The Washington national tax services (WNTS) office of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is nationally recognized for its in-depth technical knowledge and experience in taxation. Lindy Paull, former chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, is co-managing partner of this 350+ person organization with Jonathan Davies. This group also includes Mark McConaghy and Bob Shapiro—also former chiefs of staff of the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation—and Bill Archer, former chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means.
WNTS features a multi-disciplined staff, including accountants, attorneys, and economists. Our professionals come from a variety of backgrounds, including former government officials (e.g., from the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Congressional tax staffs), corporate tax directors, tax professionals from law firms, and tax advisors from the firm's practice offices.
The Washington national tax services (WNTS) exempt organizations services team serves a wide range of tax-exempt organizations—including colleges and universities, health care entities, private foundations, community foundations, supporting organizations, social welfare organizations, trade and professional associations, membership organizations, pension funds, museums and other cultural entities, religious organizations, donor-advised funds, and nonprofits based outside the US—as well as corporate and individual donors to charities.
Headquartered in Washington, DC with professionals across the country, members of the group help clients:
Obtain and preserve tax-exempt status
Structure revenue-producing activities that seek to reduce tax liabilities
Comply with income, excise, and employment tax requirements
Identify planning opportunities resulting from legislation, regulations, and rulings
Implement customized tax-planning solutions
Team members possess broad knowledge of the laws applicable to tax-exempt organizations and the legislative intent underlying these rules. The group includes individuals with many years' experience at the IRS, Treasury, and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, and on the boards of nonprofit organizations. They help clients address issues that currently are the focus of IRS and Congressional attention, as well as concerns likely to receive scrutiny in the future.
The Washington national tax services (WNTS) federal tax services group contains specialists on a variety of federal tax issues, with a strong concentration in the areas of accounting methods and inventories.
Members of the group have extensive experience in the areas of accounting method and period changes, income deferral opportunities, deduction acceleration opportunities, installment sales, like-kind exchanges, LIFO inventory implementations and enhancements, application of the uniform capitalization rules, accounting for intangibles, capitalization vs. expense issues, depreciation, accounting for environmental costs, long-term contract accounting, cost recovery issues, meals and entertainment expenses, and other miscellaneous tax issues.
In addition, the group specializes in the timing of income and deductions in connection with lawsuit damages, environmental remediation costs and recoveries, insurance reimbursements and recoveries, and net operating losses, as well as:
Accounting method studies to provide increased cash flow for taxpayers by reducing their federal tax liability
Issues related to the capitalization of intangibles in light of the recently released capitalization of intangibles regulations under Section 263(a)
Issues related to depreciation including bonus depreciation and accounting method changes to accelerate depreciation expense
Issues related to the deferral of advanced payments received in light of Rev. Proc. 2004-34
Recent final LIFO/IPIC regulations provide significant inventory planning opportunities
Major changes are underway at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). For the IRS, the focus is on speed and efficiency as the organization works to fulfill its commitment to improve audit coverage, increase collections, increase transparency, and end abusive transactions. For companies, it's no longer business as usual. It is more important now, than ever, for companies to understand and comply with new IRS initiatives.
Corporate tax executives and their advisors must form new and dynamic relationships with the IRS to successfully resolve domestic and international tax disputes in the least amount of time and at the least possible cost.
PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) IRS service team can help you successfully navigate the process. The team is a national network of tax professionals bringing years of experience in all major IRS functions and includes former executives and managers from examinations, appeals, internationals, and IRS Chief Counsel functions.
Given the new and evolving IRS initiatives, PwC's IRS service team brings valued firsthand knowledge of the IRS—including the organization, people, process, and current initiatives—to help clients work through the vast IRS network and provide unique experience in negotiations, issue resolutions, and strategic forward planning.
With our deep experience in dealing with the IRS, we provide clients with a range of proactive and reactive services to manage their experience with the IRS effectively.
PwC's range of services include:
Examinations and appeals
International controversy resolution
Excise tax, technical consulting
Information reporting and withholding
Employment tax consulting
9100 relief
IRS practice and procedure
Tax shelter disclosure rules
Pre-filing and closing agreements
The IRS service team is dedicated to working with clients to focus the audit planning process, limit audit scope, shorten exam cycles, and accelerate issue resolution.
The Washington national tax services (WNTS) legislative and regulatory services practice offers policy and strategic planning services in a broad array of tax, trade, and health care legislative issues.
Led by Bill Archer, former Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, and Lindy Paull, Bob Shapiro, and Mark McConaghy, former Chiefs of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Legislative and Regulatory Services group draws on the deep technical knowledge within WNTS to offer a fully integrated team approach to complex legislative and regulatory issues.
We assist our clients—including corporations, associations, exempt organizations and business coalitions—in developing and implementing strategies to address proposed changes to legislation, regulations, and rulings. We represent clients in dialogues with the White House, Congress, Treasury Department, Customs Service, Internal Revenue Service, and the Office of Management and Budget, among other Administration agencies and entities.
A key part of our team is our National economic consulting group, which provides a broad range of economic research, survey, statistical, and data analysis services including revenue and budget estimating.
The Washington tax service (WTS) is a retainer-based program designed to keep corporate executives "ahead of the curve" on significant federal legislative, regulatory, and administrative developments affecting their companies and provides planning ideas to address complex business problems.
WTS clients are served by an industry-focused client service team. Through a combination of conference calls, meetings, and written materials, the team provides individually tailored service to its clients. The WTS team draws upon the experience of appropriate technical and industry specialists to address the client's tax issues and interests. The large and diversified WTS client base has more than 150 companies, including many of the Fortune 100. Clients represent every major industry segment, including both US multinational corporations and foreign-based companies.
Clients tell us that WTS adds real value through the development of long-term relationships resulting in a deep knowledge of their business objectives, ready access to tax professionals in a wide variety of matters, and the analytical capabilities of a national group active in all aspects of tax law and development and administration in Washington, DC.
