The MSO Platform™ · For Institutional Advisors
Designed to operate. Independently substantiated. Administered annually.
GTC™ designs the MSO as a functioning management company — with its own personnel, systems and services. Independent economics firms substantiate the management-fee and IP-licensing economics, coordinated per engagement. GTC™ documents and administers the structure from formation through annual operation, transaction and post-close governance, building the contemporaneous record that may later be reviewed in IRS examination, state regulatory review and transaction diligence — alongside the client’s CPA, family office and PE & M&A counsel.
Practice at scale
Reference Edition · Version 1.3
The Durable Law-Firm MSO
A 114-page practitioner reference on operating substance, annual substantiation and the architecture that holds up — whether the firm is held, financed or eventually sold. Written for managing partners, firm counsel, CPAs and transaction advisors.
32 sections · 6 appendices · Research current through October 5, 2026 · Counsel owns every legal conclusion.
Read the Reference Edition →Download the PDF →
News: GTC is building the MSO Platform™ with August · Nov. 10 law-firm MSO webinar, co-hosted with Fox Rothschild
Featured Engagements
EA Journal, Fall 2026 · Penn Mutual CPE Webinar · MSO Symposium 2025 — Hosted
Oregon Society of CPAs (400 CPAs) · Moore Colson Onsite CPE · Hillson CE Webinar
Who We Serve
Four audiences. One client —
the closely-held business owner you advise, or are.
GTC™ works through the advisors who already advise the client. The advisor stays central; we deliver the specialized MSO layer alongside the team they have in place.
For CPA Firms
Accounting Firms & CPA Partners
The §482 substantiation workstream — methodology, documentation, and the risk that goes with it — doesn't sit on your firm. Independent third-party documentation through Berkeley Research Group and Stout supports the management-fee and IP-licensing methodology; your firm retains the client and signs the engagement, GTC™ delivers the specialized layer and carries the workstream.
+ Co-delivery model with firm partners
+ CPE-accredited programs across multiple state CPA societies
For CPA Firms →
For Family Offices
Family Offices, MFOs & RIAs
The MSO that integrates with the wealth plan already in place. Coordinated with the trusts, the insurance, the deferred compensation, and the transition strategy. Where supported by services, arm's-length pricing, and advisor review, the structure may coordinate active operating-business income through documented operating arrangements rather than gift-transfer planning alone.
+ Coordinates with existing trust, insurance, deferred-comp architecture
+ Hub-within-the-plan thesis · institutional family-office discipline
For Family Offices →
For PE Deal Teams
PE & M&A Advisory
PE solves the capital problem. The shareholder's post-deal tax position is often not fully addressed in the deal structure — income flowing through with potential limits on QBID treatment and high individual-rate exposure depending on the facts. GTC™ designs the structural layer that captures that gap, alongside M&A counsel — before the operating agreement is signed.
+ Pre-close structural coordination with M&A counsel
+ Post-close §482 governance discipline
For Law Firms
Managing Partners & Firm Counsel
The law firm practices law; the MSO builds the enterprise around it. GTC™ evaluates, designs, builds, and administers the nonlegal operating platform — succession, retention, professional management, and multi-year investment — whether or not a transaction is ever contemplated. Counsel owns every legal conclusion; the firm's own CPA owns the returns.
+ The Durable Law-Firm MSO — Reference Edition, 114 pages
+ No-cost initial review · written feasibility within six weeks of materials
For Law Firms →
Platform Partners
Six integrated capabilities. One coordinated platform.
What undermines an MSO is execution failure. The platform is built with credible partners who handle the points of isolated risk — orchestrated through one engagement architecture, for the client, for the referring advisor, and for us.
IRC §482 SUBSTANTIATION
Berkeley Research Group + Stout
Institutional §482 substantiation partners · Berkeley Research Group + Stout · management fees · IP pricing · transfer pricing methodology
§482 substantiation runs through independent economics firms — Berkeley Research Group (1,600+ experts across 40+ offices, an established global advisory firm in forensic economics and transfer pricing) and Stout — coordinated per engagement. They provide the independent third-party documentation across management fees and IP licensing — the substantiation foundation every other capability builds on, and the independent answer when the question is who priced the related-party economics.
Retention & Continuity
Retention & Continuity Architecture
Tax-deferred retention vehicles · S-corp shareholder solutions · §531 deployment
Non-qualified deferred-compensation discipline that deploys retained earnings from the MSO — building tax-advantaged retention vehicles for key personnel through active operating-business income, not bonus or gift mechanics. Where the MSO is structured as a C-corporation, this may reduce accumulated earnings & profits and support §531 documentation where retained earnings are deployed for documented business purposes. Includes the structural solution for S-corp shareholders, where standard NQDC typically boomerangs back.
Estate Liquidity & Continuity
Estate Liquidity, Equalization & Transition
Estate-tax liquidity · equalization across heirs · transition planning
Insurance-funded structures coordinated through the MSO supporting estate-tax liquidity for closely-held businesses, estate equalization across heirs with disparate asset profiles, and transition planning for ownership and continuity. Where supported by services, arm's-length pricing, and advisor review, the structure may coordinate active operating-business income into the estate-planning environment through documented operating arrangements rather than gift transfers that consume lifetime exemption.
Formation & Validation
Counsel Bench
Tax-structuring · federal tax controversy · family-office · M&A transaction counsel
A standing bench of MSO-specialist attorneys handles entity formation, third-party structural validation, federal tax controversy and fraud examination (US Supreme Court admitted), family-office and estate-planning coordination, and pre-close M&A transaction structuring. Legal conclusions remain independent of GTC™.
Engagement Discipline
Strategy Through Implementation
Methodology refined across 100+ enterprises
The connective tissue between design (entity strategy, fee methodology), substantiation (Berkeley Research Group or Stout), deployment (retention, estate liquidity, transition), and the Counsel Bench. One engagement architecture across the lifecycle.
Risk Governance
Regulatory and Tax Discipline
Professional-practice rules · §482 substantiation · examination posture
The discipline designed to support defensibility across both regulatory and tax dimensions. Operating-entity ownership coordinated with M&A counsel to fit state professional-practice rules (CPOM for medical, bar rules for law, licensed-professional ownership for dental, veterinary, and other regulated industries). Tax architecture documented for §482 substantiation and documented governance. No outcome promises. No pre-packaged structures.
The GTC™ Perspective
Many MSOs are deployed as PE compliance vehicles. We design them as integrated structures — for annual tax efficiency, enterprise value growth, and capital-efficient exits, with coordinated wealth architecture built in from day one.
National practice across all 50 states. Built to a single institutional standard — designed for later IRS, state regulatory and transaction review.
How We Operate
Three institutional standards.
Education
CPE-accredited programs
Delivered to Moore Colson (Top-100 CPA firm) and the Oregon Society of CPAs (400-CPA program). Grounded in current IRS guidance, case law, and methodology refined across 100+ engagements.
Governance
Contemporaneous documentation
Annual §482 economic analysis through Berkeley Research Group or Stout, coordinated per engagement. Management fee methodology, related-party pricing analysis, and governance records built to reviewer-readable standards.
Relationships
Peer institutional work
Engaged alongside Top-100 accounting firms, the Independent Counsel Bench (tax-structuring, federal tax controversy, family-office, and PE/M&A transaction counsel), and institutional transaction advisors. The lead advisor stays central; GTC™ delivers the specialized layer.
Co-Founders & Leadership
Two founders. One discipline.
GTC™ was co-founded in 2011 with a deliberate pairing: advanced tax and financial strategy combined with the operational discipline of a former owner-operator. MSO design, governance, and ongoing service are the only work the firm does — and the firm's methodology, governance, and back-end architecture all trace to that pairing.
Alex Jones
Founder & CEO · EA, CFP®, ChFC®, CLU®, CEPA
20+ years in advanced tax strategy and structural design. Published in EA Journal (Fall 2026). Penn Mutual Life Matters podcast feature. Hosted the inaugural MSO Symposium (2025).
Mike Claudio
Co-Founder · CEPA
25 years in operations and quality control. Former owner-partner of a 350-employee engineering staffing firm built and exited. Panelist at the ASE Business Excellence Symposium.
Independent Counsel Bench
A standing bench of independent counsel coordinated across engagements — tax-structuring counsel (federal and state), federal tax controversy and fraud examination counsel, family-office and estate-planning counsel, and PE/M&A transaction counsel. Each engagement holds independent agreements with the client.
Thought Leadership
Where the work gets presented and tested.
GTC™ is regularly invited to speak at the conferences, retreats, and institutes where the most sophisticated advisors gather — and convenes its own.
★ Published Article
EA Journal · Fall 2026
Vol. 44, No. 3 · “The Tax Risk Hiding in ‘Due From’” — Alexander Jones, EA
Feature article on related-party documentation — debt characterization, applicable federal rates, fair market value support, and the §6001 audit file — published by the National Association of Enrolled Agents. Read the article →
★ CPE Delivery
Oregon Society of CPAs · 400 CPAs Trained
In-firm MSO CPE program
MSO methodology, §482 substantiation discipline, and examination posture — delivered to the Oregon Society of CPAs membership.
★ CPE Webinar
Penn Mutual · Life Matters Webinar · Sept. 10, 2026
Sponsored by Penn Mutual · 1.0 CPE credit hour
“Unlocking Planning Opportunities with MSOs,” presented with Jordan H. Smith, JD, LL.M. (Schechter Wealth) to approximately 200 attendees.
★ CE Webinar
MSO Strategy · Sept. 28, 2026
Sponsored by Hillson Consulting · 1.0 CE credit hour
“A Joint Deliverable for CPAs and RIAs,” co-presented with Richard Hillson; CPA/NASBA and CFP Board eligible.
★ Hosted Event
MSO Symposium 2025 · Inaugural Year
Hosted by GTC™
Convened the institutional questions firms running MSOs at scale actually have to answer. Featured speakers from Pacific Life, Schechter Wealth, and named counsel.
★ Featured Episode
Penn Mutual Life Matters Podcast · Season 2, Episode 10
Hosted by Bill Bell, VP Advanced Sales
"Why Management Service Organizations Can Be a Game Changer for Business Owners" — Alex Jones joins Bill Bell to break down the role of MSOs in advanced planning.
How We Work
Four disciplines. Every engagement.
01
Feasibility
Written feasibility report against the client's facts, economics, and governance posture. No-cost initial review; the written analysis follows within six weeks of receiving the required materials.
02
Strategy & Design
Entity strategy, governance framework, fee methodology, and §482 documentation through Berkeley Research Group or Stout, in coordination with client counsel.
03
Implementation
Independent counsel drafts and opines. GTC™ sequences the professional work, holds the sign-off gates, stands up the entity, and executes the nonlegal transition — people, benefits, contracts, systems, insurance, banking, intercompany agreements, first invoice. The documented activity record the preparer's work requires comes out of that transition, not after it.
04
Ongoing Support
Annual §482 refresh through Berkeley Research Group or Stout, ongoing governance and contemporaneous documentation across the engagement lifecycle. Quarterly check-ins with the referring advisor.
Where MSOs Are Going
The framework left healthcare.
The discipline is what carries.
The MSO structure was built in medical practices to satisfy state corporate-practice-of-medicine rules — keeping the operating professional entity owned by licensed practitioners while a separately owned MSO managed everything else. The structural logic transferred. Today the same architecture is deployed in any business where ownership rules, succession, or capital efficiency benefit from separating the operating company from the entity that captures management economics.
Industries
Documented engagements across nine industries.
01
Legal & Law Firms
PE-backed roll-ups, partnership MSOs, and operating structures built around state bar rules, reviewed by the firm’s counsel.
02
Medical Practices
Structured around corporate-practice-of-medicine rules · PE-backed roll-ups, a market since 2010.
03
Dental & DSOs
DSO consolidation · multi-location management · owner-operator transitions.
04
Veterinary
Multi-clinic management · regional consolidation platforms.
05
Real Estate
Development · property management · multi-entity operating architectures.
06
Construction
General contractors · specialty trades · family-held construction enterprises.
07
Manufacturing
Closely-held manufacturing groups · multi-entity operating structures.
08
Financial Services
Advisory practices · insurance agencies · specialty financial services firms.
09
Professional Services
Engineering · architecture · consulting · other licensed professional enterprises.
Next Step
Inquire about partnership.
We respond within one business day.
For Top 100 accounting firms, family offices, MFOs, RIAs, PE & M&A counsel, and law-firm managing partners and firm counsel. Inquire about platform partnership, in-firm CPE delivery, pre-close transaction coordination, or a law-firm feasibility review.