Holidays stockings stuffed with gifts of TEI advocacy: TEI meets with CRA, Canada finance, and state tax administrators; comments focus on tax reform, GST pension cost rules, and state combined reporting regulations.

• Position: Tax Executives Institute, Canada Revenue Agency, goods and services tax

As the weather grew cold in North America, TEI's advocacy efforts heated up with numerous liaison meetings and comment letters. TEI delegations trekked to Ottawa to meet with Canadian officials and skated to Washington for a liaison meeting with members of the Federation of Tax Administrators. In both cases, they worked to warm government officials to the ideas and concerns of business taxpayers. TEI also submitted comment to President Obama's Task Force on Tax Reform, the Canadian Department of Finance, and the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.

Liaison Meetings

On November 9, a delegation of TEI members led by the Institute's Senior Vice President Paul O'Connor of Millipore Corporation met with members of the Federation of Tax Administrators' Board of Trustees to discuss issues including tax administration, state taxation of multinational businesses, and uniformity of state tax laws. TEI's delegation included Executive Committee member Lynn Jordan of Performance Food Group Company; State and Local Tax Committee Vice Chair Howard Grindle of NetworkSolutions, Inc.; State and Local Tax Committee Member Donald McCarthy of Comcast Corporation; and State and Local Tax Committee member Ralph Corasaniti of Swisher International Group, Inc. TEI Tax Counsels Jeffery P. Rasmussen and Daniel B. De Jong also attended.

The FTA's Board of Trustees is composed of state tax commissioners from around the United States, and the Institute's liaison meeting provided an opportunity for TEI to renew its longstanding dialogue with this important group of tax administrators. The agenda for the meeting focused on areas where TEI and the FTA could best work together to achieve improvements to tax administration, as well as the development of technical guidance to make the process of tax compliance more efficient for both taxpayers and state departments of revenue. The lively meeting concluded with members of FTA's Board expressing a desire to work with TEI both on the national and chapter level on issues of mutual interest.

"Considering the effect of the economic downturn on both states and businesses, maintaining lines of communication with heads of state revenue departments has never been more important," Mr. O'Connor said after the meeting. "TEI looks forward to a continuing dialogue, and to working together with the states and the FTA to address our most pressing issues."

On December 8 and 9, a delegation of TEI members led by the Institute's International President Nell Traubenberg of Sun Microsystems, Inc. travelled to Ottawa to meet with representatives of Canada Revenue Agency and the Canadian Department of Finance on income and excise tax issues. Joining Mr. Traubenberg for the four separate liaison meetings were TEI Secretary David M. Penney of General Motors of Canada Limited, Vice President for Canadian Affairs Sherrie Ann Pollock of RBC Dexia Investor Services, Canadian Income Tax Committee Chair Rodney C. Bergen of The Jim Pattison Group, and Canadian Commodity Tax Committee Chair Diana M. Spagnuolo of Imperial Oil Limited; the delegation included members of the Canadian Income and Commodity Tax Committees, as well as TEI's Executive Director Timothy J. McCormally, Chief Tax Counsel Eli J. Dicker, General Counsel Mary Lou Fahey, and Tax Counsel Jeffrey P. Rasmussen.

The first meeting on December 8 with CRA addressed a wide range of significant income tax issues. Later that day, there was a separate meeting with CRA on a range of commodity and excise tax matters. The next day, members met separately with the Department of Finance on income and excise tax matters.

"These yearly meetings reflect the strong relationships TEI has developed over three decades with both...