NYCPA Meet The IRS (Virtual)

Erin Collins is the “voice of the taxpayer” within the IRS and before Congress. Under her leadership, the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), an independent organization within the IRS, helps taxpayers resolve their IRS account issues, advocates on behalf of taxpayers, and works towards systemic change to mitigate taxpayer problems. She joined the Taxpayer Advocate Service in March 2020 to advocate for taxpayers, protect their rights, and work toward improving the quality of taxpayer service and tax administration. Erin has more than 35 years of experience in tax law, spanning 15 years in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel and 20 years at the accounting firm of KPMG LLP, where she retired in 2019 as the Tax Managing Director in charge of its tax controversy practice for the Western region. As a Special Trial Attorney for the IRS, she was responsible for the development and litigation of high-profile, complex tax cases. Erin was the Industry Counsel for Savings and Loans during the time of the S&L crisis. Over a six-year period, she worked very closely with the Treasury Department, the Commissioner, the Office of Chief Counsel, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Resolution Trust Corporation. In both 1995 and 1997, she received Chief Counsel’s highest award, the National Litigation Award. In 1993, she eceived the Western Region’s highest Litigation Award for her outstanding achievements. At KPMG, Erin represented thousands of individuals, partnerships, small companies, and corporate taxpayers on technical and procedural tax matters. She represented clients in federal examinations and IRS appeals on domestic and international tax issues, including transfer pricing disputes, foreign tax credits, research and experimentation credit claims, net operating loss utilization calculations, restructurings, treaty interpretations, executive compensation, and application of accounting methods. She also has represented several clients before the U.S. Tax Court. Erin was the co-author of the Practicing Law Institute’s IRS Practice and Procedure Deskbook and has spoken frequently on IRS practice, procedure, controversy, and litigation matters before many professional organizations. Before joining TAS, she represented a number of clients pro bono to help them resolve issues with the IRS. She was also a volunteer and board member of a non-profit organization, Step Up, whose mission was to help girls in under-resourced communities to fulfill their potential by empowering them to become confident, college-bound, career-focused, and ready to join the next generation of professional women.

My career has been guided by a belief that ethical practice and technical excellence go hand in hand. Having recently completed my tenure as Director of the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (2020-2025), I've had the privilege of overseeing professional standards for over 400,000 tax practitioners nationwide. This role brought together my passion for ethics and deep understanding of tax practice and allowed me to shape ethical standards and professional conduct requirements under Treasury Department Circular 230. At the IRS, I was selected to serve as Director of the IRA Tax Provision Implementation Office (2022-2025), leading a transformative initiative to implement 34 tax provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act. This role showcased the importance of clear guidance and practical implementation in major tax reform focusing on clean energy. Before joining the IRS, I was in private practice, representing clients before the IRS, Department of Justice Tax Division, and state taxing authorities. As a partner at Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher & Perez, PC, I handled hundreds of sensitive civil and criminal tax matters. This experience gave me a valuable perspective on the challenges tax practitioners face and the importance of clear ethical standards.

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.