Brian T. Whitlock

JD, LLM, CPA

Tax Partner

Brian Whitlock is the Tax Partner in charge of Wealth Transfer and Philanthropy Services.

Brian assists families in transferring assets and businesses from one generation to the next. He develops and implements detailed wealth transfer strategies utilizing tax principles and asset protection vehicles to minimize liability and maximize value over time. He also advises family businesses and exempt organizations on income tax issues; strategies for attracting and retaining key employees; employee benefit plans; and avoiding unrelated business income taxes.

The tax portion of Blackman Kallick's philanthropy services includes operational compliance, governmental reporting, and unrelated income tax planning for the firms exempt organizations (i.e., cultural institutions, social service agencies, trade associations, public charities, and private foundations).

Brian has counseled not-for-profit clients on a variety of tax matters including unrelated business income tax issues, excess benefit transactions, intermediate sanctions, nonqualified deferred compensation, foreign tax withholding on payments to foreign individuals and organizations, and U.S. withholding rules on prizes and raffles. Brian has worked closely with individual donors in analyzing the income and estate tax implications related to charitable giving strategies.

Brian is a member of the AICPA, the Illinois CPA Society, the American Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association. He is the past chairman of the Illinois CPA Society. He currently serves on the AICPA Tax Executive Committee and the Illinois CPA Society Tax Executive and Advisory Committees. He is a sought-after national speaker by bar associations, CPA and financial planning organizations, and trade associations on a variety federal income, estate and not-for-profit tax issues and is regularly featured at the AICPA National Tax Conference in Washington, D. C. Brian is a member of the faculty for the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign where he teaches in the Executive MS Tax Program.

Prior to joining Blackman Kallick, Brian practiced law with Bellows and Bellows, P. C. in Chicago. In addition to income and estate tax planning for closely held businesses, he handled the legal aspects of business and real estate acquisitions, the design and implementation of qualified pension and profit-sharing plans, employment contracts and general corporate matters affecting for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.

Brian received his BA from Northwestern University, his JD (with honors) from IIT/Chicago–Kent College of Law and his LLM in Taxation (with high honors) from IIT/Chicago–Kent College of Law.

Visit Brian Whitlock's Untaxingly Yours blog.

Articles by Brian Whitlock

• Congressional Inaction Creates Estate Planning Mess
• Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 Extends Charitable Giving Provisions
• Understanding Unrelated Business Income
• IRS Releases New Version of Form 990

News about Brian Whitlock

• Whitlock Speaks to the American Farm Bureau on IRS Compliance and Governance Issues
• Whitlock Presents 2010 Estate Planning Update to Illinois CPA Society
• Whitlock Presents "Roth, or Not to Roth" to the Central Chapter of the Illinois CPA Society
• Whitlock to Present at the Illinois CPA Society's 2009 Corporate Tax Conference
• Whitlock to Speak at Chicago-Kent College of Law Conference on Not-for-Profit Organizations