Marc Grossberg
Consulting Counsel
Marc Grossberg
+1.713.951.5824
Overview
Marc Grossberg is a tax attorney in Holland & Knight's Houston office. Mr. Grossberg focuses his practice on tax controversy and litigation, tax advice and general business counseling.
Mr. Grossberg represents people and businesses as a knowledgeable counselor, giving them the benefit of his 50-plus years of experience. He works frequently with white collar crime lawyers and family law practitioners on tax issues associated with their clients. Other lawyers often turn to Mr. Grossberg to help figure out how to handle an issue that has not previously been encountered.
Mr. Grossberg is Board Certified in Tax Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is a certified public accountant in Texas.
In addition, Mr. Grossberg is active in pro bono matters as well as his community and helped establish the Harris Country Pretrial Release Program. He also authored the 2019 novel, The Best People: A Tale of Trials and Errors.
Representative Experience
- Represented an individual who had substantial amounts of unreported income, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and unreported foreign entities; arranged for his acceptance into an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) program that involved only civil proceedings and reduced application of penalties while he was under investigation by the S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- Represented a company in an appeal from a proposed deficiency in excess of $2 million and reached a settlement where the IRS agreed the client was entitled to a refund
- Arranged a structure that would allow a corporation to claim a deduction for environmental clean-up expenses at the most advantageous time; structure was subsequently examined by the IRS with a "no change" result
- Represented numerous non-filers in bringing them into compliance without being assessed failure-to-file penalties or being pursued for criminal failure to file, including an individual who had lived outside the United States for several decades and had not reported foreign financial accounts, controlled foreign corporations and certain income from controlled foreign corporations, all as required, and reached a settlement with the IRS where he only had to report and pay taxes and interest on the three most recent years, with no penalties imposed
- Jointly prepared, with a major national accounting firm, a request for a private letter ruling allowing an entity to make a late filing of an election necessary to make a Texas franchise tax conversion handled by another law firm not a taxable event; the inadvertent error would have otherwise cost tens of millions of dollars in taxes
- Structured tax aspects of property settlements in divorces involving substantial assets and complex tax issues
- Planned tax-free spin-off of retailing business in which the owners had irreconcilable differences
- Structured tax planning in connection with a law firm break-up and negotiated the terms of the split on behalf of the clients, who were one faction in the law firm
- Tax planning for a foreign individual in anticipation of his becoming a U.S. resident in connection with his employment as an officer of an international company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
- Represented a publicly held corporation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court as special tax counsel and structured a part of the plan of reorganization so that more than $100 million in basis of assets of subsidiaries was left intact and not affected by cancellation of debt at the parent level
- Represented a client in a $10 million-plus acquisition of a company in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, gaining U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval of the transaction within two weeks of the filing
- Served as court-approved special tax counsel in Chapter 11 reorganizations, including a large regional manufacturer of factory-built, single-family residences with extensive distribution and construction network that was in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding involving more than $170 million in debt
- Jointly tried an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) case in federal district court on behalf of an attorney who had been denied long-term disability (LTD) benefits by her law firm's LTD carrier, with the appeal to the S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirming the decision of the trial court 3-0; all benefits plus attorneys' fees were awarded
- Obtained a summary judgment in state district court for a former employee of a publicly held company, with the court holding her noncompetition agreement invalid; awarded attorneys' fees
- Anonymous v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service, 134 T.C. No. 2 (1/19/2010); case of first impression in which the Tax Court held it did not have jurisdiction to determine whether or not the Internal Revenue Service had abused its discretion in issuing an adverse private letter ruling
- Klopfenstein v. PCC Flow Techs. Holding Inc., DOL ARB, No. 04-149, 5/31/06 - with Steve Fink - a Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower case - pending filing of appeal after reconsideration of denial of remand was ordered in the above-cited published opinion - ARB case 07-021 and 07-022 ALJ Case No. 2004-SOX-011 (1/13/2010)
- Lain v UNUM Life Insurance Co. of America, 279 F3d 337 (5th Cir. 2002) (although only the appeal, which affirmed the lower court 3-0, was published, won the case in the trial court where Judge Ewing Werlein, in an 83-page opinion, held that UNUM had abused its discretion in denying Mrs. Lain's, a former law partner of Marc's, application for long-term disability-income benefits; have since handled numerous claimants for long-term disability payments and in all such representations, the claimant was awarded his or her benefits
- Conroe Medical Center Ltd v. Montgomery County Hospital District [Texas Court of Civil Appeals - Beaumont Division No. 09-98-466-CV) 2000 WL 30059 (Tex App-Beaumont Mar 23, 2000) (NO. 09-98-466-CV) review denied (Sep 07, 2000) (Although the Judge gave the Defendants the verdict Non-Obstante Veridicto, the jury awarded Marc’s clients, the Plaintiff, $1 million plus $300,000 in attorneys fees; suit against the taxing authority for breach of contract
- In re Guyana Development Corp., 201 BR 462 (10/08/1996) - tax case in Bankruptcy Court - in a trial that lasted over four and one-half months, Marc got the court to set aside a $38 million nominee tax lien the Internal Revenue Service had placed on the Florida Power and Light Building in Miami, Florida; federal tax lien case
- Theo W. Pinson, III, and Joan B. Pinson v Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Respondent, 59 TCM (CCH) 554 / 1990 WL 61452 (05/14/1990); won approximate 70% of the amount in controversy in connection with a tax case
- Theo W. Pinson, III, and Joan B. Pinson v Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Respondent, 58 TCM (CCH) 1420 / 1990 WL 14043 (02/20/1990); won a procedural point decided in mid-trial in connection with a tax case
- Battelstein v Internal Revenue Service, 611 F2d 1033 (en banc) (5th Cir. 1980) 631 F. 2d 1182 (en banc) (5th Cir. 1980), denied, 101 S Ct. 2018 (1981); obtained a judgment for the taxpayer in the bankruptcy court and in the district court; lost the initial appeal 2-1 and the en banc decision 11 to 14 in connection with a tax case
- Estate of Edna Chappel Ralston v. United States - US Tax Cases - Southern District of Texas - cited as Dorothy J. Street et vir v.S., 24 AFTR 2d 69-6130, 11/12/1969
Credentials
Education
- The University of Texas School of Law, J.D., with honors
- University of Houston, B.S.
Bar Admissions/Licenses
- Texas
Court Admissions
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Tax Court
Certifications
- Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
Memberships
- American Bar Association, Section of Taxation; Real Estate Tax Problems Committee; Founding Chair, Subcommittee on Real Estate Workouts
- Houston Bar Association
- Houston Bar Foundation Fellow
- Texas Law Review Association of Former Editors of the Texas Law Review, Past President
- The Jung Center of Houston, Treasurer and Executive Committee Member
- Inprint Inc., Board Member; Former President and Chairman
- Rauch Foundation, Board Member
- Jewish Family Service of Houston, Past President
- Texas Bill of Rights Foundation, Past President
- Past Commissioner, Housing Authority of the City of Houston
Honors & Awards
- Top Rated Litigators, The American Lawyer, 2021
- The Best Lawyers in America guide, Litigation & Controversy - Tax, Tax Law, 1995-2025
- Texas Super Lawyers magazine, Tax, Business Litigation, Business/Corporate, 2003-2013
- Who's Who in America
- Who's Who in American Law
- Who's Who in the World