About - Advanta Tax Advisors, LLC

Stefanie Simons has 18 years of experience assisting clients in lowering effective tax rates through the maximization of deductions and credits. Stefanie spent the last 10 years as a regional leader in McGladrey’s Federal Credits and Incentives practice. She has provided expertise in research and development tax credits to clients since 1996 and is a frequent speaker on the topic. She has extensive experience working with the IRS to resolve research and development tax credit claims and frequently reaches settlement at the examination level. She has worked with clients in numerous industries including aerospace and defence, satellite, energy, engineering firms, life sciences, manufacturing and software development.

Stefanie’s experience with DPAD includes developing initial methods with large multinational taxpayers to maximize overall tax benefits (DPAD, international tax incentives) and supporting packages that companies can utilize on a going forward basis. She also has experience analyzing contract arrangements and revenue streams to determine domestic production gross receipts and evaluating various options for apportioning expenses under IRC Section 861.

Stefanie formed the Meals and Entertainment Deduction service offering at McGladrey and served as the national leader for the practice. She developed the methodology with input from IRS examiners and statisticians.

Stefanie earned her Master of Science in Accounting and is a CPA.

Stefanie enjoys volunteering with her children and being a Girl Scout Troop Leader, baseball team mom and cheer mom.

Kevin Johnson has over 16 years of experience providing tax consulting services that enhances client cash flow. Kevin spent the last 10 years with McGladrey, LLP and was the national leader of the Tangible Property Services group. In this capacity he was responsible for the technical quality and financial performance of the cost segregation, energy credits and incentives and the fixed asset service lines. He was also instrumental in leading that firm’s response to the new Tangible Property Regulations providing national trainings, thought leadership and development of tools and processes for tax preparers and clients to adopt these new rules. Prior to joining McGladrey, he spent over six years with Big Four accounting firms.

Mr. Johnson has completed cost segregation studies on thousands of properties nationwide, including light to heavy manufacturing facilities, multi-tenant office buildings, corporate headquarters, hospitals, medical office buildings, hotels, casinos, sports stadiums, data centers, distribution centers, newspaper printing press facilities, biopharmaceutical laboratories, various alternative energy properties, ethanol plants, and retail facilities ranging from fast food restaurants to regional shopping centers. Kevin has performed various energy credit and incentive projects for a multitude of green construction/renovation projects for both public and private sectors.

Kevin earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Dayton and is a LEED Accredited Professional and a member of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).

Robert Renuart has 17 years of experience as a technical specialist for research and development tax credit projects. Prior to his research and development consulting work, Robert’s career included 18 years at Bechtel Corporation and 8 years at investor-owned utilities. Robert also continues to provide consulting services to the nuclear power industry.

Robert’s experience in research and development tax credit projects includes:

Interviewing technical personnel to determine research activities

Documenting research activities from interview details and engineering documents and drawings

Preparing companies’ technical personnel for interviews with IRS experts

Assisting in the IRS examination and Appeals processes through IDR responses and participation in IRS proceedings

Robert’s research and development tax credit projects have included the following specialty industries: utilities, architectural/engineering firms, manufacturing, high technology and alternative energy.

Robert earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University and an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland. Robert is a P.E. in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

AFFILIATIONS

Electric Power Research Institute – Member of Advanced Nuclear Technology group on configuration management
Nuclear Industry Configuration Management Group – former Steering Committee Member

Ben A. Kaplan is a finance and tax professional with over 20 years experience in research credit studies. He has led the Research and Development Tax credit effort for major firms and obtained many millions of credit, after audit. Most notably he was instrumental helped a defense firm and a financial services firm obtain $8 million and $10 million respectively of additional credit. He has also helped many smaller companies obtain the credit, adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to their bottom line. Ben has also testified on numerous occasions before the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury concerning proposed Research and Development credit regulations. Ben’s process for identifying qualifying projects has been hailed as a model for the financial services industry. Ben has a BA in Political Science from Florida International University, a MBA in Finance from New York University and a JD from Rutgers School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. He is admitted in New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia bars and to various federal and state courts including the US Supreme Court as well as all United States Courts of Appeals.

Ms. McCormick has experience with various cost segregation studies including: restaurants, retail stores, multi-tenant office buildings, manufacturing facilities, and automotive dealerships. She is instrumental in identifying and capturing additional tax benefits through Section 179D Energy Efficient Commercial Building Deductions.

Makenzie’s past experience includes over 10 years of heavy construction as project manager for various municipal design and construction projects. In this capacity she is familiar with all phases of construction including project management, cost estimation, and design.

Makenzie graduated from North Dakota State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering and she is a licensed Professional Engineer.

Corning Pearson has over 13 years of experience in assisting clients with credits and incentives including: Research Tax Credits (Federal, State and multinational projects), Energy Credits and Incentives, Section 174 R&D Deductions and Section 59(e) Elections, the Section 199 Domestic Production Activities Deduction (DPAD), Meals & Entertainment (M&E) reviews, Accounting Method Changes, and Tangible Asset Analyses. His experience includes assisting clients with federal and state examinations.

Corning has extensive experience in providing tax services to a wide variety of clients ranging from large SEC registrants to privately-held companies. His role includes planning, managing, directing, and reviewing projects, specializing in those that involve software development/enterprise wide software implementations and the manufacturing industry.

Further, Corning has broad experience regarding IRS and state audits, including the preparation of responses to Information Document Requests and meeting with exam teams through Appeals/Post Appeals Mediation. This includes working with clients and outside counsel in preparing for and attending interviews regarding software issues and IRS exam teams with the MITRE Group, which serves as the IRS’ outside consultant. Additional duties include assistance with ASC 740/FIN 48 analysis of tax return items.

In addition to client service, Corning has instructed at many continuing professional education and informal trainings regarding Research Tax Credits and incentives, the DPAD, Accounting Methods, and M&E.

David is a Business Developer out of the Charlotte office of Advanta Tax Advisors. David works to foster mutually beneficial business relationships in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia.

David is proactive in working with companies to understand their business issues and bring ideas that add value and help companies achieve their strategic goals. David is involved from the proposal process and throughout project delivery to ensure client satisfaction.

David joins Advanta after spending 12 years at RSM McGladrey where he worked with Stefanie and Corning. He is active in various local Charities, from Habitat for Humanity and the Urban Ministry, also as a former Assistant Scout Master, as well as with his church where he served as an Elder. He enjoys working out and biking, and gardening as well as being active as a Dad.

Jenni Heeren has over 20 years of tax administrative experience. She organizes all tax project deliverables and provides marketing support. Jenni also serves as Office Manager in addition to supporting client-related activities. Jenni has also studied writing, editing, and marketing.