Commissioner Shulman's conversation with the boardroom.

• Author: Traubenberg, Neil D.
• Position: IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman

When his schedule prevented his participation in TEI's Annual Conference in San Antonio, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman suggested that we meet separately to reinforce our mutual commitment to sound tax administration and to maintain the lines of communication between the Institute and the IRS's senior leadership. To this end, on November 20, Paul O'Connor (TEI's Senior Vice President) and I travelled to Washington where, along with Timothy McCormally and Eli Dicker of the Institute's staff, we made our way to the IRS building at 1111 Constitution Avenue.

Our time at the IRS was well spent, because it was much more than the typical "meet and greet." First, we were able to talk not only with Commissioner Shulman but also with Steve Miller, Deputy Commissioner (Services and Enforcement); Bill Wilkins, Chief Counsel; and Heather Maloy, the new Commissioner of the Large and Mid-Size Business Division. With the exception of Commissioner Shulman, the group was all relatively new to their positions, but from our vantage point, they were very much in synch. Second, all four of these government leaders were well-informed and engaged. Everyone was courteous, but no one took the meeting as a "courtesy call." Third, we did not merely exchange pleasantries (or talk about the weather), but rather discussed several very meaty topics, including the IRS's six-month settlement initiative in respect of unreported foreign accounts, the revision of LMSB's joint audit planning process, the expansion of the compliance assurance process (CAP) program, and proposals to codify the economic substance doctrine.

The topic that commanded the most time, however, was the Commissioner's mid-October speech to the National Association of Corporate Directors, where he urged members of boards of directors to reassess "their roles and responsibilities in conducting appropriate assessment and oversight of tax risk." This was the case because the Commissioner's "conversation with the Boardroom" is evidence of the growing global trend toward more active engagement by tax administrators to understand the tax risk management policies of their largest taxpayers. Moreover, the IRS's initiative has been interpreted by some commentators (and some TEI members) as suggesting that corporate tax directors--the employees charged with day-to-day management of a company's tax affairs and, hence, its tax risk--need more oversight. Indeed, at our San Antonio conference, some members gave voice...