Delegates from Sweden Visit Smith Anderson

Smith Anderson gave a Tar Heel welcome to a distinguished delegation from the Swedish Parliament and Embassy who were in the Triangle on a study tour of the United States.

The delegation included nine members of the Tax Committee of the Swedish Parliament, as well as diplomats from the Swedish Embassy in Washington, DC. Smith Anderson attorney Bill Nelson gave a presentation to the delegates on the United States tax system, stressing the constitutional underpinnings of the federal and state tax regimes. In addition to presenting and hosting the delegates, Smith Anderson arranged for them to visit the North Carolina General Assembly, where they met with House and Senate leaders for a discussion of state fiscal policy.

The delegation also met with representatives of North Carolina businesses, economic development agencies and UNC. The Swedish American Chamber of Commerce of the Carolinas and Smith Anderson attorney Tommy Postek, a Sweden native and Chamber member, helped arrange the delegates’ visit.

According to Team USA Sweden, more than 11,000 jobs are provided by Swedish companies in North Carolina. The state’s top exports to Sweden were pharmaceutical products, at almost $90 million. North Carolina also exported $20.4 million of civilian aircrafts, engines and related parts, and $893,000 in beauty and skin products.

Bill Nelson focuses his practices on issues such as transactional tax planning, tax controversies and litigation dealing with state and federal tax authorities as administrative agencies and representing taxpayers before the North Carolina General Assembly. He has written and spoken on a variety of federal and state tax topics and has been active in a number of state tax and business law legislative reform efforts.

Tommy Postek is an attorney with Smith Anderson’s Employment, Labor and Human Resources practice, representing employers before state and federal administrative agencies in discrimination claims, workers’ compensation actions and other employment-related matters and assisting clients on other multifaceted legal issues.