Federation of tax administrators liaison meeting: November 9, 2009.

On November 9, 2009, a delegation from Tax Executives Institute, led by the Institute's Senior Vice President Paul O'Connor of Millipore Corporation, met with members of the Board of Trustees of the Federation of Tax Administrators (consisting of state commissioners of revenue) to discuss issues including tax administration, state taxation of multinational businesses, and uniformity of state tax laws. The agenda was prepared under the aegis of TEI's State and Local Tax Committee, whose chair is Cathleen Stevens of Brunswick Corporation. In addition to Mr. O'Connor, the following people attended the meeting for TEI: Lynn Jordan of Performance Food Group Company, Donald McCarthy of Comcast Corporation, Howard Grindle of Network Solutions, Inc., Ralph Corasaniti of Swisher International Group, Inc., Jeffery P. Rasmussen, TEI Tax Counsel, and Daniel B. De Jong, TEI Tax Counsel.

Tax Executives Institute, Inc. welcomes the opportunity to discuss the following issues with members of the Federation of Tax Administrators' Board of Trustees.

Effect of the Economic Downturn on State Budgets and Revenue Department Resources

1. Notices. As a result of the economic downturn, both states and businesses (including their tax departments) have seen a reduction in headcount without a corresponding decrease in tax responsibilities. Perhaps as a consequence, a number of states have increased the issuance of automated notices regarding administrative errors such as the misapplication of estimated payments. Historically, states and taxpayers resolved these types of issues quickly with a few phone calls. Today, phone calls may go unanswered necessitating time-consuming written responses that often "cross in the mails." How can taxpayers and states work together to identify best practices to resolve routine notices and other administrative issues more efficiently?

2. Regulatory Guidance. In states that re quire combined reporting, the development of comprehensive guidance on group membership, allocations of tax attributes, and other issues would benefit both departments of revenue and taxpayers. The State of Wisconsin, for example, recently released proposed mandatory combined reporting regulations, which TEI addressed in written comments. TEI would like to discuss ways in which the FTA and the Institute can work together to address areas of the tax law that could benefit from additional guidance and clarification.

3. Ruling Requests. An effective state ruling request process can benefit both the state and taxpayers by increasing predictability and efficiency of administration. In recent years, however, some state departments of revenue have...