2005 promises to be a year of challenge and opportunity.

• Author: Zelisko, Judith P.
• Position: President's Page

Although the calendar says that 2005 is not yet one-sixth over, Tax Executives Institute has been extremely busy since the new year began. From TEI's first Board of Directors conference call in January to our annual liaison meetings in Washington and our testimony before the IRS Oversight Board, from a telephone seminar on California's tax amnesty to a special meeting on the IRS's e-filing mandate, and from plans for our Midyear Conference to the finishing touches on our Corporate Tax Department Survey, TEI and its members have worked diligently to be effective and stay effective. If the past is a guide, January and February's challenges will be dwarfed by those to come ... whether the subject is federal tax reform, a new exposure draft on accounting for income taxes, the PCAOB's auditor independence rules, TEI's second annual Senior Tax Executive Conference, or a score of other possibilities. This column reviews the Institute's recent advocacy and other activities. (Our various "coming events" are covered in separate stories in this issue.)

Having a Voice: Liaison Meetings Bring Members' Issues to the Forefront

TEI has been meeting with government officials from its inception six decades ago. Originally, the meetings were held only with the Internal Revenue Service, but more than 30 years ago we started holding meetings in Canada, and in 1983 we held our first liaison meetings with the Treasury Department and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. We have also added meetings with the Federation of Tax Administrators and the Multistate Tax Commission and--through our chapters--state, provincial, and local tax administrators.

Early February was the time for this year's Washington meetings. From the outset, the development of the agendas for our meetings with government officials has been a collaborative affair. Our committees meet (in person or via phone or email) and discuss a whole range of policy and administrative issues, our chairs work with the staff to refine the issues to the vital few, and then the Institute's Executive Committee reviews the agendas to ensure the positions espoused are neither too parochial nor divisive. This year's agendas--including those for our December 2004 meetings in Ottawa (which were published in the November-December issue of The Tax Executive) and our February sessions in D.C.--show the Institute's breadth and depth.

Consider just a sampling of the topics for this year's Washington meetings: (1)...