Clifton Gunderson acquires USTA
Clifton Gunderson, ranked as one of the USA’s largest certified public accounting and consulting firms, today announced its acquisition of U.S. Tax Advantage, LLC (USTA), an international tax consulting services firm with locations in New York, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee and Houston. The acquisition is effective May 1, 2010. By combining resources and expertise, Clifton Gunderson and USTA become one of the leading suppliers of international tax services.
“This is an important strategic investment for our firm, which benefits the clients of both our firms,” said Krista McMasters, Clifton Gunderson CEO. “The acquisition further strengthens the talent and resources of our tax practice and highlights our commitment to provide the highest level of tax services to our current and future clients and proactively meet their growing, complex, global needs.”
Through this acquisition, Clifton Gunderson will add 14 tax professionals to the firm, including partners Mark Gasbarra and Lester Fuwa. Gasbarra joins Clifton Gunderson as managing partner of Global Tax Services and brings with him three decades of international tax experience serving the complex tax needs of Fortune 500 companies. He formed USTA five years ago with the vision of creating a global tax services practice while leveraging the benefits of superior tax technology. Prior to forming USTA, Gasbarra was a senior international tax partner and national practice leader at two Big Four firms.
“Mark has had significant success in building USTA and has a history of insightful international tax strategies and solutions using methods that complement and translate to our other tax consulting services,” said McMasters. “We are eager to leverage his leadership and experience to further strengthen the breadth of tax services we provide to our clients.”
Fuwa, also with three decades of international tax experience, joined USTA from a Big Four firm and has significantly increased the firm’s technology leadership potential. He joins Clifton Gunderson as partner-in-charge of Global Tax Solutions, USTA’s web-based software platform.
“We have been extremely impressed with the strengths of Clifton Gunderson, the high quality of service provided to their clients and the synergies that exist between our firms,” said Gasbarra. “We share the same practice philosophy and reputation for quality client service, and believe we can leverage Clifton Gunderson’s tremendous network of resources — both at the national and international levels — to better serve our clients’ needs.”
McMasters added, “USTA partners and staff have earned a solid reputation for quality service and expertise in assisting many mid-market and Fortune 500 companies with their international tax requirements. We are excited about how well the strengths of USTA will complement ours and enhance the services we provide to our existing and future clients.”
Clifton Gunderson is the 14th largest U.S. accounting firm and the largest member of HLB International, one of the world’s largest networks of independent professional accounting firms and business advisors. Through this affiliation, Clifton Gunderson leverages the expertise of professionals across the world and has gained access to global resources to meet the cross-border business objectives and needs of its clients. The combination of Clifton Gunderson and USTA means more direct access to these resources and information sharing between the two firms and its client-serving professionals.
About USTA
US Tax Advantage, LLC is operating as a subsidiary of Clifton Gunderson and will keep its name. US Tax Advantage, LLC is an international tax specialty firm focused on global tax optimization for US and foreign-based companies — combining expert tax analysis with proprietary software to deliver reliable decision support and sustained tax savings. The firm’s core competencies include structuring, transfer pricing, federal income tax incentives, and repatriation. U.S. Tax Advantage, LLC is ranked in Inc. Magazine’s “500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America” for 2009.
About Clifton Gunderson
Clifton Gunderson, ranked as one of the nation’s largest certified public accounting and consulting firms and the largest U.S. member firm of HLB International, provides a wide range of assurance, tax and consulting services to clients in a variety of industries. Founded in 1960, Clifton Gunderson has a staff of more than 1,900 professionals serving clients from 46 offices across the country. Clifton Gunderson, and the separate and independent member firms of HLB International, provides personal and high quality service to clients in over 100 countries through the HLB International “Global Care” approach.