2020 Annual Meeting of the California Tax Bar & California Tax Policy Conference Report

• Publication year: 2021
• Author: By Lorraine Yu, Annual Meeting Chair and Jackie Zumaeta, California Tax Policy Conference Chair

2020 Annual Meeting of the California Tax Bar & California Tax Policy Conference Report

By Lorraine Yu, Annual Meeting Chair and Jackie Zumaeta, California Tax Policy Conference Chair

In a year unlike any other, the 2020 Annual Meeting of the California Tax Bar & California Tax Policy Conference was also unlike any other. With the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 cases, stay-at-home orders, and restrictions on gatherings in California, we responded and changed the format of this year's conference into a two-day virtual event.

The virtual conference was held on November 4 & 5, 2020, and despite the new format, we welcomed 421 private, government, and industry practitioners in attendance online. The conference began with opening remarks from Laura Buckley, Chair of the Taxation Section, welcoming all and introducing the new virtual format to all attendees of the conference.

This year's conference featured 14 programs and presentations by esteemed tax professionals, including representatives from numerous federal and state tax agencies and offices, tax law professors, and private practitioners. The panels included topics regarding the most current issues facing tax professionals, such as legal issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, estate and gift tax planning, and always-popular panels such as the U.S. Tax Court Roundtable, the Annual Legislative Update, and the Chief Counsel Roundtable.

This year, the conference also featured two important panels: an Ethics panel focused on the ethical responsibilities of tax practitioners for pro bono work and an Elimination of Bias panel focused on tax policy, justice, and bias in the tax law and in the legal profession. During the "Pro Bono, Pro Se, and Professional Responsibility" panel, U.S. Tax Court Judge Peter J. Panuthos, IRS Office of Chief Counsel Attorney Davis Yee, and Professor Amy Spivey discussed pro bono opportunities for tax professionals, the new full- and limited-scope representation rules in the U.S. Tax Court, and ethical issues that may arise when working with pro bono and pro se taxpayers. During the panel entitled, "Tax Policy and Justice: Confronting Bias in the Tax Law and in Our Profession," Professor Anthony Infanti, Professor Francine Lipman, and Attorney Julia Damasco provided an overview of various biases that exist in our tax system and challenged all of the attendees to confront and to take action against these biases.

As is customary for the conference each year, there were numerous speakers from federal and state tax agencies and offices, including the U.S. Tax Court, IRS, California state legislature, FTB, BOE, OTA, and CDTFA. In addition to the Honorable Maurice Foley (Chief Judge), the Honorable Albert Lauber, the Honorable Peter Panuthos, and the Honorable Emin Toro (all of the U.S. Tax Court), government presenters included Ryan Korner (Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles), Davis Yee (IRS Office of Chief Counsel), Henry Nanjo (Chief Counsel, BOE), Jozel Brunett (Chief Counsel, FTB), Kristen Kane (Chief Counsel, OTA)

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