May 23, 2016 (Houston, TX) - Team Capstone welcomes Paula Little, CPA as the newest member of its nationally recognized, captive management team. Ms. Little brings 25 years of tax experience to Capstone's already deep bench. At Capstone, Ms. Little is the liaison on federal and state tax-related matters with the tax and corporate lawyers at The Feldman Law Firm LLP. Over the last CAP_YEARS_NUMBER years, Capstone has taken the lead in almost CAPTIVE_FORMATIONS captive formations, making it one of the largest, mid-market captive managers in the U.S. It is the largest independently-owned, turnkey captive management operation serving the middle market.
One of Ms. Little's first projects is to work with the lawyers at Capstone's affiliated law firm in addressing needed changes in 2017 captive ownership structures in connection with the "Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015." This 2015 legislation raised the cap on Internal Revenue Code Section 831(b) electing captives to $2.2 million, which is then inflation-adjusted, from the previous $1.2 million cap, having been unchanged since 1986. Also, the 2015 PATH Act limited an electing captive's ability to have disparate lineal family ownership relative to the insureds.
"Capstone has long been recognized as having the broadest and deepest talent pool in the captive industry," commented Steve Cohen, the head of The Feldman Law Firm's tax department. "With the addition of Paula, Team Capstone is bringing added talent to its deep bench, drawing on our law firm's resources in identifying and resolving tax, corporate, and regulatory issues."
While not acting as a CPA directly for clients, Ms. Little will be serving Capstone, which provides comprehensive administration for captives and their owners throughout the U.S. She joins five others at Capstone and The Feldman Law Firm LLP who successfully passed the CPA exam along with the Firm's dozen lawyers. Capstone's team is bolstered by its two in-house CPCUs (Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriters) and three persons holding the designation of "Associate in Risk Management", all in addition to another person holding an "Associate in Claims" designation. Experienced insurance accountants and administrators round out Team Capstone. Capstone and its related law firm and affiliates employ 60 persons in Houston, TX; Atlanta, GA; Wilmington, DE; and The Valley, Anguilla, British West Indies.
"Our talent pool is recognized as being unmatched in the industry," explains Stewart A. Feldman, Capstone's CEO and General Counsel. "Our experience is seen in our success over the years in maintaining compliance with both domicile regulators and in tax reviews of various sorts. Whether it was the three wins in tax court on captive matters in 2014 or the more than 50 'no change' IRS audits or favorable tax rulings, we are proud of the diligent approach that our team has taken over the years. As the IRS and state regulators have become more active, sophisticated clients have gravitated towards Capstone for true turnkey solutions as their outsourced, captive provider," commented Feldman. "Our clients are referred from other law firms, CPA firms, large financial institutions, and other discriminating referral sources."
"Most captive managers simply provide clerical or administrative services," explained Logan Gremillion, tax lawyer with The Feldman Law Firm LLP. "An increasing part of our work involves taking on new clients whose captives are in trouble, with clients realizing all too late that their 'captive manager' wasn't doing what was represented, leaving the client in a lurch when a problem arose. We don't know of another captive group in the country that takes responsibility for tax, corporate, insurance, and regulatory matters and which takes responsibility for federal audit defense. We have the team to do what is needed. Paula's role is in furtherance of our objective of minimizing problems early on."
Paula's previous tax experience includes tax roles as a tax CPA at BDO (formerly Mann Frankfort), PWC, and Duke Energy.
Paula Little has an M.S. and B.S. from the University of North Texas, 1990. She earned her CPA in 1993.
Editor’s Notes: As of CURRENT_YEAR, Capstone has been operating for CAP_YEARS_NUMBER years and has formed over CAPTIVE_FORMATIONS captives. In addition, The Feldman Law Firm LLP has been operating for LAW_YEARS_NUMBER years and has successfully resolved over TAX_CONTROVERSIES tax matters. As of CURRENT_YEAR the cap on 831(b) captive insurance premiums is CURRENT_PREMIUM_CAP million.