Midyear Conference to feature Treasury Secretary Snow, IRS Commissioner Everson, and MTC's Huddleston: tax reform, financial reporting, and technical tax issues highlight program

Tax Executive, The, Jan-Feb, 2006

Treasury Secretary John W. Snow will be one of the keynote speakers during TEI's 56th Midyear Conference to be held March 26-29 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. This will be the third time in four years that the Secretary has participated in the conference. (The only exception was two years ago when Deputy Secretary Samuel Bodman spoke.) In announcing Mr. Snow's participation, TEI President Michael P. Boyle said that, given the Administration's ambitious tax agenda, it is not surprising that the Secretary of the Treasury will be at TEI's conference. "The conference will attract a veritable who's who of corporate tax executives and thus will provide the Administration with access to key business leaders. We are obviously pleased that Secretary Snow will again join us to discuss current legislative and regulatory issues."

IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson will also participate in the conference, delivering the Monday luncheon speaker. A third keynoter speaker will be Joe B. Huddleston, formerly Tennessee's Revenue Commissioner, who will be making his first presentation to a TEI conference since becoming Executive Director of the Multistate Tax Commission. (Mr. Huddleston's speech will dovetail with a session on the MTC's and Federation of Tax Administrators' recent audit initiatives.)

TEI's three-day program will also feature a legislative update panel, focusing both on prospects for federal tax reform and on the tax proposals contained in the President's 2006 State of the Union Message.

In light of the continuing importance of financial reporting topics to tax executives, there will be a session on preventing material weaknesses in their tax department internal controls and managing the relationship with financial auditors. Other sessions will address tax accounting developments; FAS 109 issues at the state and local tax level; the "public part" of IRS audits (such as financial statement disclosures and the release of tax reserves); and an intriguing session styled "Your Worst Audit Nightmares."

The conference, which will afford registrants as much as 19 CPE credits, will include sessions on acquiring private companies and disposing of other, non-performing ones; partnership and LLC developments; fringe benefits; modern tax research techniques; and the federal government's mandatory electronic filing program, followed by a panel on e-filing issues at the state level.

On the international side of the ledger, conference registrants will be able to attend a session on foreign tax audits, another on tax planning for permanent establishments; a third on the highly anticipated guidance on the transfer of services under section 482; and a fourth on U.S. and Canadian cross-border structurings. A joint federal-international session will also focus on domestic and cross-border hedging transactions.

For state and local tax practitioners, there will be panels on valid business purposes for restructurings and reorganizations and unclaimed property issues. Finally, management issues will be highlighted in programs on scorecarding, TEI's corporate tax department survey, and utilizing and motivating staff.

On the lighter side, comedian Mark Russell will entertain participants at the Tuesday night banquet with his unique blend of humor and song parodies.

For more information or to register, visit www.tei.org.