March Trusted Professional: Conference Coverage, the Taxpayer Advocate & More

Have you seen the latest issue of The Trusted Professional? Stay on top of Society news and the key legislative, regulatory and administrative issues that affect you.

New Governor Andrew M. Cuomo Presents First State Budget Proposal
By Chris Gaetano

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s first proposed budget for New York state is a $132.9 billion spending plan focused on reducing a $10 billion gap by cutting spending in areas such as Medicaid and state aid to schools and municipalities. Continue ...

First Family Office Conference a Sold-Out Success
By Gabe Kahn

A sold-out crowd attending in person at the FAE’s first-ever Family Office Conference on Feb. 3 illustrated just how important this area of CPA practice is for the profession. Continue ...

NYSSCPA to Cuomo: Make the Office of the New York State Taxpayer Rights Advocate Permanent
By Allison Schiff

The Office of the New York State Taxpayer Rights Advocate (OTRA) -- which helps individuals and businesses handle case-specific tax problems and identifies systemic issues in the state tax department -- is just 15 months old, but in that time has resolved approximately 1,300 of the 1,921 cases presented. Continue ...

Conference Speaker: Determining New York Residency
By Chris Gaetano

Are you a New York resident? What may seem like an easy question can be, at least for tax purposes, far more complicated and nuanced that one would expect, Nassau Chapter Executive Board member Karen J. Tenenbaum told attendees of the FAE's Tri-State Taxation Conference on Jan. 19 Continue ...

State Board Votes to Expand Ethics CPE Options for N.Y. CPAs
By Melissa R. Hoffmann

Due to changes to the state's ethics program guidelines for continuing professional education (CPE) approved by the New York Board for Public Accountancy at its January meeting, the mandatory four hours in professional ethics  that New York state CPAs are required to take triennially no longer must include a foundational ethics course before they complete any ethics course focused on a particular subject area. Continue ...

Taxpayer Advocate Continues Appeal for Tax Reform
By Gabe Kahn and Chris Gaetano

In a hearing on tax reform before the House Ways and Means Committee on Jan. 20, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson said the complexity of the Internal Revenue Code, which has nearly tripled in size since 1975, is creating a "huge" compliance burden for taxpayers. Continue ...

NYSSCPA Committee Tackles Money Laundering, and Prevention and Detection of Terrorist Financing
By Carrie Malachowski, CAMS

Despite extensive regulatory and law enforcement efforts, the world's financial system continues to be utilized to launder criminal proceeds and sponsor terrorist organizations. Continue ...

CPAs in Industry
SEC May Mandate Disclosure of the Use of Conflict Minerals
By Chris Gaetano

Public companies may soon need to disclose whether any products they manufacture or contract to be manufactured make use of conflict minerals mined from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a proposal by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC.) Continue ...

Speaker: Next Big Bubble Could be Gold, Facebook or China
By Chris Gaetano

Is this the Age of the Bubble? At the Jan. 12 Taxation of Financial Instruments and Transactions Conference, speaker Greg Zuckerman, senior writer for the Wall Street Journal, said that an economic pattern has developed in the form of bubbles that have been getting bigger and more intense over the years -- and he predicted the next one may be centered on gold, the Chinese economy or the social networking website Facebook. Continue ...

Conference Speaker Gives Hints on Untangling Complex World of Financial Product Taxation
By Chris Gaetano

Do you know a lot about derivatives? When Andrea S. Kramer asked this question at the Taxation of Financial Instruments and Transactions Conference on Jan. 12, only a few people in the audience raised their hands in response. Continue ...

Chapter News
What's been going on at the chapter level? Click here to find out!

CPA Roundtable
Why did you choose your particular career path?
Michele Mark Levine (Manhattan/Bronx Chapter), Michael F. Rosenblatt (Nassau Chapter) and Ronald J. Huefner (Buffalo Chapter) give their perspective. Click here.