The IRS has appointed nine new members to its Advisory Council.
Members represent the taxpaying public, the tax professional community, small and large businesses, tax-exempt and government entities, and information reporting interests.
Appointed to three-year terms on the council beginning this month were:
Padgett Business Services
- Amanda Aguillard, COO of Padgett Business Services, who has been involved in assisting small-business taxpayers for more than 20 years with income and other tax issues. Prior to joining Padgett Business Services, she worked as a national ambassador for online accounting software developer Xero. She co-founded and runs Elefant, a training and consulting company for accountants and bookkeepers. She is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Society of Louisiana CPAs.
- Alison Flores, a principal tax research analyst with H&R Block, is a tax attorney with more than 15 years of experience. She supplies guidance on complex tax areas to more than 70,000 tax professionals, and helps cross-functional teams understand and implement changes that affect taxpayers. Her team works to understand systemic tax administration challenges, finds opportunities to bring awareness to those challenges and proposes solutions. She leads the internal research tool for H&R Block, delivering tax research materials on an online research platform.
- Michael Kam, a CPA and tax director for Kamehameha Schools, is responsible for the tax function of a 130-year-old charitable trust with a diverse portfolio of real estate and financial investments valued at over $14 billion. He oversees tax compliance and manages tax risks throughout the organization and its tax-exempt and for-profit affiliates, develops and implements tax strategies, and assists internal clients with structuring transactions. He is a member of the AICPA, the Hawaii Society of CPAs and the Tax Executives Institute.
- Mason Klinck, an Enrolled Agent and VITA site manager at Making Opportunity Count, has 20 years of experience as a tax preparer. Formerly an agent for the IRS and a tax shelter auditor for the California Franchise Tax Board, he has worked with law and CPA firms in tax return preparation, collections, audits, appeals, innocent spouse relief and U.S. Tax Court petitions. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he implemented a virtual prep system for MOC clients. He has volunteered for low-income taxpayer clinics in California, Vermont and Massachusetts. He also serves on the Commissioner’s Advisory Council of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue and is a director of the Massachusetts Society of EAs.
- Jeffrey Porter, a CPA and member at Porter & Associates CPAs, has more than 40 years of experience preparing business and individual returns. His firm represents small-to-midsize businesses and high-net-worth individuals across a spectrum of industries. He has been active in the AICPA for more than 30 years, with prior service on the institute’s board of directors and Governing Council and as chair of its Tax Executive Committee. He served on the steering committee for the AICPA National Tax Conference for 20 years and as chair of the conference for more than 10 years. He has testified before Congress five times on tax matters, and is a member of the West Virginia Society of CPAs.
- Jon Schausten, director of payroll and HR information systems at American United Life Insurance Company, is a Certified Payroll Professional with more than 20 years of experience with union, multistate and international payrolls. He oversees payroll, time and attendance, HRIS and HR shared services. He managed payroll for expatriate associates including foreign income and tax returns and assisted the Social Security Administration in its five-year modernization project articulating the needs of payroll professionals in using online services.
- Tara Sciscoe, a partner at Ice Miller LLP, is in the law firm’s employee benefits group. She has 27 years of experience advising employers, plans and trusts with their employee benefit programs. Sciscoe has a national practice in representing public pension systems and governmental and tax-exempt colleges, universities, university systems and school corporations. She regularly advises church and church-related organizations on employee benefit matters.
- Rebecca Thompson, vice president of strategic partnerships and network building at Prosperity Now, has more than 10 years of experience as a nonprofit professional. Her work focuses on addressing systemic barriers to racial economic justice. She has oversight for the Taxpayer Opportunity Network, the national convening body and liaison with the IRS for the VITA program and stakeholders. She has worked directly with low- and moderate-income taxpayers over the last 10 years as a VITA volunteer, program manager and TON project director. She participates in the IRS Refundable Credits Summit and Refundable Credits Working Group.
- Sean Wang, a CPA and director of the information reporting policy & compliance group at Charles Schwab, Boston, advises and supports on information reporting and withholding compliance and corporate digital projects. He was previously a senior manager with Big Four firm EY. He is a member of the AICPA and the Massachusetts Society of CPAs.
The 2022 IRSAC chair is Carol Lew, a shareholder with law firm Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth PC. Lew serves as special tax counsel and borrower’s counsel for various bond issues for state and local government and nonprofits.
The IRSAC, established almost 70 years ago, is a forum for IRS officials and representatives of the public to discuss a broad range of issues in tax administration. It provides the IRS Commissioner with feedback, observations and recommendations and will submit its annual report to the agency at a public meeting in November.
