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Tax Tech eNews
Volume 1
January 2011 |
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Happy New Year!
Welcome to the January 2011 Edition
of ACT's Tax Tech eNews!
This year marks the 30th Anniversary of ACT. We are looking forward to a great year and have a lot planned. Members will be receiving information regularly regarding informative articles and webinars we have scheduled, surveys to complete, and our 2011 Annual Conference. To start, this issue of eNews includes articles about legislative updates, tax technology business cases, uncertain tax positions, tax technology history, and much more! If you are not currently an ACT Member, now is a great time to join!
Don't forget that all ACT Memberships expired on 12/31/2010. If you have already renewed, Thank You! If not, please renew now to prevent any disruption in your ACT benefits. You may do so by clicking here or calling our office at 845-987-9690. Don't forget -- now is also a great time to update your profile information, as well as add additional team members to your Regular Membership profile at no additional charge.
We would also like to invite you to join us at the 2011 Annual Conference being held at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego, CA June 20-22, 2011. Registration for the conference is now open. Be sure to complete your registration before March 15, 2011 in order to receive the full early bird discount. This is your only opportunity to benefit from the live presentations and networking until 2012, so register today!
We have an outstanding line-up of presentations by experts in the tax and tax technology fields. This conference is perfect for tax professionals who want to better utilize technology and for the IT professionals seeking to learn more about best practices in the tax technology field.
Attending the ACT conference is a great way to learn how other companies are utilizing technology in the tax function. It's an opportunity to see the latest offerings from tax software vendors and to network with other companies to find out how well their technology solutions work. It's also a great way to stay current on topics such as transfer pricing, VAT, R&D tax credit, provision, international tax, sales and use tax, best practices within tax, tax controversies, document management, Excel in tax, and much more!
Based on your feedback, we are continuing to offer a full day of specialized sessions for you to choose from on Tuesday. This year, however, we are offering five different classes to choose from for each session rather than just four. On Tuesday, we will also have training sessions focused on the use of Excel, Access, and XML within the tax department. We also have Tuesday sessions with an emphasis on:
We look forward to working closely with you in the new year and seeing you in sunny California!
Sincerely,
The ACT Board, Committees, and Staff
Thank you to our 2011 Sponsors
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 Tax Technology Then and Now Written by: Gary Paice, Ernst & Young
With 2011 being the 30th Anniversary of ACT, we asked Gary Paice, our Technology - Then and Now column contributor, to take a look at the tax technology industry and how it has changed.
"What a fog....even the birds are walkin'" - Dalton Trumbo
When asked to write this column I was flattered at first. Then, I figured out, I merely had to be old. That's ok, I need to take every advantage I have.
It is with some irony that I look back to the very beginning of tax technology and all computing was in the "cloud". The "cloud" is today's description of shared resources - software and servers - that provide us our overall computing environment. When I started in tax technology back in [mumble, mumble] a different "cloud" existed but was more like what I call the "fog". These were mainframes and other computers that had all the hardware and software managed as a shared resource. End-users were few and they rarely understood these technologies and so the name. On these mainframes, there were multiple proprietary vendor solutions, and application development on one system was incompatible with another.
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Schedule UTP - The Implications for Tax Operations
Written by: Bob Norton, Chief Income Tax Officer, Vertex, Inc.
Welcome to the New Year. With any luck 2011 will begin a little better than 2010 for U.S. corporate taxpayers. At this time last year IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman stunned all of us with the proposed Schedule UTP.
Requiring corporations to disclose uncertain tax positions taken in their federal tax return, Schedule UTP is viewed by many as a game changer in the way the IRS will manage large corporate taxpayer audits. In its continued quest for transparency into US corporate taxpayer's aggressive tax positions, this move trumps all prior attempts by the Service to quickly uncover potential disputes within a company's Form 1120.
Click here to read more of this article.
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With the start of a new year, it's a great time to add or remove members to your account. Regular Members can add as many members to their accounts as they would like for no additional charge. So, now is a great time to add your sales and use tax team, your IT support, and anyone else in your organization you think might benefit from the information provided through ACT.
If you would like to add or remove members on your account, do the following *NOTE: Only the Primary on the account can perfrom these steps:
1. Click on "My Profile" on the right menu. (Note: You must be logged in first).
2. Click on "Sub-accounts".
3. To add new sub-accounts, enter the email address of each person. You may enter one email address per line. Click "Send Invite".
4. The sub-accounts you just invited will be able to now setup their profile and begin accessing the ACT website as a member.
5. To remove members from your account, click on the "blue person" icon to detach the member's account and then click on the red X to suspend the member's account. |
Legislative Update
This is the first of a series of four articles from WTP Advisors that will discuss the impact of the new tax legislation, and highlight opportunities to improve your bottom line as a result of these changes.
No Need for LKE Programs in 2011
Written by: Ronald L. Hodgeman, Esq., Tax Director, WTP Exchange, LLC
Now that 2011 is here, are you still looking for a New Year's resolution? How about this one - "I will not pay for something that I will not use in 2011"? Remember the gym membership that you haven't used since 2008? Cancel it. Are you paying $20 per month for Netflix but haven't watched a movie in eight months? It's time to unsubscribe. Is your company running a Like-Kind Exchange (LKE) Program? Turn it off.
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Know Your Audience; Do Your Homework: The Tax Technology Project Budget Will Come
Written by: Kelley Lear, Managing Director, RedMoon Solutions
I have spoken to tax professionals all over the globe for years, and one question always is broached: "How on earth do we get budget for tax technology projects?" Since we are in football playoff season, I thought I would steal a sports quote from Joe Paterno to illustrate my point: "The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital."
If you come away with nothing else from this article, I hope to impart on you the importance of doing your homework about, and building relationships with the CFO and the CIO within your company. Understand what their priorities are, what they care about, and what challenges they are facing. With this knowledge, you will be able to incorporate key messages and focus concepts to align your tax department initiatives with their priorities and concerns.
Click here to read more of this article. |
Next Bi-Monthly Webinar
We hope that you have been able to attend and have been enjoying our bi-monthly webinars. As a reminder, if you have missed any of the previous webinars, please click here to visit our website for a link to the archived presentations.
Please look for more information soon about the February webinar. |
Upcoming Webinars
| Host and Sponsor: |
Atlas Service Link |
| Date: |
April 19, 2010 |
| Time: |
2:00 PM EST |
| Duration: |
1 Hour |
| CPE Credit: |
1 |
Speaker Opportunity
ACT is looking for speakers that are experts in their area to speak at our webinars. If you have a presentation you would like to contribute or if you have a topic you would like us to cover, please let us know by filling out the Speaker and Author Opportunity Form. |
2010 ACT Tax Department Survey
Each year, the Association for Computers & Taxation (ACT) surveys its members to learn about current trends in corporate tax automation. This report is a summary of selected information from the ACT software survey conducted in the Summer of 2010. The survey canvassed tax automation decision makers and users to find out what tax systems, hardware and software products are currently being used. The members were also asked to evaluate their tax automation tools, and provide feedback on their successes and shortcomings.
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Registration is Now Open for the 2011 Annual ACT Conference
Be sure you arrive early Sunday, June 19, 2011 to join us at the Welcome Reception beginning at 4:30PM.
To view a description of all of the conference sessions, click here.
Conference Registration Fees:
Before March 15, 2011 (includes a $150 early bird discount)
- Member: $750.00
- Non-Member: $950.00
After March 15, 2011 and Before May 27, 2011 (includes a $75 early bird discount)
- Member: $825.00
- Non-Member: $1025.00
After May 27, 2011 (no discount)
- Member: $900.00
- Non-Member: $1100.00
To cover administrative costs, a service fee will be charged for all canceled registrations. Cancellations received in writing by May 27, 2011 will incur a service fee of 20% of the original registration fee paid. Cancellations received after May 27, 2011 and no-shows will be charged the full conference fee.
Your conference registration includes:
- Attendance at all General Sessions on Monday and Wednesday
- Attendance at your choice of 5 Track Sessions on Tuesday*
- Breakfast and Lunch Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
- Participation at the Welcome Reception on Sunday evening
- Participation in the Vendor Expo and Reception on Monday evening
- Participation in the Networking Event on Tuesday evening
- You will also receive an attendee bag that contains information related to the conference, vendors, and a USB drive with all conference presentations included
* For the sessions on Tuesday, you may select to attend one session for each time slot.
Additional Helpful Information:
- You should make your hotel reservations as soon as possible. We expect the hotel block to sell out.
- Through ACT's partnership with our conference management team, Conference Direct, we were able to negotiate an outstanding room rate of $189/night. If you do not make your reservations before the hotel deadline, the rate will increase to over $200/night.
- The special room rate will be available until May 27th or until the group block is sold-out, whichever comes first.
- The Group Rate is available three days before and three days after, based on availability.
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Member Spotlight - Beth Rainer, International Paper
Calling all members! If you have a process you've automated or streamlined in your tax department, other members want to know. If you are interested in being featured in our eNews Member Spotlight, please contact us.
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The Tax Tech eNews is published by the Association for Computers & Taxation (ACT), a nonprofit organization. Permission is required to reproduce in any form. Opinions expressed are solely the author's, and not the opinion of ACT. Send all editorial correspondence, manuscripts, etc. to: ACT, P.O. Box 1093, Warwick, NY 10990.
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