Attorney Allie Petrova
Allie Petrova focuses exclusively on business and taxation matters. Allie Petrova works with businesses ranging from newly formed startups and professional practices to mature companies in a variety of industries. A broad base of knowledge enables Allie to view a matter from tax, business, and financial perspectives. Attorney Petrova regularly advises on complex tax structuring, high stakes business negotiations, and strategic milestone events. She also handles tax disputes before the Internal Revenue Service and in the U.S. Tax Court. For the benefit of her clients, she focuses exclusively on business and taxation matters.
Awards and Recognition
- Best Lawyers in America®, Business Organizations; Tax Law; Tax Controversy and Litigation, 2021-2024
- Best Law Firms in America®, 2023-2024
- Super Lawyers, North Carolina, Taxation and Mergers & Acquisitions, 2019-2024
- Business North Carolina, Legal Elite, Business Law and Tax/Estate Planning, 2018-2024
- Nolan Fellowship, American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, 2020
- Triad Business Journal, Forty Under 40, 2020
Education
- LL.M., Taxation, Georgetown University Law Center
- LL.M., International Economic Law, La Sorbonne in Paris
- J.D., Georgetown University Law Center
- Symposium Editor, Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics
- B.S., magna cum laude, Business Administration and Economics, Greensboro College
- Wall Street Journal Award
- Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society
- Alpha Chi Honor Society
Bar Admissions
- North Carolina
- New York (First Department)
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Tax Court
- All North Carolina State Courts
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina
Professional Engagement
American Bar Association, Section of Taxation
- Closely Held Businesses Committee, Chair (2019-2021), Vice Chair (2017-2019)
American Bar Association, Health Law Section
North Carolina Bar Association, Tax Law Section
- Chair (2022-2023)
- Vice Chair (2021-2022)
- Treasurer (2020-2021)
- Secretary (2019-2020)
- Tax Council, Member (2017-2019)
- Membership Committee, Chair (2016-2020)
- Young Lawyers Division, Liaison (2016-2018)
North Carolina Bar Association, Business Law Section
New York State Bar Association
Greensboro Bar Association
- Board Member (2018-2020)
- Newsletter Editor (2019-2020)
- High Point Bar Association Liaison Committee, Chair (2017-2019)
- Herb Falk Society Inductee (2019)
- Holiday Party Committee, Co-Chair (2018)
24th Judicial District Bar
Society of Financial Services Professionals, Greensboro Chapter
Community Involvement
Greensboro College, Board of Trustees
- Board Member (2022-present)
Greensboro College, School of Business, Advisory Council
- Chair (2017-2021); Board Member (2015-16)
Greensboro Foundation for Financial Services Professionals
- Board Member (2017 – 2020)
Greensboro Bar Association Foundation
- Board Member (2019 – 2020)
Georgetown Law Alumni Admissions Interview Program, Prospective Student Interviewer (2012-2022)
Opportunity Greensboro Fellows Program, Mentor (2016-2019)
North Carolina Museum of Art, Contemporaries, Past Board Member (2005-2007)
Presentations
“Hot Topics in Partnership Tax,” North Carolina Bar Association, Tax Section, 2021 Tax Section Program, 2021.
“Representing the Professional Selling to or Purchasing a Minority Interest in a Corporate Practice,” American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, 2021 May Tax Meeting, National Webinar, 2021.
“Cleaning Up a Client’s Past Behavior,” Section 9100 Relief, American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, 2020 Tax May Meeting, National Webinar, 2020.
“The Road to PPP Forgiveness and Payroll Tax Relief under the CARES Act,” American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, National Webinar, 2020.
“Thinking Through Tax Strategies When Selling a Business,” Tax Round Table at Society of Financial Services Professionals, Greensboro, North Carolina, 2019.
“Closely Held Businesses from Start to Finish — Part III — The End,” American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, 2019 Joint Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, 2019.
“Section 197 and Personal Goodwill in Professional Practices,” American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, 2019 May Meeting, Washington, D.C., 2019.
“Qualified Opportunity Zone Funds: Capital Gains Reinvented,” The J. Nelson Young Tax Institute, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2019.
“Partnership Audit Rules: Update and Practical Considerations for Closely Held Businesses – Part II,” American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, 2018 Joint Fall Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, 2018.
“Section 199A: Update and Analysis,” American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, 2018 Joint Fall Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, 2018.
“Understanding the New Guidance on Section 199A,” American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, National Webinar, 2018.
“Worker Classification – The States, IRS and DOL,” American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, 2018 May Meeting, Washington, D.C., 2018.
“Partnership Audit Rules: Update and Practical Considerations for Closely Held Businesses,” American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, 2017 Joint Fall Meeting, Austin, Texas, 2017.
“Practical Uses of Sales of Business Interests to Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts and Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts for Closely-Held Business Owners,” American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, 2017 Joint Fall Meeting, Austin, Texas, 2017.
“Dental Associate Contracts: Connecting the Dots,” UNC School of Dentistry, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2017.
“Protect Your Growing Business,” LaunchCamp Creative, Greensboro, North Carolina, 2017.
“Estate Planning in Divorce,” Winston Salem State University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 2017.
“U.S. Taxation of the Investment Income of Individuals,” Eucotax Conference, Rome, Italy, 2011.
Publications
Co-Author, “Representing the Professional Selling to or Purchasing a Minority Interest in a Corporate Practice,” The Practical Tax Lawyer (American Bar Association’s Publication), Fall 2021.
Co-Author, American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation, “Comments on Specific Substantive and Procedural Provisions Impacted by the COVID-19 Emergency,” April 2020.
Co-Author, “Worker Classification Best Practices and Remedies for Error: Options for Professional Practices,” The Practical Tax Lawyer (American Bar Association’s Publication), Fall 2018.
Co-Author, American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation, Initial Comments Concerning the Aggregation and Disaggregation of Trade or Business Activities for Purposes of Section 199A, May 2018.
Author, “Are Concierge Physician Fees Payable Tax-Free from Health Savings Accounts and Reimbursable Health Flexible Spending Accounts?,” Health eSource (American Bar Association’s Publication), July 2017.
Co-Author, American Bar Association’s Health Law Section, Comments on “Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems,” June 2017.
Author, “The New Partnership Tax Audit Regime: 20 Takeaways,” Tax Assessments (North Carolina Bar Association’s Publication), Winter 2016.
Author, “State Corporate Income Tax: A Stance on the Sales Factor,” Tax Assessments (North Carolina Bar Association’s Publication), Fall 2015.
Author, “U.S. Taxation of Investment Income of Individuals (U.S. Citizens, Resident Aliens and Nonresident Aliens),” EUCOTAX Journal, 2011.
Co-Author, “Modeling Optimal Mandates: A Case Study on the Controversy over Mandatory Professional Liability Coverage and Its Disclosure,” 22 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 1029 (2009).
Full Profile
Ms. Petrova has followed a path that has shaped her in a trusted advisor with well over a decade of experience in finance, tax, and M& A transactions. Allie offers a unique perspective, supported by experience, which seamlessly blends tax law with business law and financial savvy. Ms. Petrova’s integrated knowledge allows her to understand and handle the various parts of a single matter. Allie was born and raised in Bulgaria, a beautiful country in Southeastern Europe, and grew up in a family of true entrepreneurs. She had an affinity for math and problem solving that developed her analytical capacity. Allie’s knack for numbers and passion for business guided her undergraduate studies.
Allie gained her foundational tax and transactional experience while consulting on M&A tax work at the headquarters of Ernst & Young in New York City. Mere steps from Times Square, Allie’s practice focused on complex tax structuring and planning for a wide range of domestic and international business entities. She assisted with acquisitions of businesses ranging from startups worth a couple of million dollars to publicly traded companies with billion dollar acquisition values that account for some of the largest transactions nationwide. Allie worked on cutting edge projects, including one of the last-to-be-admitted private letter rulings on corporate spinoffs. Advising on the structures of Fortune 500 companies that are household names, Allie developed a technical acumen that she now deploys for the benefit of her business clients.
Missing her family and home, Allie returned to North Carolina. Before founding Petrova Law, Allie practiced corporate and tax law with Schell Bray PLLC in downtown Greensboro. At Schell Bray, Allie continued to advise on tax issues and expanded her practice into working with closely held businesses.
Allie’s experience incorporates tax work at the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C. At the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, Allie analyzed global business models of multinational companies to assess financial transactions and transfer pricing issues from the government’s perspective. She worked at the Large Business and International Division Headquarters, which handles tax law analysis associated with the examinations of corporations, partnerships, and individuals with assets in excess of $10 million.
At the D.C. headquarters of the Taxpayer Advocate Service, Allie drafted parts of the National Taxpayer Advocate’s Annual Report to Congress and reported on the most litigated tax issues — business expense deductions and summons enforcement — and drafted a legislative recommendation for tax relief to family caretakers of foster children. With the ground breaking developments she has achieved on behalf of small businesses, nonprofits, and individuals, the IRS’s National Taxpayer Advocate inspired Allie to dedicate her practice to the service of others.
Allie’s cross-border experience spans across the Atlantic and enables her to connect the dots in business and legal activities abroad. At Ernst & Young in New York and at Schell Bray in Greensboro, Allie worked on the structuring of crossborder transactions in jurisdictions including Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Ireland. In Brussels, Allie worked on international trade cases at Van Bael & Bellis and coordinated EU member states’ contributions to fund the European Union’s budget at the European Commission Headquarters. In Stockholm, Allie drafted commercial contracts and researched trademarks at RydinCarlsten, now Lindahl. In Paris, Allie received legal training in international business contracts, international commercial arbitration, and international trade through an intensive bilingual program at The Sorbonne. In London, Allie explored European law and international law. At Georgetown Law, Allie studied advanced international law, advanced transfer pricing, and EU tax law.
Before law school, Allie settled operating and investment account activity at a Fortune 500 company and managed a segment of the corporate financial reporting of a privately owned multinational company based in Cary, North Carolina.
