IRS selects new IRSAC members for 2022
Jan. 10, 2022, WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced the appointment of nine new members to the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council.
The IRSAC, established in 1953, is an organized public forum for IRS officials and representatives of the public to discuss a broad range of issues in tax administration. The Council provides the IRS Commissioner with relevant feedback, observations and recommendations. It will submit its annual report to the agency at a public meeting in November 2022.
The IRS strives to appoint members to the IRSAC who represent the taxpaying public, the tax professional community, small and large businesses, tax exempt and government entities and information reporting interests.
The following people were appointed to serve three-year appointments on the council beginning this month:
Amanda Aguillard – Chief Operations Officer, Padgett Business Services, New Orleans, La. – Aguillard has been involved in assisting small business taxpayers for over 20 years with income and other tax issues. Prior to joining Padgett Business Services she worked with large accounting firms in her capacity as a National Ambassador for New Zealand-headquartered Xero. She co-founded and runs Elefant, a training and consulting company for accountants and Bookkeepers. Aguillard holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a Master of Taxation from the University of Denver. Aguillard represents small business, and she is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Society of Louisiana CPAs.
Alison Flores – Principal Tax Research Analyst, H&R Block, Kansas City, Mo. – Flores is a tax attorney with over 15 years of experience. She supplies guidance on complex tax areas to over 70,000 tax professionals and responds to their feedback and questions. She helps cross-functional teams understand and implement changes that affect taxpayers. Her team works to understand systemic tax administration challenges, finds opportunities to bring awareness to those challenges and proposes solutions. She leads the internal research tool for H&R Block delivering tax research materials on an online research platform. She has a deep understanding of issues facing individual and small business taxpayers and knowledge of how refundable credits and other tax benefits have changed over the years. Flores holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and History from Bethel College and a Juris Doctor from the University of Kansas School of Law. Flores works with tax professionals and the tax preparation industry.
Michael Kam – Tax Director, Trustees of the Estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, doing business as Kamehameha Schools, Honolulu, Hawaii – Kam is a CPA responsible for the overall tax function of a 130-year-old charitable trust with a diverse portfolio of real estate and financial investments valued at over $14 billion. With over 35 years of tax experience in both the tax-exempt and for-profit sectors, he oversees tax compliance and manages tax risks throughout the organization and its tax-exempt and for-profit affiliates, develops and implements prudent and impactful tax strategies and assists internal clients with structuring transactions. He evaluates, assesses and resolves various complex tax issues, such as rent exclusions, rental agreements and issues related to unrelated business taxable income pertaining to a vast number of private equity investments. Kam holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Kam represents tax-exempt organizations, and he is a member of the AICPA, the Hawaii Society of CPAs, and the Tax Executives Institute.
Mason Klinck – Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Site Manager, Making Opportunity Count (MOC), Fitchburg, Mass. – Klinck is an Enrolled Agent with 20 years of experience as a tax preparer. Formerly an agent for the IRS and a tax shelter auditor for the California Franchise Tax Board, he has worked with law and CPA firms in return preparation, collections, audits, appeals, innocent spouse relief and U.S. Tax Court petitions. As the VITA manager for his community agency, he supervises the preparation of tax returns for low-income taxpayers and represents distressed taxpayers before the state and the IRS. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he implemented a virtual system of tax preparation for MOC clients. He has volunteered for Low Income Taxpayer Clinics in California, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Fluent in several languages, Klinck holds both a Bachelor and Master of Arts in Modern Languages from Oxford University, a Master of Business Administration from Boston College, and a Master of Science in Taxation from California State University. Klinck serves on the Commissioner’s Advisory Council of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue and is a director of the Massachusetts Society of Enrolled Agents. Klinck represents VITA and low-income taxpayers.
Jeffrey A. Porter – Member/CPA, Porter & Associates CPAs PLLC, Huntington, W.Va. – Porter is a CPA with over 40 years of experience preparing business and individual tax returns. His firm represents small- to medium-sized businesses and high net worth individuals spread across a wide spectrum of industries. He has been active in the AICPA for over 30 years, with prior service on the Board of Directors, its Governing Council and chair of its Tax Executive Committee. He served on the Steering Committee for the AICPA National Tax Conference for 20 years and served as Chair of the Conference for over 10 years. In 2016, he received the Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award, the highest honor bestowed by the accounting profession in taxation. He has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate five times on tax related matters. Porter holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Marshall University and a Master of Taxation from the University of Tulsa. Porter represents small and medium-sized businesses, and he is a member of the AICPA and the West Virginia Society of CPAs.
Jon Schausten – Director of Payroll and Human Resources Information System, American United Life Insurance Company, DBA OneAmerica, Indianapolis, Ind. – Schausten is a Certified Payroll Professional with over 20 years of payroll experience with union, multi-state and international payrolls. He oversees payroll, time and attendance, HRIS and HR Shared Services. He managed payroll for expatriate associates including foreign income and tax returns. He assisted the Social Security Administration in its five-year modernization project articulating the needs of payroll professionals in using online services. He is a member of American Payroll Association (APA) and was named the 2020 APA Payroll Man of the Year. He has received the 2017 Prism Award for Management. He is currently the Vice President of APA and serves as Co-Chair of the Government Relations Task Force for IRS Issues and Co-Chair of Social Networking Committee. Schausten holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Human Resources Management from Marian University. Schausten represents the information reporting community and payroll industry.
Tara Sciscoe – Partner, Ice Miller LLP, Indianapolis, Ind. – Sciscoe is a Partner at Ice Miller LLP where she is a member of the Employee Benefits group. She has 27 years of experience advising employers, plans and trusts with respect to the design and compliance of their employee benefit programs. Sciscoe has a national practice in representing public pension systems and governmental and tax-exempt colleges, universities, university systems and school corporations with respect to their unique benefit issues, which frequently involve multiple interrelated plans on the state and institutional level. She is general counsel to the seventh largest denominational church plan in the U.S., which administers retirement plans and deemed individual retirement accounts for churches across the country, and regularly advises church and church-related organizations on employee benefit matters. Sciscoe is an active member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys and the Church Alliance Core Lawyer Working Group, and frequently writes and presents for these and other groups. She is chair of Ice Miller’s Higher Education practice and co-chair of the Retirement Plan Committee. She holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University. Sciscoe represents tax-exempt organizations and employee plans.
Rebecca Thompson – Vice President, Strategic Partnerships & Network Building, Prosperity Now, Washington, D.C. – Thompson has over 10 years of experience as a non-profit professional. Her work focuses on addressing systemic barriers to racial economic justice so that all individuals, families and communities can prosper without exception. She has oversight for the Taxpayer Opportunity Network (TON), the national convening body and liaison with the IRS for the VITA program and stakeholders. She has worked directly with low- and moderate-income taxpayers over the last 10 years as a VITA volunteer, program manager and TON Project Director. She has extensive knowledge of tax law application and tax preparation experience, particularly related to low-income returns and refundable credits. As a VITA site coordinator and quality reviewer, she educates clients on their tax returns and communicates how their household and financial situation translates to their tax returns. She participates in the IRS Refundable Credits Summit and Refundable Credits Working Group. Thompson holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Economics from Florida A&M University. Thompson represents VITA and low- and moderate-income taxpayers.
Sean Wang – Director, Information Reporting Policy & Compliance group, Charles Schwab, Boston, Mass. – Wang is a Director with Charles Schwab’s Information Reporting Policy & Compliance group, where he advises and supports internal business line partners on information reporting and withholding compliance, corporate digital projects, and implementation of new or changes of information reporting and withholding rules. He was previously a Senior Manager with EY where he advised and assisted banking, insurance, and asset management clients on domestic reporting and withholding issues (i.e., Forms 1099 and backup withholding), nonresident alien reporting and withholding issues (i.e., Forms 1042-S and section 1441 withholding), the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). Wang received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is a CPA and a member of the AICPA and the Massachusetts Society of CPAs. Wang represents the information reporting community.
The 2022 IRSAC Chair is Carol Lew, shareholder with Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth PC in Newport Beach, California. Lew serves as special tax counsel and borrower’s counsel for various kinds of bond issues for state and local government and non-profits for the provision of public infrastructure, housing, charter schools, performing arts facilities, hospitals, museums and other types of facilities.
For more information, visit www.IRS.gov/IRSAC
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