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National Conference of CPA Practitioners (NCCPAP) Brings
CPA and Taxpayer Viewpoints to Washington DC
Members of the National Conference of CPA Practitioners took time off from running their practices to devote three days in Washington DC on behalf of the organization, the CPA profession and their clients. The trip to Washington, a NCCPAP annual event for more than 15 years, included meetings with members from both houses of Congress, NCCPAP planning sessions and meeting with senior IRS officials.
“Our members came from many different states to attend about meetings with various elected representatives. We were pleased that they all echoed NCCPAP’s strong position about the need to repeal the AMT,” said Carol Markman, NCCPAP president. “One of our members was told that we were ‘preaching to the choir.’ Our hope is that enough representatives will act to make the repeal of the AMT a reality.”
After the conference, President Carol Markman remained in Washington to testify before the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight of the Senate Committee on Finance at a hearing titled “Blowing the Cover on the Stealth Tax: Exposing the Individual AMT” at the request of Senator Grassley. She was asked to share anecdotal information about the negative consequences that the AMT has had on individuals. The NCCPAP Tax Committee had collected redacted individual income tax returns from members where the taxpayer was required to pay AMT. While the returns do not constitute a statistically valid sample of AMT tax returns, they demonstrate the negative impact that this tax is having on Americans.
One example concerned a single, retired woman with no dependents. Her 2003 adjusted gross income of $76,014 consisted of mostly Social Security, interest, dividends and net rental income. She paid $2,697 of AMT, which was almost 30 percent of her Federal Tax liability because of her relatively large real estate taxes and her income from tax-exempt private activity bonds that were generated from a municipal trust. She was quite annoyed when told that she was subject to the AMT. She could not believe that she was in the target group for this tax.
For another individual, the AMT was triggered when the taxpayers received a settlement in a fraud case brought against a stockbroker who had churned the taxpayer’s investment accounts. The taxpayers, who suffered terrible capital losses, were able to offset the settlement against capital gains for regular tax purposes. The taxpayers, who are both retired, had no taxable income for the year of the settlement. However, they were subject to $19,222 in AMT because the legal fees were not an allowable deduction for AMT purposes.
The National Conference of CPA Practitioners (NCCPAP) is an association of CPA firms in public practice committed to quality and integrity for the profession. Established in 1979, NCCPAP is the only national organization representing only CPA practitioners. Members work actively with Congress, the IRS, state legislatures and taxing authorities to develop and define tax policy and legislation. For more information, visit the website at www.63.134.211.24.
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