Oscar Javier Ornelas
Associate
Contact Info
T: (915) 546-8250
F: (915) 546-8333
1100 Chase Tower
201 East Main
El
Paso, TX 79901
oorn@ScottHulse.com
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As an attorney with both a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license and a Masters degree in Tax Law, Oscar Ornelas is uniquely qualified to assist ScottHulse clients with both tax and corporate matters. He often works in conjunction with a client's CPA or accountant to address a variety of tax matters, including local property tax planning and protests, state income and sales/use taxes, and controversies involving the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other taxing authorities.
Mr. Ornelas also assists clients and their financial advisors in addressing a variety of state and federal tax issues - particularly with respect to real estate matters (e.g., withholding taxes on dispositions of real properties by foreign nationals, tax-deferred like-kind exchanges, etc.) and structuring the formation of new business entities in Texas and other states.
In addition, Mr. Ornelas assists non-profit entities to obtain tax-exempt status for state and federal purposes, and address corporate-governance issues in conformity with federal tax laws. Bicultural and fluent in Spanish, Mr. Ornelas often counsels foreign nationals, particularly from Mexico, on U.S. business operations and investments.
Mr. Ornelas is a member of the American Bar Association, the El Paso Bar Association, the El Paso and Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Ornelas is rated CV by Martindale-Hubbell, and was voted a 2008 Rising Star by Texas Super Lawyers.
Mr. Ornelas serves on a number of civic boards and associations, including the Paso Del Norte Group, the Trans Pecos Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization (RCIC), Sunrise Rotary Club, and the Wounded Warriors Program of the Association of the United States Army (Omar Bradley Chapter). He is a past director of the El Paso County Bar Association and currently serves as a director of the El Paso Chapter of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants.
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
- Counsels several Mexican transport partnerships on international tax matters, tax treaty questions, compliance issues with U.S. taxing authorities, and legal issues arising from transactions with U.S.-based related parties.
- Counsels clients having interests in a Cypriot shipping enterprise on international tax matters and U.S. tax compliance issues.
- Counsels a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) on tax-compliance issues for maintaining its federal tax status as a REIT.
- Successfully obtained reductions with respect to Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA) withholding on multi-million dollar dispositions of U.S. real property by foreign nationals and corporations from Panama and Mexico.
- Successfully obtained property tax exemptions for charitable organizations who divide title ownership from operations by using subsidiary corporations.
- Prepared legal opinions with respect to Texas personal property tax liability for warehouseman seeking certification from the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), and corresponded with legal counsel for NYMEX with respect to same.
- Counsels numerous clients with respect to issues concerning liability for Texas sales and use taxes, New Mexico gross receipts taxes, intra-state apportionment and sourcing issues for both taxes, and exemptions from both taxes.
- Counsels numerous clients on the mechanics and tax consequences of special basis allocations (§ 754 adjustments) to incoming partners in family limited partnerships.
- Analyzes financial-statement and tax-return data of opposing parties for clients in anticipation for litigation.
- Prepares Requests for Abatements, Installment Agreements and Offers in Compromise, and represents clients having tax controversy matters before the IRS.
- Counsels international clients on choice-of-entity and tax issues for inbound U.S. investments, and organizes their business entities in Texas and other states.
- Counsels numerous charitable organizations on matters involving director-entity transactions, leveraged property acquisitions, program expansion, compliance with donor directives affecting gifts, and other corporate-governance issues that affect their status as federally tax-exempt charitable entities.
- Closed transactions on the sale and purchase of business ownership interests and real estate holdings valued at millions of dollars.
- Counseled client on the tax consequences of modifying a multi-million dollar grandfathered split-dollar life insurance policy and the roll-out of the same.
- Counseled large alcoholic beverage distributorship with respect to property tax issues in connection with its merger and acquisition by a third-party purchaser.
- Worked in conjunction with CPAs of a multi-state federal contractor to minimize U.S. income taxes arising from the merger of two subsidiary partnerships.
- Counseled political campaigns on Texas campaign finance matters, addressed various campaign finance issues before the Texas Ethics Commission, and prepared and filed Texas campaign finance reports for political campaigns.
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University of Texas at El Paso - 1996
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B.A., Accounting |
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High Honors and Honors Degree |
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Texas Tech - 2001
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Juris Doctor
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magna cum laude
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New York University - 2002
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L.L.M., Tax Law
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State Bar of Texas - 2001
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State Bar of New Mexico - 2009
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Certified Public Accountant - 1997
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