NMP Contributor Laura Lynn Burke Named to IRS Advisory Committee
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced the selection of six new members for the Information Reporting Program Advisory Committee (IRPAC), among them is Laura Lynn Burke, columnist and contributor to National Mortgage Professional Magazine. The IRPAC, established in 1991, provides an organized public forum for discussion of tax information reporting issues between IRS officials and representatives of the public. The committee presents an annual report to the IRS Commissioner.
“Information reporting is a critically important part of our tax law, and public input on effective operation of information reporting systems is essential,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said. “The new IRPAC members bring a wealth of experience as well as insight that we are fortunate to have.”
Committee members represent the taxpaying public, tax professionals, small and large businesses, the financial industry and payroll providers.
The following persons, who will join 13 returning members, have been appointed to serve on the committee for three-year terms beginning in 2016:
►Burke is an Enrolled Agent and Certified Fraud Examiner; practicing in the tax arena as a Tax Accountant, Enrolled Agent, Manager and Instructor. She provides tax resolution, strategic tax planning and tax preparation for Individual, Corporate, Partnership, LLC Series, Estate and Not-for-profit. She is a member of the Illinois CPA Society, Past Treasurer of Women in Insurance & Finance and a member of the Association for Fraud Examiners. Laura achieved an MBA in Tax, Marketing & Leadership, a Master of Science in Information Management Systems, Certificate in Digital Forensics and a BA in Business Administration with minor in Psychology.
►Terry W. Edwards has worked in banking for over 26 years in the Corporate Tax Department of Wells Fargo Bank (and predecessor Wachovia Bank). He has been a member of the American Bankers Association’s Information Reporting Committee since 2009 and chair of the committee in 2015. He served on the Clearing House’s Tax Reporting Committee from 2002-2013 and as chair in 2011. Terry is also a founding member of the Information Reporting Roundtable Committee (which comprises numerous U.S. Banks). He is a CPA with a Masters in Accounting from Virginia Tech and a BS in Business Administration from the University of Virginia’s college at Wise.
►Allen M. Ellenby is an executive director and an attorney serving as national tax technical advisory leader for EY’s practice providing ACA compliance and reporting services to large employers. In addition, he has worked with qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, other types of compensation and employee benefit issues, assisting multinational corporations with the U.S. taxation of employees participating in foreign pensions. He is a member of the American Bar Association and was a member of the AICPA Tax Division’s Employee Benefit Technical Resource Panel. Allen received a degree in actuarial science from the University of Illinois and a JD from the University of Chicago.
►Dana Flynn is a director in Group Tax at UBS AG in Stamford, Conn and has over 11 years of experience specializing in tax advisory relating to U.S. tax information reporting and withholding. Currently, she is the Group Tax Americas regional expert for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and she also focuses on the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and other areas relating to information reporting and withholding. She is responsible for working with Operations, Onboarding and a variety of business divisions across the Investment Bank and Wealth Management to address their planning, implementation and compliance issues relating to U.S. domestic and non-resident withholding and information reporting. Dana is a member of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Tax Compliance Committee. She received her BA from Boston College and JD from Suffolk University Law School.
►Joel Levenson, as associate director of tax compliance at the University of Central Florida, considers information reporting a significant part of his role, working with taxpayers who receive information returns submitted by the university. He is a member of the Tax Council of the National Association of College & University Business Officers (NACUBO), the Inter-Institutional Committee on Finance & Accounting Officers (ICOFA) as chair, Tax Sub-Committee and the University Tax Peer Group. Joel received his BS in Accounting from the University of Central Florida as well as a Master of Science in Taxation.
►Kevin V. Sullivan is the head of U.S. Information Withholding & Reporting, FATCA and QI Advisory in the corporate tax department at BNP Paribas. In this capacity, he is responsible for developing policies and procedures in accordance with U.S. tax rules as well as managing the development and implementation of FATCA and QI processes. Prior to returning to BNP, Kevin was a Senior Manager in Deloitte’s Global Information Reporting group where he advised foreign and domestic financial institutions as well as multinational corporations in properly addressing U.S. and NRA tax withholding and reporting obligations. Prior to joining Deloitte, Kevin was the Head of North American Tax Operations & Head of North American FATCA at BNP, where he managed a team of operational tax specialists responsible for U.S. withholding and information reporting requirements relating to investment banking, prime brokerage and custody operations. Before this role, Kevin was a tax attorney at an international law firm and consultancy firm specializing in information withholding and reporting. He is a member of SIFMA’s Tax Compliance Committee and the Institute of International Bankers (IIB). He has a B.S. in Political Science and Law & Society from the American University in Washington, D.C. and a JD from St. Thomas University School of Law, Miami.
The 2016 IRPAC Chair is Michael Gangwer, Associate Tax Advisor, Legal Department, of The Vanguard Group, Inc. in Valley Forge, Pa. He has worked at Vanguard in information reporting for over 10 years. He currently serves as the lead technical consultant for information reporting and tax withholding for Vanguard’s retail, institutional retirement, brokerage and cost basis departments. He also monitors legislative, regulatory and judicial developments related to information reporting and tax withholding matters, as well as advises Vanguard’s tax reporting departments as they implement new tax law. He is a member of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, Investment Company Institute and the Securities Institute and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). He received a BS in Economics from West Chester University and a Masters of Taxation & Financial Planning from Widener University.