516-747-0300 x241
sbreitstone@meltzerlippe.com
Stephen M. Breitstone Partner of the Firm Recognized as a leading authority on matters related to taxation, Steve also has expertise in structuring business and investment activities, including tax and estate planning for high net worth individuals and foreign investors in the United States. Areas of Practice:
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Heads Meltzer Lippe's Tax Group.
Tax and estate planning strategist.
Expertise in structuring business and investment activities.
Frequent lecturer and author of numerous published articles.
Taught tax courses as an adjunct professor at Cardozo Law School.
Steve heads the Tax Law Group at Meltzer Lippe, which represents clients in Europe, Israel, South America, Australia, and elsewhere. He does sophisticated tax and estate planning for several large New York real estate families, Wall Street investment bankers, hedge fund managers, corporate executives, and others. He has pioneered many novel and sophisticated tax planning techniques, many of which have come into widespread use.
Steve began his practice in the realm of large New York City law firms, after graduating from law school in 1982. While beginning to practice as a tax lawyer, Steve also studied for his LL.M in Taxation at New York University School of Law and taught courses as an adjunct professor in taxation at Cardozo Law School. During that period, his clientele was comprised mainly of large domestic and international institutions and public corporations. After practicing for some years in the large public corporate arena, Steve decided to reorient his practice to representing a more entrepreneurial clientele. He began to represent high net worth individual clients with real estate holdings and closely-held businesses. During the early 1990's Steve's practice evolved with the changing economic climate. When he first joined Meltzer Lippe, the Firm's practice involved many high profile real estate work-outs and restructurings - representative of the economic climate at the time. Steve played an integral role as tax advisor in these transactions. As the economy began to recover, he became increasingly involved in structuring and negotiating real estate transactions and joint ventures. With the ensuing rise of the bull stock market and rapidly accelerating merger and acquisition activity, Steve played a key role as tax advisor in connection with Meltzer Lippe's prominent corporate practice in structuring merger and acquisition transactions often involving technology companies.
After 2000 when the bull real estate market began to re-emerge, Steve established himself as one of the foremost experts on Section 1031 exchanges. In recent years, Steve has consummated more than $1 billion in 1031 exchanges - in many instances by developing creative structures such as "cash out" 1031 exchanges and tenancies in common exchanges.
In recent years, Steve has lectured at the NYU Institute on Federal Taxation, the American Bar Association Tax Section and numerous other organizations on topics such as drafting partnership and LLC operating agreements, Foreign Investment in U.S. Real Estate and Income Tax and Estate Planning for leveraged real estate. Steve is on the Board of Advisors at NYU's Institute on Federal Taxation. Steve also testified at Congressional hearings about proposed estate tax repeal.
Steve, his wife Jill, who is also a lawyer, and their children Jason and Lauren live in Melville, Long Island. Steve engages in a number of outdoor activities such as skiing, sailing, scuba diving, windsurfing and bicycling. He is also active in a number of pro-Israel political and charitable organizations.
