Geoff Christian became the Managing Director of the Greenville office of CBIZ MHM, LLC when he joined CBIZ’s National State and Local Tax Practice on March 1, 2012. Under Mr. Christian’s leadership, the practice group provides state tax planning and dispute resolution services to numerous companies, both public and private, in a wide array of industries.
Mr. Christian’s practice primarily consists of successful resolution of state and local tax examinations throughout the country for multistate Fortune 500 companies for a broad range of issues including unitary/non-unitary, business/nonbusiness, apportionment, intercompany expenses and addbacks, filing positions and constitutional matters. Consulting services include identification of state and local tax opportunities and exposures with resolution through affirmative refund claims, voluntary disclosure filings and prospective operational changes resulting in facts justifying a different tax treatment. Mr. Christian is also involved with Internal Revenue Service controversies, transaction taxes, sales and use taxes, property taxes, tax litigation support and other tax planning matters for small and large companies alike.
Immediately prior to joining CBIZ, Mr. Christian was the Managing Member of Dow Lohnes Price Tax Consulting Group’s National State Tax Practice where he spent eleven years providing successful advocacy and consulting services to clients across the country. As the Managing Member, Mr. Christian was instrumental in expanding the firm’s state and local tax practice, developing close working relationships with companies in the media, manufacturing, retail, and transportation industries.
Mr. Christian started his career with KPMG Peat Marwick in Greenville, South Carolina in 1989, last serving as Senior Tax Manager of the Information, Communications, and Entertainment practice in the Georgia/Carolina region with multiple clients in daily and community newspapers, radio and television broadcasting, cable and entertainment production and distribution. In this capacity, Mr. Christian managed all aspects of federal and state compliance and tax planning including such projects as FAS 109 implementation, earnings and profits studies, state amended returns to reflect federal return audit adjustments, determination of basis in the stock of subsidiaries, and services related to mergers and acquisitions for a variety of media clients. Mr. Christian also managed tax services at the firm’s regional Manufacturing, Retail and Distribution practice.
In 1999, Mr. Christian became the Tax Director for Advantica Restaurant Group, Inc., the nation’s largest operator of family dining restaurants with brands such as Denny’s, El Pollo Loco, CoCo’s and Carrows and was responsible for federal and state compliance including income, franchise, sales and use, and property taxes for over 2,000 locations with filings in every state.