IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig Will Deliver Keynote Address at Second Annual UCI-A. Lavar Taylor Tax Symposium
Irvine, Calif., (Dec. 2, 2019) – The University of California, Irvine School of Law (UCI Law) is delighted to announce that the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Charles P. Rettig, will be the keynote speaker at the Second Annual UCI-A. Lavar Taylor Tax Symposium at noon on February 24, 2020 on tax and artificial Intelligence. The Commissioner will discuss IRS initiatives in this area.
“We are honored to welcome Mr. Rettig to UCI Law's campus,” said Omri Marian, Professor of Law and Academic Director of UCI Law’s Graduate Tax Program. “We cannot think of a better person to discuss the future of the tax profession.”
Rettig is the 49th Commissioner of the IRS. For more than 36 years previously, he was with the law firm Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher & Perez, P.C. and represented thousands of individuals, businesses and corporate taxpayers before the IRS, the Department of Justice Tax Division, federal and state courts and state taxing authorities.
The two-day conference titled, “Machine Intelligence and the Changing Nature of Tax Practice,” will address how artificial intelligence and related technologies impact tax enforcement and administration, tax planning and risk management, and how such technologies can be harnessed to assist taxpayers. The program will feature leading tax practitioners, industry entrepreneurs, researchers, and government officials. One of the featured panel discussions, moderated by the Wall Street Journal's Tax Policy Reporter Richard Rubin, will include the top administrators leading the AI efforts at the IRS, the Canada Revenue Agency, and the Brazilian Federal Revenue Agency. The tentative program is available online.
The symposium is hosted by the UCI Law Graduate Tax Program and sponsored by the Law Offices of A. Lavar Taylor. It will be held at the UCI University Club on Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 24-25, 2020.
Additionally, this event is approved for 12 hours of Continuing Legal Education Credit by the State Bar of California. UCI Law is a State Bar-approved MCLE provider.
The cost to attend the symposium is $185. Full-time federal, state, and local government employees may attend at no cost--please send an e-mail to gradtax@law.uci.edu, with “Gov't Tax Event Registration” in the subject line, for details on how to register.
Media interested in obtaining press passes, can send an e-mail to gradtax@law.uci.edu, with "Tax Event Press Pass" as the subject.
More about UCI Law Graduate Tax Program
The UCI Law Graduate Tax Program is the the No. 1 graduate tax program on the west coast and is ranked No. 5 nationwide, according to U.S. News & World Report, among law schools with a graduate tax program. UCI Law offers a one-of-a-kind, practice-oriented Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree program led by renowned tax scholars Omri Marian, Joshua Blank and Victor Fleischer. True to the spirit of UCI Law’s cutting-edge approach to legal education, the Graduate Tax Program offers a unique tax curriculum emphasizing practice skills and featuring small class sizes and a collegial, supportive learning environment. The program provides students with both the doctrinal depth and the experiential learning needed to practice tax law and to develop a deep understanding of the new tax law enacted in 2017. The program prepares graduate students for careers as tax attorneys, judges, tax administrators and policy advocates in the United States and abroad, and also offers the opportunity for current practitioners to dramatically expand their tax knowledge and skills.
More about Rettig
Rettig has held leadership roles in a number of professional organizations, most recently serving as Vice Chair-Administration, for the American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation, and President of the American College of Tax Counsel. He was a member of the IRS Advisory Council (IRSAC) for three years beginning in 2008, and served as IRSAC’s chair from 2010 to 2011. He also served as Chair of the Taxation Section of the State Bar of California and has served on the advisory boards of both the Franchise Tax Board and the Board of Equalization in his home state of California.
He has received numerous professional honors during his career from organizations across the country. He has been a featured speaker and panelist at hundreds of tax conferences throughout the U.S., Europe and Central America. And he has authored numerous tax-related articles.
Rettig received a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, as well as a J.D. with honors from Pepperdine University and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University. He’s also the founder of the UCLA Extension VETS COUNT Scholarship Fund and active in the Wounded Warrior Project, Advance Guard.
About the University of California, Irvine School of Law
The University of California, Irvine School of Law is a visionary law school and provides an innovative and comprehensive curriculum, prioritizes public service, and demonstrates a commitment to diversity within the legal profession. UCI Law students have completed more than 90,000 hours of pro bono work in the past decade. Forty-five percent of UCI Law’s graduates are students of color. The collaborative and interdisciplinary community at UCI Law includes extraordinary students, world-renowned faculty, engaged alumni, and enthusiastic supporters. More information on UCI Law is available here. Information about the Graduate Tax Program can be found here. Please follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ucilaw and SnapChat: ucilaw.
Media Contact:
Colleen Taricani
949-824-3063
ctaricani@law.uci.edu