Deloitte Appoints Wood to Lead U.S. Tax Practice: Big Four firm Deloitte & Touche named Chet Wood as managing partner of its U.S. Tax Services.
Wood, 44, succeeds Barry Salzberg, 49, who recently was named managing partner of Deloitte & Touche. Wood, who joined Deloitte in 1981, most recently served as deputy managing partner of the tax practice.
He also served as the country managing partner for Tax and Legal for the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu member firm in Sydney, Australia.
He remains an advisory partner to several of the firm’s larger clients in the United States and Australia, and is a board member of the Deloitte Foundation.
Robert M. Brown Picked For IRS Associate Chief Counsel: Robert M. Brown, a CPA, attorney and former partner in the Washington National Tax Practice of KPMG, has been nominated for the position of associate chief counsel (income tax and accounting) in the Internal Revenue Service Office of Chief Counsel. Brown was to join the office on May 12, 2003, and serve as acting associate chief counsel (income tax and accounting) until his approval process is complete.
As associate chief counsel (income tax and accounting), Brown will direct more than 100 attorneys and tax law specialists who provide legal advisory services with respect to tax accounting and other income tax matters to the IRS, the Department of the Treasury, and to other government agencies and the public.
Brown has more than 30 years of experience practicing in the tax field, and has previous government service with the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy.
IRS Announces Clinic Grants: The 2004 Low Income Taxpayer Clinic grant application process is now open, according to National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson. Organizations providing low-cost or no-cost representation to people involved in tax disputes can apply for grants worth up to $100,000 for the 2004 grant cycle.
The IRS matching grant program encourages the creation and growth of low-income taxpayer clinics across the nation. These clinics provide an important resource to taxpayers who may not be able to afford a tax professional.
In addition to nonprofit organizations, qualifying clinics may be run by accounting, business or law schools whose students represent taxpayers in tax disputes with the IRS or Tax Court, or by tax-exempt organizations.
Applications for Low Income Taxpayer Clinic grants must be received at Internal Revenue Service, Taxpayer Advocate Service, Mail Stop 211-D, LITC Program Office, 401 West Peachtree St. NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30308, no later than July 1, 2003. The application package (Publication 3319) is available at
Survey Says, ‘Don’t Tax My Parents’ Death’: A recent survey by a woman’s business group gives additional ammunition to the Bush administration in its efforts to permanently repeal the estate tax. According to the survey, an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose the notion of anyone being taxed on the death of their parents, whether or not they would be affected by the estate tax.
Women Impacting Public Policy, a bipartisan organization representing more than 430,000 women in business, commissioned two independent research organizations to conduct the survey. The survey of 2,500 voters found that 79 percent agreed that the estate tax is unfair, since it amounts to potentially triple taxation - once when the income is earned, a second time when it is saved and a third time at death.
“People of all kinds all across the country dislike the inheritance tax, and that includes Democrats and low-income families,” said Frank Luntz, president of Luntz Cos., one of the polling organizations. “For example, 65 percent of those who make less than $30,000 a year think the tax is unfair, no matter what it’s called.”
Jeffrey Pollock, president of Global Strategy, another one of the polling organizations, said that voters’ preferences are clear. “They’ll vote overwhelmingly for the candidate who wants to eliminate the death tax.”
