Written by
Farrell J Steiner, CPA
ISCPA Board of Directors
Searle Hart & Associates, PLLC
Hello Everyone.
I hope you are all starting to recover from this past difficult tax season and that you are all able to enjoy a fun, relaxing 4th of July. After such a wet spring season, our summer activities are crowded into a short time frame, but hey, we’re in Idaho, so we’re used to it, right?
- I just want to share a couple of items that happened in May at the Spring Meeting of Council in Washington D.C. Mick Armstrong, Nate Strong and I, along with Laura Lantz and our legal council, Ken McClure met with Idaho’s Representatives and Senators and we were well received.
- Some of the issues we presented with support from the AICPA were as follows:
- Modernizing the IRS by consolidating existing tax practitioner services, into a dedicated Practitioner Services Division, to ensure that all represented taxpayers receive the assistance they need, and to enhance and centrally manage the many current, disparate practitioner=impacting programs, processes, and tools that prevent efficient resolution of taxpayer issues.
- Encouraging Congress to pass a resolution regarding the fiscal state of the nation to require the Comptroller General to give a presentation to a joint session of the House and Senate Budget Committees on the GAO’s audited federal financial statements together with an analysis of its financial position and condition.
- Cosponsoring legislation to allow the IRS to postpone deadlines in response to state-declared disasters rather than waiting for the FEMA designation which many times is after major tax deadlines.
- Encouraging discussion of changes and agreements between countries regarding tax policy in a digital economy in order to provide mechanisms to resolve controversies, eliminate the double taxation of value or income and developing policies and platforms that are relatively easy for tax authorities to administer and for businesses to comply.
The AICPA is working hard to protect our brand as CPA’s and to help us remain the most trusted financial advisors in a rapidly changing technological environment. As part of this effort, the NASBA and the AICPA are asking for everyone’s input regarding possible changes to CPA licensure.
Five guiding principles have been proposed along with discussion of how the CPA licensure model needs to adjust to reflect the profession’s core services and better align with the work CPAs do, and also continue to serve the public interest.
Your comments are very important in this matter. Please go to EvolutionOfCPA.org and review the material and fill out the input form or email Feedback@EvolutionOfCPA.org. Please respond by August 9, 2019. You may also contact the Society office if you have questions, or contact any member of the Society board of directors and we would be glad to help direct you to where to respond.
Best wishes,
Farrell Steiner