TEI meets with Multistate Tax Commission.

Veteran's Day saw a delegation from Tax Executives Institute meet with the Executive Committee of the Multistate Tax Commission. The November 11, 2004, meeting was held in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with a series of MTC meetings. Janet M. Wilson of Halliburton Corporation, chair of the Institute's State & Local Tax Committee, led TEI's delegation to the meeting.

Officials of TEI and the MTC scheduled the meeting to follow up on an exchange of letters earlier this year relating to MTC's 2003 "tax sheltering" study and the possible adverse consequences of that study and other initiatives on the working relationship between business and government tax professionals. (TEI's letter to the MTC is reprinted in the January-February 2004 issue of The Tax Executive.)

Despite the impetus for the meeting, a significant focus of the discussion was the MTC's Audit Program. TEI expressed a desire for improvements to the program that would build on the lessons learned during the first-ever taxpayer-requested MTC audit involving Hewlett-Packard Company. (A feature article about this audit can be found in the January-February 2004 issue of The Tax Executive.) Additionally, TEI suggested that aspects of several audit initiatives at the federal level--including the Joint Audit Planning Process that the IRS's Large and Mid-Size Business Division developed in consultation with TEI--could be implemented by the MTC to the benefit of both taxpayers and the states. The director of the MTC Audit Program was receptive improving the program, and expressed a desire to meet with TEI to work through possible changes and foster a better understanding of the program. Indeed, the MTC was eager to address several proposals TEI has championed to ease the administrative burden on multistate taxpayers, including the MTC's Model Uniform Statute for Reporting Federal Tax Adjustments.

According to Ms. Wilson, "the meeting was very productive, and identified several potential areas where TEI and the MTC may be able to work cooperatively." During a strategic planning session earlier that day, the MTC adopted reducing taxpayer burden as one area of emphasis for next five years. TEI is certainly supportive of that emphasis, and based on the discussion at this meeting, will plan on regular interaction with the MTC to ensure success.

In addition to Ms. Wilson, the TEI participants in the meeting were Lynn Jordan of Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Co. (a member of TEI's Executive Committee), Jennifer Bradley of Marriott Corporation, Tamara Powell of Lockheed Martin Corporation, and Mary Lou Fahey and Gregory Matson of the Institute's legal staff.