Understanding U.S. tax law is no longer optional for American entrepreneurs—it’s essential. Federal tax policy doesn't just raise revenue; it shapes business behavior, often rewarding those who are strategic while ensnaring the careless. From real estate to energy, and from high-income earners to early-stage startups, the tax code offers both opportunities and landmines.
Miami-based tax attorney Marcell Felipe advises businesses in the tax arena, and his experience includes billion-dollar cases and IRS whistleblower campaigns. His own journey is a blueprint for how entrepreneurs can—and must—navigate the American tax system to grow their wealth legally while avoiding devastating pitfalls.
Felipe arrived in the United States from Cuba via Costa Rica in 1981 at age 11. After earning undergraduate degrees at Miami Dade College and Florida International University, he graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
He began his legal career with a Pittsburgh-based firm specializing in international tax law, eventually opening and buying out the firm’s Miami office in 2002. Today, he leads a small group of attorneys who serve clients ranging from small startups to billion-dollar enterprises, and invests his own money in a growing real estate investment fund.
Felipe did not set out to practice tax law. “Everybody expected me to go into litigation,” he says, recalling his award-winning closing arguments in law school. But he discovered that tax law is like solving a puzzle, and realized its importance to business operations. “If you want to do business, you really need to know this,” he says. “This is essential.”
He emphasizes that the U.S. tax code, though burdensome, is filled with legal opportunities. “Every time you’re taxing something, you’re in a way penalizing it,” he says, “but it’s a reality, and it’s not going to go away anytime soon.”
For Felipe, the trick is understanding the rules so you can use them. “You buy a $1 million building with $200,000 down, and your deduction on that building is also $200,000,” he says. “Your deduction equals your down payment.”
For real estate gains, he points to Section 1031 of the tax code, which allows investors to swap one property for another of equal or greater value without triggering tax liability. “There are people who have done that throughout their life,” Felipe says, “and at the end of their life, their kids inherit the property… that tax never got paid.”
Tax planning, he argues, is not only a compliance strategy—it’s a competitive edge. “If you pay tax on $200,000, you’re left with maybe $130,000,” he says. “But if you reinvest it strategically, you keep it all—and you own a new appreciating asset.”
Felipe also explains how different entities are impacted by the tax code. “It’s not designed specifically for business owners over employees,” he says, “but highly paid employees—doctors, athletes—face the toughest tax challenges.” Without business expenses to deduct, they must look to retirement plans or invest directly in tax-favored sectors like oil and gas. “For every dollar you invest in oil and gas,” he says, “about 70 cents is deductible.”
The most important takeaway, Felipe says, is to avoid tax evasion. “If your plan is, ‘I hope the government doesn’t find out,’ then you’ve got no plan at all,” he warns. He points to his firm’s involvement in the landmark $511 million Credit Suisse whistleblower settlement as a cautionary tale.
The case began when Swiss bankers referred clients to Felipe’s firm. The firm ultimately exposed the bank’s failure to disclose $4 billion in American assets, including one held by a Rutgers professor with nearly $200 million hidden. “Hiding is not a solution, and ignoring it could have very expensive and unintended consequences.”
Felipe and others collectively received over $150 million under the IRS whistleblower statute. “It’s very rewarding,” he says, but he insists the bigger lesson is for business owners. “The IRS pays whistleblowers 15 to 30% of what they collect,” he says. “The ex-wife, the ex-secretary—they’re incentivized. You’re not as hidden as you think.”
Felipe says there were theatrical moments in the Credit Suisse saga. “At one point, their CEO was chasing a top banker through the streets of Geneva,” he says. This even included what he says were “high-speed car chases,” and espionage. “It was made for a movie,” he says, calling the bank “a little rogue.”
The takeaway for U.S. entrepreneurs, he insists, is real and immediate: “Play by the rules. Try to figure out where you can legally take advantage,” he says. “There’s no reason to do it unlawfully.”
