for non-profit organizations.
Before joining Martin Tate, Mark was a shareholder at a major Mississippi law firm, practicing as a tax and business attorney for eleven years in its Jackson and Olive Branch, Mississippi offices. Prior to attending law school, he practiced in the area of taxation for ten years as a Certified Public Accountant, including with a Big Eight public accounting firm and as a state and local tax manager of a Fortune 500 company.
Education
- New York University School of Law, LL.M. (in Taxation), 1995
- University of Mississippi School of Law, J.D., 1994, cum laude
- Memphis State University, M.S. in Accounting with concentration in Taxation, 1991
- Memphis State University, B.B.A. in Accounting, 1981, cum laude
Professional Recognition
AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rated by Martindale Hubbell
Peer selected for recognition in The Best Lawyers in America© for work in Tax Law
Classes Taught
The Property Tax Exemption Process, DeSoto County Economic Development Council Annual Salute to Industry Plant Manager’s Forum, 2005.
Mississippi Legislative Developments, Property Tax Symposium, Institute for Professionals in Taxation, 2003.
Legal & Financial Perspectives on International Trade, The Governor’s Conference on International Trade, 2001.
Mississippi State Taxation, Lorman Education Services, 1996.
Court Admissions
- U.S. Tax Court
Certifications and Memberships
Certified Public Accountant, Tennessee (Inactive)
American Bar Association, Board of Editors of The Property Tax Deskbook, Section of Taxation, Committee on State and Local Taxes
DeSoto County Economic Development Council, Board of Directors, Chairman of Infrastructure Committee
Publications
Mississippi chapter, in The Property Tax Deskbook, American Bar Association, 2001 to present.
Mississippi Tax Audit Process, Delta Bus. J., Feb. 2009, at 56.
Mississippi Property Tax: Preparing and Filing the Personal Property Rendition, Delta Bus. J., Dec. 2006, at 62.
Mississippi Property Tax: Assessment of and Available Incentives for Businesses, Delta Bus. J., Feb. 2006, at 62.
Mississippi Property Tax: Background and Treatment of Personal Residence, Delta Bus. J., Dec. 2004, at 52.
Co-Author, Bankruptcy Officials Versus the Internal Revenue Service: A Federal House Divided Against Itself, 8 Akron Tax J., at 131 (1991).
Co-Author, Net Operating Loss Carryforward: Revenue Collection vs. Bankruptcy, Nat’l Pub. Acct., Dec. 1991, at 32.