2021 Annual Meeting of the California Tax Bar & California Tax Policy Conference Report

• Publication year: 2022
• Author: AUTHORS: Adria Price and Mike Shaikh

2021 ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CALIFORNIA TAX BAR & CALIFORNIA TAX POLICY CONFERENCE REPORT

AUTHORS: Adria Price and Mike Shaikh

We're back! The 2021 Annual Meeting of the California Tax Bar & California Tax Policy Conference took place in person at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina in San Diego November 3rd through 5th. The Conference was livestreamed to attendees who were unable to attend in person and is available for replay at https://cla.inreachce.com/.

We were pleased to welcome back over 300 attendees from private, government, and industry practice. Jackie Zumaeta, Incoming Chair of the Taxation Section, kicked off the Conference with welcoming remarks and thanked everyone for attending.

This year's conference featured 34 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 residency issues, virtual currency, artificial intelligence, 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. The conference also featured two other notable panels: an Ethics panel featuring the wrongdoings of some of the more notorious members of our profession and a competency panel focused on mental health issues facing practitioners today.

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. Government presenters included the Honorable Mark V. Holmes, the Honorable Diana L. Leyden, and the Honorable Patrick J. Urda (all of the U.S. Tax Court), Elizabeth Hadden (Deputy Division Counsel/Deputy Associate Chief Counsel, Criminal Tax), Ryan Korner (Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal

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Investigation), Najah J. Shariff (Assistant United States Attorney, Tax Division), Lindsey D. Stellwagen (Special Counsel International, SBSE, IRS), Lisa Piehl (Program Manager, Estate and Gift Tax Policy, SBSE, IRS), Cassidy Collins (Senior Counsel, IRS Office of Chief Counsel), Henry Nanjo (Chief Counsel, BOE), Jozel Brunett (Chief Counsel, FTB), Kristen Kane (Chief Counsel, OTA), Robert Tucker (Chief Counsel, CDTFA), Annette Kunze (Bureau Director, FTB), Madhvi Shah (Bureau Director...