Interests and challenges of tax professionals.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.
• Position: TAX - Conference news - Brief article

At a recent Ernst & Young international tax conference, 285 international tax professionals were queried on their top concerns, challenges and interests. Among their responses:

United States Tax Legislation. Ninety-five percent say that are concerned about legislation that may be enacted in the next two years, with loss of deferral their primary issue (66-percent), tightening of the foreign tax credit rules (52 percent) and broadening of the tax base (45 percent).

International Cooperation. Twenty percent of respondents have begun to experience the effects of tax-authority cooperation; more than half (59 percent) of those have seen such cooperation in the form of treaty information exchange; and they've also experienced joint audits (30 percent).

Green or Not. Almost half (43 percent) find corporate interest in large-scale greening initiatives; of those, 67 percent say the company has adopted policies regarding sustainability and carbon-footprint reduction. Yet, among them, almost 9 out of 10 (89 percent) have not recognized tax-planning...