Post & Schell Sponsors Villanova Symposium Examining Pressing Issues in U.S. Tax Administration
Post & Schell, P.C., a leading industry-centric law firm, today announced that the Firm is sponsoring the Villanova University Law Review’s Norman J. Shachoy Symposium on Friday, September 27, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. This year’s symposium brings together academics, practitioners and policymakers to consider pressing issues of tax administration, including the role of fairness and deterrence as principles in criminal tax sentencing, the expanded use of whistleblower powers to gather information on tax abuse, and the IRS’s desire to expand oversight over tax return preparers.
The event will take place in Room 101 of Villanova University School of Law (299 North Spring Mill Road, Villanova, Pa.). This program is approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board for five (5) substantive CLE credits and six (6) CPE credits. To register, click here.
“The fair and efficient administration of the U.S. tax code is important to everyone,” said Peter D. Hardy, principal in the Internal Investigations & White Collar Defense Group of Post & Schell, P.C., author of the authoritative criminal law treatise published by Bloomberg BNA, Criminal Tax, Money Laundering, and Bank Secrecy Act Litigation, and adjunct professor at the Villanova University School of Law Graduate Tax Program.
“By joining together this unique mix of perspectives from academia, government and industry, this year’s symposium explores what happens and should happen to those who cross the line between tax avoidance and tax evasion; how would-be whistleblowers can fuel increased tax enforcement; and how the IRS may influence who gets to prepare tax returns.”
This year’s panelists and speakers include Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division, U.S. Department of Justice, former IRS commissioner Lawrence Gibbs, and legal scholars from Florida State University, UC Davis, the University of Houston, and the University of Washington, as well as Villanova University.
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The full schedule of panels and related speakers/panelists:
Panel 1 - The Increasing Importance of the Whistleblower Provisions in U.S. Tax Administration: Examination of the IRS whistleblower law with emphasis on current issues and how the program could be improved.
- Dennis J. Ventry, Jr., Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law
- Dean A. Zerbe, Senior Policy Analyst, National Whistleblowers Center
- Jeremiah Coder, formerly of Tax Notes
- J. Richard Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Practice, Villanova University School of Law (moderator)
Panel 2 – The IRS’s Efforts to Regulate Unlicensed Tax Return Preparers: Exploration of the issues underlying the IRS’s plan to provide further oversight over previously unlicensed return preparers, including the legal issues facing the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in Loving v. IRS and the policy issues for and against increased regulation.
- Lawrence B. Gibbs, Member, Miller Chevalier and former Commissioner, IRS
- Dan Alban, Institute for Justice
- Michelle Drumbl, Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law
- Steve R. Johnson, University Professor, Florida State University College of Law
- Leslie Book, Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law (moderator)
Keynote Talk: The View from the DOJ: Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General (Tax), U.S. Department of Justice
Panel 3 – Criminal Tax Sentencing: Fairness and Deterrence: Discussion of the sentencing phase of criminal tax cases, focusing on principles of fairness and deterrence in regards to both the individual defendant and as to all taxpayers.
- Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General (Tax), U.S. Department of Justice
- Steve Chanenson, Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
- Caroline D. Ciraolo, Partner, Rosenberg Martin Greenberg, LLP
- Scott Schumacher, Associate Professor of Law and Director, Graduate Tax Program, University of Washington School of Law
- John Townsend, Member, Townsend & Jones and Adjunct Professor, University of Houston Law Center
- Peter D. Hardy, Principal, Post & Schell and Adjunct Professor, Villanova University Graduate Tax Program (moderator)
Closing Remarks: Keith Fogg, Professor of Law and Director, Federal Tax Clinic, Villanova University School of Law
The Symposium takes place on September 27, 2013 from 8:45 a.m. (with registration beginning at 8:00 a.m.) to 3.30 p.m., in the Arthur M. Goldberg Commons at Villanova University School of Law. Click here for a map of the location. To register, click here.