Sara Jane Holland concentrates her practice in the areas of taxation and corporate counseling, estate planning and administration, nonprofit law and tax controversy. Sara regularly serves as tax and corporate counsel in connection with mergers and acquisitions, the purchase or sale of partnership or membership interests, stock redemptions, tax-free reorganizations and maximizing the benefits of tax credits.
Sara Jane joined Wilson Elser from a prestigious national, full-service law firm. Early in her career, she served as in-house counsel at State Farm Indemnity Company, where she learned all aspects of the insurance business from an insider’s perspective. Thereafter, Sara served as senior staff attorney at Pro Bono Partnership, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that provides free business and transactional legal assistance to other nonprofits, and subsequently joined the trusts and estates and tax groups at a boutique New Jersey law firm.
Areas of Focus
Tax Planning & Controversies
Sara advises business owners on the tax structuring of mergers and acquisitions, including asset sales, membership interest purchases, stock purchases and tax-free reorganizations. Sara regularly represents businesses under federal and state tax audit and has successfully resolved numerous tax deficiency matters before the Internal Revenue Service.
Trusts & Estates
Sara counsels high-net-worth clients to devise tax-efficient wealth preservation and business succession planning, particularly following a liquidity event. Sara also represents clients in estate probate and estate administration matters, very often counseling executors or beneficiaries in connection with complex estates.
Commercial Contracts & Agreements
Sara drafts corporate governance agreements and operating agreements for partnerships, S corporations and C corporations. She advises clients on 1031 exchanges, the CARES Act changes to the Internal Revenue Code, and asset protection following major liquidity events. Nonprofit organizations rely on Sara for services such as entity formation and qualification, and maintaining tax-exempt status.
Representative Matters
Regularly serves on national M&A deal teams across an array of industries, including hotels, manufacturing companies, and software companies
Represents investors in commercial real estate in the tax deferred exchange of like-kind properties
Represents sellers of businesses in tax-free reorganizations and tax-deferred sale of partnership interests