TEC initiatives.

• Author: Purcell, Thomas J., III
• Position: DC Currents

As a senior technical committee of the AICPA, the Tax Executive Committee (TEC) is authorized to speak for the Institute on tax matters, and is also designated by governing Council as a standard-setting body. However, numerous other committees, technical resource panels (TRPs) and task forces initiate and propose solutions to policy, technical and tax administration problems, for consideration and approval by the TEC. They also initiate proposals for valuable products and services for members in tax practice.

Since the last cut off date for this column (March 1, 2004; see TTA, May 2004, p. 304), the TEC met once at the Spring 2004 Tax Division Meeting (June 10-11, 2004) and exercised its review function on several projects. TEC actions taken after June 15, 2004, will be reported in a future column.

Tax Division Administrative Issues

The TEC continues to monitor implementation of the Tax Section's strategic plan; for the original plan, see www.aicpa.org/download/tax/tax_section_strat.pdf. The Tax Section Strategic Plan Implementation Task Force met in May 2004, and discussed performance metrics, timelines and delegation of the responsibility for completing action plans. It also scanned the environment to determine whether to modify the plan to reflect emerging external trends. At the June 2004 meeting, the task force discussed the plan's key action steps at length, in both plenary sessions and in small groups. The TEC will consider the task force's recommendations at its August 2004 meeting.

Self-Governance Activities

At the June 2004 meeting, the TEC received a preliminary report on Proposed Interpretation No. 3-1, "Tax Practice Quality Control," of statement on Standards for Tax Services (SSTS) No. 1. The proposed interpretation provides guidance on SSTS No. 3, Certain Procedural Aspects of Preparing Returns. The report was prepared by the SSTS Quality Control Task Force (chaired by Joe Scutellaro). The TEC gave its comments on the draft interpretation to the task force, and passed on several issues of concern to the task force. It will consider approving exposure of the document at a future meeting.

Technical Activities

General: On March 30, 2004, Bob Zarzar, TEC Chair, testified before the Subcommittee on Oversight of the House Ways and Means Committee on the 2004 filing season and the Service's FY 2005 budget. His testimony (1) reiterated the AICPA's support of the IRS's electronic filing and tax administration programs; (2) recommended...