TEI Annual Conference carries on: Hurricane Sandy disrupts travel, but registrants and speakers persevere.

• Position: Conference news

Neither rain nor wind nor potential flooding deterred hundreds of TEI members and guests who gathered at the Westin Diplomat from October 28-31, 2012 in Hollywood, Florida, for the Institute's 67th Annual Conference. On Monday morning, TEI President Carita R. Twinem welcomed the registrants, who gathered to discuss the fiscal cliff and tax reform, the tax and financial statement accounting effects of the tangibles regulations, supply-chain restructuring, executive compensation developments, inversions, FATCA compliance for nonfinancial institutions, legal entity simplification, financial accounting for permanently reinvested earnings, ethics in federal tax practice, and myriad other topics. Regrettably; disruptions in air travel caused by Hurricane Sandy prevented several speakers, including Monday's keynote speaker, MSNBC Morning Joe show contributor Steven Rattner, and LB&I Commissioner Heather Maloy from participating.

Opening the technical sessions, Nick Giordano of Ernst & Young reviewed the fiscal challenges facing the United States, including projected the budget deficits arising from current baseline tax and budget policies, projections of entitlement growth, the effects of the budget sequestration measures enacted as part of the 2011 debt limit increase, and the expiration of various tax provisions in 2012 (the so-called taxmageddon). The resolution to the fiscal crisis, he explained, depended in large part on the outcome of the November election and the willingness of the elected parties to negotiate a timely package of changes.

In a later Monday session Brandon Carlton, former Attorney-Advisor in the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Tax Policy, and Alison Jones provided an update on the elections available under the temporary and proposed tangibles regulations. Mr. Carlton said that commenters suggested numerous revisions to the regulations. He predicted that the final regulations would follow the structure and framework of the temporary and proposed rules, but noted that the government is aware of the compliance challenges posed by the rules, especially in respect of the de minimis rule for deducting tangible property. As a result, the government may provide some limited relief in the final rules, he said. Ms. Jones explained that before the release of the temporary regulations there was no clear basis for taxpayers to elect to follow their book method in deducting tangible property expenses. Nearly all taxpayers, she added...