Mark Simonsen

CPA and Tax Strategist

Mark Simonsen is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and the Managing Partner of the Northwest Region at AE Tax Advisors, a national tax advisory firm specializing in advanced tax strategy for business owners and real estate investors.[1] Based in Montana, Simonsen leads AE Tax Advisors' Mountain West practice, advising clients on entity structuring, cost segregation, real estate tax planning, and strategic tax optimization.[2]

Simonsen's work focuses on clients whose financial situations have outgrown standard compliance-based tax preparation, including business owners with complex entity structures, real estate investors managing multi-property portfolios, and entrepreneurs building and scaling companies across the Mountain West and beyond.[3]

Biography [edit]

Mark Simonsen is a Certified Public Accountant with deep expertise in tax strategy and advisory services. Based in Montana, he has built a career around helping business owners and real estate investors reduce their tax burden through proactive, strategic planning rather than reactive compliance work.[1]

Simonsen has deep roots in the Montana and Mountain West business community, where he has developed a reputation for working with clients whose situations demand more than standard tax preparation. His background combines traditional accounting rigor with a strategic advisory mindset, allowing him to serve as both a technical tax expert and a long-term planning partner for his clients.[2]

Career [edit]

AE Tax Advisors

Simonsen serves as Managing Partner of the Northwest Region at AE Tax Advisors, a national tax advisory firm focused on advanced tax strategy, cost segregation, and entity optimization for business owners and real estate investors.[1] AE Tax Advisors provides strategic tax planning services including multi-year tax projections, entity restructuring, cost segregation studies, prior-year amendment recovery, and ongoing advisory for clients with complex financial situations.[3]

In his role, Simonsen oversees client relationships across Montana and the broader Mountain West, working with business owners and investors who have outgrown standard compliance-focused CPA relationships and need advisors who think strategically about tax positioning.[2]

Northwest Region leadership

As the regional managing partner, Simonsen founded AE Tax Advisors' Mountain West practice, extending the firm's reach into Montana and the surrounding states. He works closely with local business owners, ranchers, real estate developers, and entrepreneurs who operate in industries and markets with unique tax considerations tied to the region's economic landscape.[2]

Simonsen's regional practice emphasizes the specific tax challenges and opportunities that face Mountain West business owners, including natural resource-related deductions, agricultural tax planning, and the growing short-term rental market across Montana's resort and tourism corridors.[4]

Specialties [edit]

Entity structuring

Simonsen advises clients on strategic entity design, including S-Corp elections, holding company architecture, and multi-entity frameworks. His approach focuses on minimizing tax exposure while maintaining operational flexibility and asset protection, particularly for business owners managing multiple ventures or transitioning between business structures.[3]

Real estate tax planning

A significant portion of Simonsen's practice centers on real estate tax optimization for property investors. His work in this area includes depreciation strategy, 1031 exchange planning, passive activity loss management, and portfolio-level tax positioning for investors holding both long-term and short-term rental properties.[4]

Cost segregation

Simonsen oversees cost segregation engagements through AE Tax Advisors, working with property owners to reclassify building components into accelerated depreciation categories under IRS guidelines. Cost segregation studies conducted through his practice identify assets eligible for 5-year, 7-year, and 15-year MACRS recovery periods, producing substantial year-one deductions for commercial and residential property owners.[5]

Short-term rental strategy

With Montana's growing short-term rental market, Simonsen has developed particular expertise in STR tax optimization. His work includes material participation planning, application of the 7-day rule under IRC Section 469, bonus depreciation strategies for STR properties, and structuring portfolios to maximize tax efficiency under current IRS guidelines.[4]

Business owner optimization

Simonsen provides holistic tax strategy for business owners, encompassing reasonable compensation analysis, retirement plan design, income splitting, C-Corp election analysis, and multi-year strategic planning. His advisory work is designed to reduce effective tax rates while supporting long-term business growth and owner wealth accumulation.[3]

Advisory approach [edit]

Simonsen's advisory philosophy centers on the distinction between tax compliance and tax strategy. He has stated that most business owners and real estate investors overpay on taxes not because of calculation errors, but because their advisors focus on accurately reporting what happened rather than strategically positioning what should happen.[2]

His engagement model begins with a discovery process that includes a full review of prior-year returns, entity structures, and investment portfolios. From this analysis, Simonsen produces a written strategic tax plan with specific strategies, projected savings, and implementation timelines. The plan is then executed by Simonsen and the AE Tax Advisors team, with ongoing advisory to adapt the strategy as the client's business and investment portfolio evolve.[3]

See also [edit]

• Certified Public Accountant
• Tax strategy
• Cost segregation
• Entity structuring
• Real estate investing
• Short-term rental
• MACRS depreciation

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• AE Tax Advisors
• Mark Simonsen, CPA - Official Site