Martin Tate attorneys assist companies and site selection specialists in the resolution of various state and local tax issues, and with obtaining both tax and non-tax incentives for their projects. Much of our work involves projects in West Tennessee, especially in Shelby and Fayette counties, and in North Mississippi.
Spanning a period of more than twenty-five years, Martin Tate’s Economic Development Practice Group has presented over 160 Payment-In-Lieu-Of-Tax (PILOT) applications for our clients in Tennessee, including applications for several Fortune 100 companies presented to the Economic Development Growth Engine Industrial Development Board of the City of Memphis and County of Shelby, Tennessee (EDGE). In this connection, we have obtained many millions of dollars of property tax savings for our clients, and these projects have created or retained over 26,000 jobs, involving a total capital investment of approximately $3 billion.
In connection with work on these projects, our attorneys have frequently identified and obtained for our clients significant other tax savings and incentives from the State of Tennessee and the State of Mississippi. In the case of Mississippi, one active and productive area of our work involves tax planning that takes advantage of many state and local tax incentives available to new or expanding business enterprises, including income tax credits, sales tax exemptions, property tax exemptions, and fee in lieu of tax agreements, which can result in substantial tax savings.
Members of our Economic Development Practice Group - a multidisciplinary group comprising about one-third of the attorneys in the firm, including tax lawyers, property lawyers, and trial lawyers - review with our clients various incentives that may be of interest to them, determine the viability of the incentive request, explain the approval process and the potential savings, negotiate on our clients' behalf with vairous constiuencies, present the project for final approval, and then complete the legal documents necessary to effectuate the incentive.
We also assist our clients in the ongoing reporting and compliance requirements for the incentives granted; in the case of PILOT transactions, we counsel our clients on property tax matters that the PILOT affects so that the incentive ultimately materializes as planned. For more information please contact Harry J. Skefos or W. Price Morrison, Jr. at (901) 522-9000.
