TEI Means Opportunity ... for Education, for Networking, for Results.

• Author: Shewbridge, Charles W. III

The Midyear Conference looms on TEI's horizon and a brief review of its key features confirms that the program offers unparalleled opportunities for tax executives. Our keynote speakers will include Congressman Bill Archer, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee; Jon Talisman, acting Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy; and Larry Langdon, the former president of TEI who is now Commissioner of the IRS's new Large and Mid-Size Business Division. These key government officials, joined by other speakers, will discuss pending budget and tax legislation, regulatory developments, recent administrative initiatives, and the status of the IRS's modernization efforts.

As was the case at the Annual Conference last October, the topic of corporate tax shelters is likely to garner much attention at the Midyear, which convenes in Washington on March 18. Thus, we expect not only to hear from Chairman Archer and Commissioner Langdon on this most sensitive of subjects, but we will also address it in our technical sessions, including a provocative program entitled "Cutting-Edge Transactional Tax Strategies -- Practical and Ethical Issues." (Note: Judge David Laro's Annual Conference remarks on business purpose and the economic substance test are reprinted in this issue.)

A special feature of this year's Midyear will be the involvement of the IRS industry group leaders in our 22 industry sessions. These sessions, which have always afforded tax executives the opportunity to exchange key information with their colleagues in a very informal atmosphere, will thus give TEI members a chance to learn -- on a before-the-fact basis -- how the IRS's new industry orientation will affect how the agency does business with them in the coming years. For up-to-the-minute information about the conference, including confirmation of other keynoters and updates on our Canadian, Corporate Tax Management, and State and Local sessions, please check TEI's website.

Liaison Activities

Many of the issues on the agenda for the Midyear Conference will also be discussed at TEI's annual liaison meetings with the IRS, Treasury Department, and Joint Committee. Whether the subject is the confidentiality of taxpayer information, the impending Subpart F study, the World Trade Organization's challenge to the foreign sales corporation regime, or the IRS's new "pre-filing agreement" initiative, these meetings are expected to provide the avenue for an open exchange of...