MACPA meets with Congressional leaders

By Carol W. Kirwan, CPA
MACPA Director of Technical Services and Regulatory Affairs

On May 1, 2001, MACPA leaders visited with Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin and Darryl Chew, senior legislative assistant for Wayne T. Gilchrest, to discuss a variety of federal issues that are of importance to the profession. The "Hill" visits were part of the AICPA's Federal Key Person Coordinators' Conference held in conjunction with its Spring Meeting of Council.

MACPA also hosted a special reception and dinner for the Maryland legislators and representatives of CPA firms in Maryland. In attendence were:

Rep. Robert Ehrlich Jr.;
Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin;
Rep. Steny H. Hoyer;
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett and staff person Bud Otis;
Rep. Connie A. Morella and Chief of Staff Lisa Boepple;
Steve Harris, minority staff director and chief counsel, and Dean Shahinian, counsel, both to the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

It was a great opportunity to meet in a relaxed atmosphere with our federal legislators and discuss personal and professional matters informally. We also received an insider's view on current tax issues being debated in Congress.

MACPA has long been a strong political voice for the CPA profession. We have been very successful recently in state and federal matters. These personal meetings were very beneficial and informative from both points of view. Sen. Barbara Mikulski said she appreciated the input from our profession as advisors to businesses in Maryland. We enjoyed the opportunity to get to know our Congressional representatives and to exchange information with them on legislative issues of concern to our profession. We were able to gain support for the profession on most of the issues.

The primary issue we discussed was the concept of fiscal year flexibility for pass through entities. The AICPA is currently developing a proposal that would provide relief for the workload compression phenomenon created by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which required trusts, partnerships, S corporations and personal service corporations to adopt a calendar year-end.

We also discussed the generation-skipping transfer tax and how its complexity results in a tax trap for the unwary. A bill passed by the House (H.R. 8) includes the AICPA's tax proposal to allow the IRS to grant regulatory relief for late allocations and make other technical changes to the generation-skipping transfer tax rules that would alleviate this problem. Although we support this legislative reform to the transfer tax system, we have not taken a position on the repeal of the estate tax included in the same bill. The AICPA has released a study that provides the possible modifications and alternatives for the current estate and gift tax system.

Representatives from Maryland:

Cathy Landau-Painter, The Accountant’s Coalition;
Scott Somerville, Arthur Andersen LLP;
Terry Hancock, Clifton Gunderson LLC;
Larry Kamanitz and Dave Uhlfelder, Grant Thornton LLP;
James Schiller and Marty Yospa, Gorfine, Schiller & Gardyn PA;
Alvin Katz, KAWG&F;
Andrew Lang, The Lang Group;
John Wilson, McGladrey & Pullen, LLP;
Leslie Mostow, Reznick Fedder & Silverman, CPAs, PC;
Christine Stewart, University of Maryland;
Rich Neuman, Weil Akman, Baylin & Coleman, PA;
Thomas Lantz, Lantz & Associates, PA;
Carter Heim, Heim & Associates, PA;
Tom Hood, MACPA Executive Director;
Jackie Brown, MACPA Deputy Executive Director;

Carol Kirwan, MACPA Director of Technical Services and Regulatory Affairs.

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