Closing months of 2005 portend a busy, challenging 2006.

• Author: Boyle, Michael P.
• Position: President's Page

It's been a remarkably busy fall for TEI and its members. From our educational programs to our advocacy projects, TEI's committees have been both engaged and productive, and they have delivered exceptional value to the membership at large. A highlight of the fall, of course, was TEI's Annual Conference in San Diego. The conference afforded us an opportunity to renew acquaintances with colleagues from across the globe and to stay up to date on developments affecting tax executives, be they related to the tax rules or, increasingly, the non-tax rules that impinge on our time, budget, and professional judgment.

Former IRS Commissioner Larry Gibbs, for example, introduced many members to the term "deferred prosecution agreement" and what it means in the context of practicing tax in 2005. (Larry's remarks--which focused generally on the changing environment of corporate tax executives--are reprinted elsewhere in this issue.) Another of our keynote speakers was Susan Markel of the Securities and Exchange Commission, whose sobering remarks reminded us that, among other things, the SEC is now scrutinizing tax reserves for indications that they are being manipulated to manage earnings. These sessions were complemented by a full range of presentations on FAS 109, privilege, Circular 230, penalties, and document management in the aftermath of Sarbanes-Oxley's internal control rules, as well as sessions on what some people might call "real tax": transfer pricing, the manufacturing deduction, section 965, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, the SRLY rules, etc.

Stated simply, there was no lack of topics to discuss in San Diego and too many of them reminded us (not very subtly) that the consequences of "getting it wrong"--whatever "it" and whatever "wrong" are--have probably never been greater. The resulting frustration led to more than one conversation that either began or ended with the plaintive sentence, "It's sure not fun anymore."

The Changing Rules of the Game

A good part of the frustration owes itself, I think, to what Larry Gibbs talked about: the changing rules of the game. When I was in school, we learned the Code, we learned the regs, and we learned the quotation from Judge Learned Hand (and similar ones from jurists in other countries) that "Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's...