TZL 1313

ON THE MOVE DAVID M.Y. MILLIKAN, P.E. JOINS WGI IN ITS AUSTIN OFFICE WGI announced that David M.Y. Millikan, P.E. joined the firm’s Transportation Division as vice president, Texas transportation regional manager, in its Austin office. He comes to WGI with over 40 years of experience in engineering business management, project management, transportation, water resources, infrastructure facilities design, and public agency involvement. In his new role at WGI, Dave will utilize his experience working with local government agencies and the Texas Department of Transportation districts to identify opportunities to collaboratively provide solutions which meet or exceed public agency expectations.

“I’m excited for the opportunity to extend WGI’s long-standing reputation for providing high quality and innovative project delivery to the transportation engineering market within Texas,” he says. David Wantman, P.E., and CEO of WGI, says, “We are fortunate to have Dave join our team. His decades of experience in transportation engineering, recent experience working with the Texas Department of Transportation, and business-development skills seamlessly align with WGI’s steadfast commitment to client- services excellence.” Dave is a registered Professional Engineer in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and California and holds a bachelor’s degree in civil

engineering from the University of Arizona. He is actively involved in several professional and community groups. As a multidisciplinary solutions-providing consulting firm, WGI has 18 offices in six states, serving an active client base in over 30 states, specializing in the following disciplines: land development/municipal engineering, traffic and transportation engineering, parking solutions, geospatial services, subsurface utility engineering, structures, landscape architecture, environmental sciences, architecture, land planning, MEP engineering, and creative services. Zweig Group ranked WGI No. 23 on the 2019 Best Firms to Work For and No. 76 on its 2019 Hot Firms list.

BRADY BRYAN & JUSTIN DILAURO, from page 11

of newly constructed, or renovated, government-owned buildings. This federal tax deduction can be as much as $1.80 per square foot depending on the results of the required energy analysis, so an AEC business with even just a modest government portfolio (whether federal, state, or local) can quickly accumulate a significant amount of deductions. For example, a multi-disciplinary architecture and engineering firm secured more than $750,000 of 179D tax deductions for its design work on only four projects for a local school district. The Section 45L New Energy Efficient Home Credit is another powerful tax incentive for certain AEC businesses, most specifically residential home builders and residential real estate developers. This federal incentive provides a $2,000 income tax credit per new qualifying residential dwelling unit for the builder or developer upon the initial sale or lease of the unit. For a home builder selling hundreds of homes per year, this could quickly mean hundreds of thousands in annual tax savings. Likewise, residential developers constructing apartment complexes can also capture the tax credits upon completion of the complexes and their initial leases of the units. So, how does an AEC business proceed with capturing the lucrative tax incentives they are entitled to? Certainly, the involvement of their CPA tax return preparer and other business advisors is critical, but all these specialized tax incentives require a certain level of design and engineering expertise. At a minimum, this expertise will ensure code and regulation compliance, but additionally, the right design and engineering expertise will help maximize the claims. Therefore, seeking help from a niche tax consulting firm that, like BRAYN Consulting LLC, specializes in these design and engineering-based tax credits and incentives and also has in-house design and engineering expertise – including licensed professional engineers, engineers in training, LEED accredited professionals, certified home energy rating system raters, and other professionals with engineering education and backgrounds – is of utmost importance in seeking to secure these tax

credits and incentives. Coupled with BRAYN’s in-house licensed attorneys and tax compliance professionals, this engineering expertise truly maximizes the supportable claims. For example, federal and state R&D tax credits are activity- based and established through qualitative analyses of the facts and circumstances of the taxpayer to the qualification requirements. Having a tax consultant with design and engineering expertise who understands the design and engineering principles being used in the schematic design, design development, construction documents, and other design phases is critical. For both the 179D and 45L tax incentives, energy models and savings’ analyses and calculations are required to be performed by licensed and certified professionals, which are even more of an engineering-type of analysis. Furthermore, having such expertise in-house like BRAYN (as opposed to outsourcing) is essential to ensuring that tax incentive claims are maximized. These tax credits and incentives are very powerful, and since many AEC businesses are entitled to claim them by law, all prudent owners and officers should ensure they are fully assessed. BRAYN Consulting LLC is happy to provide any such business at no cost and no further obligation a Phase 1 assessment to help vet these opportunities, so that you can make an informed decision. Contact us at 888-773-8356 or info@brayn.com to learn more. BRADY BRYAN is CEO of BRAYN Consulting LLC. JUSTIN DILAURO is a partner at BRAYN Consulting LLC. Contact them at brady@brayn.com and justin@brayn.com.

THE ZWEIG LETTER September 23, 2019, ISSUE 1313

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