8:25 AM–10:05 AM (100
MINUTES)
Obligations
and Procedure in Reporting Offshore Accounts and the Voluntary Disclosure Process
Jeff
Kahn, Esq., CPA, Principal, Law Offices
Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C.
Be aware of the new
requirements and updates in reporting foreign accounts and how you can help protect
your clients from the IRS in its efforts to impose penalties and seek criminal
prosecution.
10:15 AM–11:05 AM (50
MINUTES)
R&D
Tax Credit
Sean
Espy, Director, Tax Projects Delivery
Group, Pricewaterhouse Coopers
Kendall Fox, Partner, Pricewaterhouse Coopers
This session will include a
discussion of the Research and Development Tax credit with its history, tax
benefits, state R&D credits and international R&D credits (time
permitting). We will include application of the credit to tech companies in our
discussion.
11:05 AM–11:50 AM (50
MINUTES)
The
Alternative Minimum Tax—a
formula for disaster in reporting income from the exercise of incentive stock options
and expenses for attorney fees in contingency fee cases
Brian
Isaacson, Esq., CPA, Partner,
Isaacson & Wilson
This presentation will
discuss the reasons for the formulation of the “grass roots” reform AMT
movement and will provide a historical review of the Tax Court and Appellate
Court decisions to the corrective legislation by Congress allowing the refund
of taxes, interest, and penalties form the time of the tech market crash in 2001
to the present.
Monday,
July 2, 2012
8:30 AM–12:30 PM (240
MINUTES)
How to
Bring Your Tax Case to the Federal Court & What to Do Once You’re There
LOCATION: U.S. District Courthouse
Join the AAA-CPA at the
U.S. District Court Western District of Washington where you will learn how to
take your tax case beyond the Internal Revenue Service to the next level— to
the judicial level. We will meet federal judges, U.S. magistrates, U.S.
attorneys, defense counsel, and court personnel, all of whom will address your
questions and concerns to assist you in bringing your tax case to federal court
with confidence and with a degree of proficiency. This presentation will demystify
the federal court experience and can serve as a primer for those attorney-CPAs who
wish to represent their clients at “the next level.”
2:20 PM–3:20 PM (60
MINUTES)
Taxpayers
in Chief
Joseph
J. Thorndike, Ph.D.,
Director, Tax History Project, Tax Analysts
Just like the rest of us,
presidents file tax returns. Unlike the rest of us, they release them publicly.
At least they have since the 1970s, when Richard Nixon started the tradition under
pressure from his critics. This presentation will explore the history of
presidential tax returns from Lincoln to Obama, as well as disclosures by
presidential candidates in the 2012 election cycle.
3:30 PM–4:45 PM (75 MINUTES)
Drafting
Pleadings in Federal Court
John
Colvin, Chicoine &
Hallett, P.S.
What works, what doesn't,
and drafting tips from those who have been there before. An interactive presentation
where participants will review a sample complaint from the government in a tax case and a typical
answer from defense counsel with a discussion as to best practices in pleadings
filed with the Court. The speaker will review the "dos and don'ts" of
pleadings so that you can take your case from the IRS and move it to the
Judicial level for yet another opportunity at resolution.
Tuesday,
July 3, 2012
8:25 AM–9:15 AM (50
MINUTES)
Real
Estate Transactions
QUALIFIES FOR A&A HOURS
Judson
Leibee, Esq., CPA, Shangri-La
Construction, LP
This session will cover
recent developments in auditing of real estate transactions, including revenue
recognition and fair value measurement. Also we will review basic auditing
terminology and concepts, enabling the attorney- CPA (who may not provide
attest services) to spot issues for your client or better interact with your client’s
auditors.
9:15 AM–10:25 AM (75
MINUTES)
Cross
Border Taxation
Bradley
Kirschner, CPA
This presentation will
touch on the business, tax and accounting issues facing the United States
business expanding into Canada and vice versa. The session will cover individual
tax issues facing the Canadian moving into or leaving the United States
including residence determination, United States dual status issues, and RSP planning
and compliance and individual tax issues facing the American moving into or
leaving Canada.
10:45 AM–12:00 PM (75
MINUTES)
Compensation
Systems for CPA & Law Firm Partners: How to Split the Profit Pie
Kurt R.
Lundquist, Esq., CPA, Short,
Cressman & Burgess PLLC
Current economic conditions
have resulted in some CPA and law firms to experience flat or even declining profits-per-partner.
To address this, these firms have reduced operational expenses most publicized
in the form of professional and staff layoffs. However, there has also been
firms that have taken steps to “de-equitize unproductive partners,” and taken a
critical eye toward how they allocate the profits they do make to their
partners. This two-hour program will focus on what factors should be taken into
account to measure a partner's “performance” and various compensation systems
that attempt to incorporate those factors into determining a partner's fair and
equitable compensation.
12:00 PM–1:30 PM
Open
Board of Directors Luncheon
1:30 PM–3:10 PM (100
MINUTES)
Transfer
Pricing: Basic Rules, Structures, and More
Roy
Deaver, CPA,
International Tax, Partner, Moss Adams, LLP
Paul C.
Hoberg, CPA, Tax
Senior, Manager, Moss Adams, LLP
Darren
Lo, Chartered Accountant,Transfer
Pricing Senior, Moss Adams, LLP
During this session, you
will learn basic transfer pricing rules and principles; get an understanding of
the importance of transfer pricing to governments and multinational companies;
learn about certain common structures and transaction flows, and how to avoid
potential double taxation; and gather insight into the mysteries behind what is
involved in a “transfer pricing study.”
3:30 PM–4:20 PM (50
MINUTES)
Auditing
Commercial Leases
QUALIFIES FOR A&A HOURS
Judson
Leibee, Esq., CPA, Shangri-La
Construction, LP
This session is an extension
of the real estate transactions session, and will review in more depth common traps
in commercial leases for your clients. Knowledge from this session can be used
as a good refresher for attorneys who advise property owners, as well as a tool
for CPA’s to provide “agreed upon procedures” to assist tenant-clients in
recovering money from landlords.
Wednesday,
July 4, 2012
8:30 AM–10:10 AM (100
MINUTES)
A
Roundtable Discussion on Applied Ethics for Attorney-CPAs
Joe
Brotherton, Esq., CPA
Jim
Rigos, JD, LLM, CPA, CMA, CFM,
Proprietor, Rigos Bar and Accountancy Review Series
Sydney
S. Traum, BBA, JD, LLM, CPA, Of
Counsel, Levey, Filler, Rodriguez, Kelso & Magilligan, LLP
Be prepared to re-enter the
law school world of the Socratic Method. You will receive materials to prepare
in advance and will hear a brief lecture by Attorney-CPAs and educators James
Rigos and Sydney Traum. Then prepare for responding to questions and
hypothetical posed by Joe Brotherton. This session will be in the style of his classes
at the University of Washington Business and Law schools where he has taught
for over 30 years.
Meet Your Faculty
Joseph
L. Brotherton, Esq., CPA, is a graduate of the
University
of Washington School of Business and the University of Washington School of Law. He practiced with
Price Waterhouse before establishing his own law firm and CPA firm. He
continues to practice in those areas and is an active builder, developer and operator of real estate projects in Washington, Alaska and Arizona, as well as an
entrepreneur owning and operating a variety of businesses.
Brotherton has taught at the UW Business and Law Schools
for over 30 years as well as at Seattle University, Cornish College of
the Arts and the University Behind Bars at the Washington State Penitentiary in
Monroe. He
founded the Washington chapter of AAA-CPA, is a past President of the National AAA-CPA organization
and currently serves as President of the AAACPA Foundation. He also serves on a
number of
non-profit
Boards. Joe
and his wife Maureen have five children, including one lawyer and one CPA (who is now in Law
School).
John Colvin, Esq., joined
the firm of Chicoine & Hallett, P.S., in 1991. He concentrates his practice
in federal tax controversy matters and federal white-collar criminal defense. Colvin has represented clients before every
level of the Internal Revenue Service, before the United States Tax Court and
the Court of Federal Claims, in the federal district courts, before the Circuit
Courts of Appeals, and before the Supreme Court of the United States. Recent reported tax cases for which Colvin
had primary or significant responsibility include Gitlitz v. Commissioner, 531
U.S. 206, 121 S. Ct. 701 (2001), rev’g 182 F.3d 1143 (10th Cir. 1999); St.
Charles Investment Co. v. Commissioner, 232 F.3d 773 (10th Cir. 2000), rev’g
110 T.C. 46 (1998); and Oak Harbor Freight Lines, Inc. v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 1999-291. Colvin also successfully represented some of the taxpayers in
United States v. Guess, et. al., S.D.Cal. 04-2184, a case in which the
government sought to obtain a preliminary injunction and receivership over an
offshore insurance company with approximately $500 million in assets, alleging
that the company and its clients were participating in an illegal tax shelter. Colvin
has significant experience in white-collar cases involving fraudulent medical
billings, customs violations, securities and commodities fraud, software
piracy, bank and bankruptcy fraud, environmental crimes, and Lacey Act
violations.
Colvin
is a frequent lecturer on tax-related topics for professional groups. He is the
Chairman of the Subcommittee for Legislative and Administrative Developments
for the ABA Taxation Section, Civil and Criminal Penalties Committee. Colvin
earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology from Reed College in 1985, where he
was admitted as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and a Juris Doctor degree from the
University of Washington School of Law in 1991. Colvin received a fellowship at
Columbia University from 1986 to 1988, where he pursued graduate studies in
17th and 18th century Chinese history. Colvin was designated as a Telluride
Scholar in 1980 at Deep Springs College, California.