State and Local Tax Conference Provides a Comprehensive Update to Tax Practitioners

For the second year in a row, The University of Akron’s George W. Daverio School of Accountancy and The Ohio Society of CPAs are offering a full day’s event designed to update lawyers, accountants, bankers, business owners and others who deal with state and local tax matters on impending and current changes in tax law. The intent is to make this conference an annual event. The conference takes place on August 1, from 8:30am – 4:15 pm, at the Doubletree Hotel–Cleveland South on Quarry Lane in Independence. Register now online or at the event.

“There are a few state tax conferences in Columbus each year, but until last year northeast Ohio did not have anything like it – a place where a professional could go for one day and receive a comprehensive update on developments and planning opportunities with respect to Ohio’s major taxes,” said Steven Dimengo, a partner at Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, whose firm is one of the sponsors of the event.

The conference will be broken into a morning and afternoon session, with a luncheon address by keynote speaker Congressman Jim Renacci, who represents Ohio’s 16th district and is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. Renacci will discuss federal developments affecting state and local taxes, including the Marketplace Fairness Act, which if enacted would allow states to force foreign vendors to collect sales tax even though they do not have a physical presence in the customer’s state.

The morning session will include three panels. Dimengo, along with attorney David Perry from KPMG and CPA Kristen Neely from PricewaterhouseCoopers, will provide an in-depth discussion about Ohio’s commercial activity tax, personal income, pass-through entity and sales/use taxes.

Another panel will feature topics such as how to stop illegal increases in property tax as well as multi-state tax planning and maximizing Ohio tax incentives. In addition, Anna Davidson from the Ohio Department of Taxation will discuss the Ohio governor’s tax initiatives, offer an overview of the state’s mid-biennium budget bill, and Ohio’s new Virtual Tax Academy.

“The afternoon sessions will include two tracks of breakout sessions,” said Bill Nolan, attorney and CPA at EY (formerly Ernst & Young). “One will focus on larger companies with operations in more than one state and the other is targeted toward small companies who need help with audits and appeals, as well as Ohio CAT and sales tax issues”.

“Larger businesses are more likely to have people in the company to deal with these issues while smaller companies often have limited people dealing with their tax concerns,” said Nolan, who is also executive director at EY, which is also sponsoring the conference.

Those interested can still register online or at the event. The conference kicks off at 8:30 on August 1 and the cost is $290. In addition, eight hours of Tax Continuing Professional Education (CPE) are available.

Dimengo said 100 percent of the proceeds will go to The University of Akron and The Ohio Society of CPAs. To find out and register for the event, go to https://store.ohiocpa.com/product/46395.