A View of The IRS Through Corporate Insider Eyes – Corporate Tax Audit Survival – Part 1

Reference Cliff Jernigan's eBook Corporate Tax Audit SurvivalThis is Part [1] of a series of a Chapter in the eBook “Corporate Tax Audit Survival – A View of The IRS Through Corporate Insider Eyes” by Cliff Jernigan.

You can download the entire eBook here.

Sample From Chapter 4: “I am the CTM SIA from the POD San Jose. I am from Mars”

Most individuals who move from the private sector to the public sector have an agenda they want to accomplish during their public term. I was no different.

Prior to my term with the IRS, I spent over 20 years engaging members of the U.S. Congress and their staffs on a variety of tax and other policy issues. I noticed that most of them came to Washington with clear personal agendas.

Some felt that government was too intrusive, and they wanted to lessen its impact on our lives. Others felt just the opposite. Some came to further a social cause. Some came to help create high-paying U.S. jobs and increase U.S. competitiveness around the world. Some wanted to make government processes run more efficiently.

I hoped to pursue four main agenda items:

1. Improve relations between industry and the IRS.

2. Reduce the audit time and cost burden for industry and the IRS.

3. Help U.S. industry become more competitive.

4. Introduce private industry efficiency to the IRS.

Throughout the remaining chapters of this book, I will make observations and reflections relating to this agenda. With respect to items 1 and 2, I believe I was part of a success story. I found the going a little harder for items 3 and 4.

The title of this chapter: “I am the CTM SIA from the San Jose POD—I am from Mars,” summarizes how ill-prepared I was to join the IRS.

Even though I had years of experience dealing with the U.S. Congress and various regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS, I had always engaged them as an industry representative. To change sides was to enter a whole new world.

My first 30 days on the job were a challenge. I was met with suspicion, and I had trouble with government acronyms, Big Brother warnings, and an unfamiliar environment.

In accordance with Circular 230 Disclosure

Aaron C. Giles is the Founder and President of Agile Consulting Group. Aaron spent five years working within the specialty niche of Sales & Use Tax at Brown & Associates before forming his own firm in 2005. He has worked hundreds of audits in states all across the U.S. during that time and has delivered savings of over $75M in the form of refunds and credits to his clients. Today, he leads a group of talented, detail-oriented colleagues who focus exclusively on Sales & Use Tax.

Some of our firms’ greatest achievements have come in successfully arguing new and unique perspectives to existing tax law in various states enabling our clients to claim exemptions on categories of purchases previously held to be taxable. Included in these victories are: communication services taxes for religious nonprofit hospitals in FL, bulk purchases of drugs in VA, specific surgical tools and instruments for healthcare providers in TX, printing plates in GA, railroad utilities in KY, and most recently software in AL.

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