Firm News

Cherry Bekaert Expands State & Local Tax Practice through Acquisition

calendar iconJanuary 15, 2018

Cherry Bekaert LLP (“the Firm”), a growth-oriented, nationally recognized public accounting and consulting firm, is pleased to announce it has joined forces with Windward Tax LLC (“Windward”), effective December 31, 2017. This acquisition expands Cherry Bekaert’s specialty resources in the area of sales and use tax within the Firm’s State & Local Tax (“SALT”) practice.

With the addition of Windward, Cherry Bekaert increases the Firm’s capabilities to provide clients with solutions in the sales and use tax area. Windward professionals bring decades of experience in working with primarily manufacturing clients in the areas of sales and use tax consulting, sales and use tax minimization strategies, sales tax nexus, and sales and use tax compliance.

“Windward brings more value-added solutions to our SALT practice,” said Kurt W. Taves, CPA, Managing Partner of Tax Services for Cherry Bekaert. “The manufacturing sector is one of our key industry verticals, so our clients in the industrial space will greatly benefit from Windward’s ability to minimize sales tax exposure and maximize sales tax savings.”

Founded in 2012, Windward works with hundreds of manufacturers to help manage their sales and use tax compliance programs. Windward founder Lauren Stinson will join Cherry Bekaert as a Principal and lead the established Sales & Use Tax practice. Lauren has more than 22 years of experience managing sales and use tax projects and is a sought-after speaker and author on sales and use tax topics.

Windward’s professional staff of 15 will be joining Cherry Bekaert and will continue to operate out of their current 4080 McGinnis Ferry Road location in Alpharetta, Georgia.