IRS Practice and Procedures Conference Webcast Part 2

Jeff Allen is member of the EisnerAmper LLP tax practice with more than 30 years of professional experience in public accounting and private industry. He is a senior member of the firm’s International Services and Real Estate Services Groups. His experience covers a full range of domestic tax entities (corporations, partnerships, limited liability entities, REITs, etc.) and jurisdictions (federal, state and local taxes) as well as international matters such as transfer pricing, value-added tax and integration of foreign entities. Jeff has provided and overseen tax compliance and planning and served as an expert witness. In addition, he has extensive due diligence experience, an extensive M&A background, and ASC 740 financial statement expertise. Jeff’s clients have included companies in the manufacturing, real estate, technology, industrial, retail, distribution, and commercial and mortgage banking industries. In industry, Jeff served as Senior VP Tax/Chief Tax Officer with The Impac Companies, a $26 billion New York Stock Exchange-traded U.S.-owned REIT and mortgage finance company. As a former 20-year Partner with KPMG, Jeff’s responsibilities included serving as a Tax Engagement Services while in Upstate New York and Partner-in-Charge in Cleveland and Detroit. While at KPMG, he was a member of the firm’s Tax Professional Review Committee and Tax Manufacturing, Retail and Distribution Committee. Mr. Allen holds a BA from Colgate University and an MS from The Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University. He is a Certified Public Accountant. Jeff is a member of the AICPA serving on the IRS Advocacy & Relations Committee. As a member of the NYSSPA’s he is currently serving on several Committees and formerly a member of TDOC and a member of the Board of Directors. He is a member of Syracuse University’s Accounting Advisory Board and Chair of Colgate University’s FSAA Board.

Gita Hecht works as an IRS Senior Stakeholder Liaison under Communications and Liaison. As such, she provides information about the policies, practices and procedures the IRS uses to ensure compliance with the tax laws.

Kathleen M. Lahey is a Vice President in the Goldman Sachs Family Office based in New York City Office which provides Multi-Family Office services for high net worth client families, including income tax and estate planning, insurance and benefits planning, as well as retirement and cash flow planning. Ms Lahey joined Goldman, Sachs & Co. in 1986 as a Senior Financial Planner in the Tax Department and managed various internal groups including Investment Partnerships, State & Local Tax Practice and the Federal and State Audit Group. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Kathy worked at Price Waterhouse. Kathleen M. Lahey graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting with a minor in Information Systems. She earned her MBA from Columbia University, is a New York State Certified Public Accountant and has her NASD Series 7 and 63 certification as well as insurance licenses in 10 states. Ms Lahey is a member of the Trust & Estate Committee which reports to the Board of Trustees at Rockefeller University, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. She serves on the IRS Policies & Practices Committee of the NYSSCPA and was recently elected President of the LPGA Amateur Golf Association NYC Chapter.

Mr. Furlong is a Senior Stakeholder Liaison in the Stakeholder Liaison Field office of the Internal Revenue Service Communications & Liaison Division. Stakeholder Liaison serves as the primary IRS liaison office to tax practitioner organizations throughout the country. Mr. Furlong coordinates the annual IRS Eastern Pennsylvania “Working Together” Conference. “Working Together” is a joint effort of public and private tax professionals to enhance the level of communication, education, and trust between these organizations and individuals. Mr. Furlong is also a member of the PA IRS/Practitioner Liaison Council which provides a structured forum for Pennsylvania accounting and tax professional organizations to meet periodically with IRS managers and employees to discuss current IRS program issues. Each year, Mr. Furlong represents IRS at practitioner face-to-face seminars and online webinars where he discusses IRS policies and procedures, tax law updates, and emerging areas of tax administration. In 2018 he served on a detail assignment to the IRS C& L Technical Communications Branch where he assisted with the development and implementation of the IRS communications and outreach strategy for various provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Mr. Furlong is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics.

Jim Wu has been with the IRS for about 10 years where he worked as a revenue agent in International Individual Compliance for 3 years before joining the practice networks as a technical specialist. He worked in the Foreign Entities Tax Practice Network for 2 years before joining the Foreign Tax Credit Practice Network where he has been for the past 5 years. Jim is a California licensed Certified Public Accountant and has a Master’s degree in Taxation.

Maria Nickolaou has been with IRS for 17 years where she worked as a Revenue Agent in Large Business & International (LB&I) for 12 years before joining their Practice Network Individual Outbound FTC group as a Technical Specialist. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and a Master’s Degree in Taxation.

CAROLYN A. SCHENCK has been employed by the Internal Revenue Service Office of Chief Counsel for 14 years. She is currently National Fraud Counsel and is also Assistant Division Counsel (International) in the Small Business/Self Employed Division. In her role as National Fraud Counsel, Carolyn works closely with the Office of Fraud Enforcement to provide advice on the program’s design, development and delivery of major activities in support of the IRS's Service-wide efforts to detect and deter fraud, as well as work with colleagues in all business operating divisions (SB/SE, TEGE, W&I, LB&I) with respect to criminal fraud referrals. In her role as Assistant Division Counsel (International), Carolyn been assigned to this for the last 12 years as counsel to the Service’s Offshore Compliance Initiatives. Carolyn is responsible for coordination and management of all international and offshore tax and Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) matters under the jurisdiction of SB/SE Division Counsel. She ensures that SB/SE attorneys consistently apply law and policy in international and offshore tax and FBAR matters, including non-docketed cases and cases docketed in the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. District Courts, the Court of Federal Claims, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals. Carolyn also provides guidance to and serves as the principal legal advisor and contact point on international and offshore tax and FBAR matters to the SB/SE Division and the Withholding and International Individual Compliance function of the LB&I Division. Her international work also involves John Doe summons actions, the Service’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure programs and Streamline Filing Compliance Procedures, working with IRS Treaty partners on cross-border issues and cases, and conducting nationwide trainings for attorneys and agents on investigative techniques, evidence, and substantive tax issues. She has litigated numerous cases in U.S. Tax Court on behalf of the IRS. She also works with IRS special enforcement agents on cases involving fraud, foreign accounts, and foreign reporting penalties; she also assists the Department of Justice in cases involving criminal tax prosecutions, injunctions, summons enforcement, and abusive tax return preparers and promoters. She has been an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University School of Law for Honors Appellate Advocacy. Prior to joining the IRS, she was an Attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Enforcement. She also worked for Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit and Chief Judge H. Robert Mayer of the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals. Before her law career, Carolyn worked for U.S. Senator John McCain and as a weapons analyst. She is a member of the California and Maryland state bars and holds a J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law, and a B.S. summa cum laude from Northern Arizona University.

As the Director of the Office of Fraud Enforcement, Damon Rowe provides IRS service wide leadership and guidance related to the development and delivery of major activities in support of IRS’ efforts to detect and deter fraud. This encompasses focusing on unscrupulous activities of taxpayers and professional enablers that undermine our Federal Tax Laws and addressing emerging threats as it relates to fraudulent filings and related activities. In this position, he also acts as the principal advisor and consultant to IRS Division Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners on all issues involving fraud enforcement strategic plans, programs and policy. Mr. Rowe began his IRS career in 1998 in Criminal Investigation (CI) as a Special Agent in Los Angeles, CA. Since then he has held positions with increasing responsibility including serving as a Senior Analyst in the Narcotics and Counterterrorism section and a Supervisory Special Agent in the Dallas Field Office (2007 – 2011). In late 2011, Mr. Rowe was promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the New Orleans Field Office. In January 2014, he was promoted to Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office and subsequently returned to Los Angeles as the Special Agent in Charge in April 2017. In January 2019, Mr. Rowe served as the Executive Director of International Operations for IRS CI headquartered in Washington, DC. In this role, he was responsible for international law enforcement cooperation between foreign governments and CI field offices as it related to investigating potential criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code and related financial crimes. Mr. Rowe has a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Houston, J.D. from Texas Southern University, and a Masters of Legal Letters in Taxation from Southern Methodist University School of Law. He is a member of the Texas Bar.