Departments and Columns

Ranking Global Tax Competitiveness

A country’s tax code is integral to economic performance because its purpose is to promote economic development while raising revenue for government priorities. The tax code can make or break a domestic economy, the awareness of which has spurred most countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)… Read more »

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Ellen Berenholz

When Ellen Berenholz was in college and working for a CPA firm, she could recite financial statement opinions backward and forward. You think that might have come in handy when she began her post-college career at Arthur Andersen’s audit group? Actually, Berenholz proofread financial statements at the CPA firm, checking… Read more »

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Emerging Leader: Sonja Schiller

Some corporate tax professionals seem destined to wind up doing something in tax law. For Sonja Schiller, that certainly seems to have been the case. “I’ve always loved economics, math, and writing,” she explains. “My tax law practice, which is heavily focused on transfer pricing and cross-border tax issues, fortunately… Read more »

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Divided Government

Welcome to 2019 and the uncertain political environment that awaits us in the 116th Congress. Is this what American democracy has come to? Could this be what our founding fathers really contemplated more than two centuries ago—all the coarse talk and uncivil behavior? Well, as I thought about our current… Read more »

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TEI Launches New Brand to Connect, Engage, and Impact

                 

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The Pros and Cons of Flexible Staffing
The Expert: Nancy Barrett

Question: Is Flexible Staffing the Best Option for Your Firm? Answer: Tax directors often request my input into how to structure their departments around their most valuable and limited resource—people. My response is always nuanced, cautioning that the answer is highly dependent on a defined core mission and the intended… Read more »

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States Adopt Varying Approaches to Federal Tax Reform

It has been an exciting year in the state and local tax world, with tax authorities and legislators racing to interpret and respond to federal tax reform.1 Businesses facing looming filing deadlines spent the first part of the year making sense of their reporting requirements for the 2017 tax year.… Read more »

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An Open Letter to the IRS
Re: The next chapter of U.S. tax administration—observations and recommendations

Dear Commissioner [Charles P.] Rettig and Chief Counsel nominee [Michael J.] Desmond: As you assume your new roles, we would respectfully like to convey our recommendations for the improvement of tax administration. These recommendations are based on our own experiences interacting with the agency, as well as detailed discussions with… Read more »

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Don’t Mess With the IRS

Later in this issue of Tax Executive, you will read an article by an Alston & Bird tax professional on the subject of tax evasion, a serious crime. According to the IRS Criminal Investigation Division’s 2017 Annual Report, in 2017 alone 1,811 of the 3,019 investigations it initiated were for… Read more »

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Julia Lagun

Some say that practicing tax law is like playing chess. If that’s true, then Julia Lagun, a competitive chess player since age four, has had quite a lot of practice. Lagun, senior vice president and senior tax director at KeyCorp, has always been good with numbers and puzzles and has… Read more »

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