Half Day Tax Seminar (E1912709)

Francis X. Astorino, MS, CFP®, CPWA®, is president and Chief Executive Officer of The Astorino Financial Group, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor that he founded in 1986. Astorino is the driving force and prime influence in the firm's continued growth and success. At the same time, he personally oversees a large client base.

Mr Astorino is a Master Planner Advanced Studies(SM) ( MPAS® ) Professional. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional and a Certified Private Wealth Advisor (sm). In addition, he holds securities registrations and insurance licenses in 13 states, including the following registrations: Series 6, Series 7, Series 63, and Series 24 (held with LPL Financial).

Astorino has been both author and subject of magazine and newspaper articles that have appeared in Research Magazine and Financial Planning magazine, among others. He also taught various courses on financial planning. His Masters thesis was on Behavioral Finance titled, “Anchoring Wealth”. In 1983, Astorino earned a BA from Boston College, and has served as president as well as treasurer of the college's New York metropolitan area alumni group.

Astorino has been actively involved in philanthropic organizations since 1983, and has been responsible for establishing and/or raising funds for multiple charities in excess of $10,000,000. In addition, he balances his responsibilities to the firm and to his family with a strong desire to give back to his community. Astorino has held a variety of both volunteer and appointed positions in local government, including serving on the municipal planning board and as an elected councilman for the Borough of North Caldwell.

Gary Bingel is the Partner-in-Charge of the firm’s State and Local Tax Group. With over 25 years of experience, his expertise focuses on state and local income taxation, and sales and use tax consulting. He has significant experience serving clients in the manufacturing, retail, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, technology, and service industries.

Gary’s specific areas of service encompass income/franchise tax refund reviews; state tax analysis of restructurings; due diligence reviews; sales tax studies; and nexus reviews. In addition, he is experienced in exposure remediation/voluntary disclosure and amnesty agreements; credits and incentives negotiation and analysis; and ruling requests.

Prior to joining the firm, Gary was Partner/Managing Director in an advisory and consulting firm in New York, where his clients ranged from start-up entities to Fortune 500 companies. His work centered on state income and franchise tax consulting as well as consulting on various sales and use tax issues. Gary also has significant experience in the area of state credits and incentives, including negotiations and site selection. Gary’s additional experience includes serving as a State and Local Tax Manager for Arthur Andersen and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A frequent lecturer, Gary has presented various state and local tax topics to a range of professional organizations, including Tax Executives Institute and various CPA organizations. Gary also instructs various courses at the Income Tax School of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation.

Samantha Guis is a Tax Manager in the International Tax Services Group, with nearly 10 years of experience in the areas of tax and accounting. She has experience in U.S. and international tax planning and compliance for U.S. and foreign high net worth individuals. Sam works with a variety of clients that are U.S. citizen and foreign individual living in both the United States and abroad.

Sam’s focuses on individual income tax as it relates to international taxation issues and planning regarding foreign components and she understands the complexity that foreign issues can create in being compliant with U.S. tax laws, especially with U.S. reporting requirements including FACTA.

In addition to Sam’s experience with tax compliance, she also has experience with payroll and taxable benefits for foreign employees working with various human resource departments. She also assists in the training on tax topics, including international concepts for individuals and mentoring of staff.

John M. Lisa, CPA, is a certified public accountant in New York and New Jersey. He is a member of the New Jersey Society of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs. Mr. Lisa has taught accounting at the college level and has lectured before professional and business organizations. He received a B.S. degree from Saint Peter's College and an M.B.A. with a concentration in taxation and finance from New York University's Stern School of Business.