Aaron Borden

Executive summary

Aaron Borden leads Grant Thornton’s Private Wealth Services practice in Dallas.  Aaron has 20 years of experience finding solutions to complex tax problems for entrepreneurs, business owners, and family offices.

Aaron works directly with principals in asset management and private equity firms to proactively address their personal income, estate, and gift taxes. This work often involves taking advantage of the carried interest provisions and other tax rules designed to incentivize the asset management and private equity industries.

Aaron also works with real estate developers, owners, and investors to take advantage of the special tax rules related to real estate. His planning and consulting in this area includes accelerating deductions, offsetting suspended losses, and taking advantage of the transfer tax rules to minimize estate and gift taxes.   

Aaron has also helped technology entrepreneurs and service company owners with stock compensation planning, charitable giving strategies, and retirement planning. Similarly, he has helped distribution and manufacturing clients with a range of complex trust, S-corporation, and partnership issues.  

Aaron often works with multidisciplinary teams of attorneys and financial advisors to assist business owners and family offices in achieving their desired legacy and succession planning goals.  His work in this area often involves advising on estate plans, asset protection, multi-generational planning, and other matters that often go beyond the tax aspects of client goals.  In recent years, this works has involved foreign and domestic trust issues, family limited partnerships, private annuity transactions, like-kind exchanges, opportunity zone investments, private foundations, charitable trusts, conservation easements, family office structures, and cross-border issues. 

Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Aaron practiced as a tax lawyer in a Dallas-based law firm where his work also involved resolving tax disputes and obtaining court-ordered modification and interpretation of trusts.  His work on these engagements took him to probate court, the State Office of Administrative Hearings, the United States Tax Court, and federal district courts where he tried multiple cases to a verdict.  In his role as a tax lawyer, Aaron also obtained complete waiver and abatement of $1.3 million in penalties assessed for failure to file information returns, obtained complete IRS concession in multiple cases involving Employer Shared Responsibility Payments, innocent spouse relief, and trust fund recovery penalties.  In addition, Aaron represented multiple clients in no-change IRS audits.

Professional qualifications and memberships

• Board Certified in Tax Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization
• Certified Public Accountant, Texas (Grant Thornton Advisors LLC is not a licensed CPA firm)
• Admitted to the State Bar of Texas
• Admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court and multiple federal district courts.
• Recognized as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers in 2020 – 2023
• Recognized as Rising Star by the Texas Society of CPAs in 2016

Community involvement

Aaron is active in the Texas Society of CPAs at the state and local level.  He currently serves on the Leadership Advisory Board of the Texas Society of CPAs and on the Board of Directors for TXCPA Dallas.  He has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Texas Society of CPA and has served as chair of the Leadership Development Academy, Awards Committee and Membership Committee for TXCPA Dallas.

Aaron is also active in the legal community.  He currently serves as Chair-Elect of the Tax Section of the Dallas Bar and as Co-Chair of the Dallas Bar’s Admissions and Membership Committee.  He has previously served in leadership roles in the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers and the Dallas Bar’s Legal Ethics Committee.  In addition, Aaron is a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers Foundation.

Aaron also served as Chair of the Today’s CPA Editorial Board from 2017 to 2019 and Chair of the Texas Tax Lawyer in 2020; and, from 2016 to 2020, he served on the Law360 Tax Editorial Advisory Board. 

Aaron’s community involvement includes the Dallas Regional Chamber, Habitat for Humanity, the Alzheimer’s Association, the Financial Executives Institute, and the Dallas Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association. 

Presentations and publications

Aaron is also involved in furthering the knowledge of fellow tax professionals. His articles on technical tax issues have been published in the American Bar Association’s Tax Times, The Texas Tax Lawyer, Today’s CPA, the Journal of Tax Practice and Procedure, Bloomberg Financial Planning Journal, the Dallas Bar’s Headnotes, and other publications.  In addition, Aaron is a frequent speaker on tax topics at continuing education conferences for lawyers and accountants.

Education

• Aaron has a JD from The University of Texas School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in accounting and chemistry from Wayland Baptist University