Tax News - Spring 2004

School of Tax Newsletter
Spring 2004
by Mary Canning, January 2004

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I am excited to announce the addition of a new full time faculty member to the School of Tax, Jack Hodges. Effective January 1, Jack will start as both a visiting professor and assume the duties currently performed by Frank Ramaizel as Associate Dean. Frank will continue as a full time professor with his multiple directorships: Director of the Seattle teaching site, Director of the International Tax Certificate Program, and Director of the Day Tax Program....many hats to wear and just one brilliant head on which to juggle them all- Frank has performed all duties with excellence, grace, humor and dedication. We are delighted to be able to add Jack full-time to assist our hardworking team in the work towards assessment, improving the quality of our program, continuing our goals of enrollment growth, and increasing our visibility and reputation.

Already familiar with and enthusiastic about our program and students, Jack started two trimesters ago as an adjunct instructor, taking on a number of courses in addition to day tax classes. He stepped easily into the needed role of mentor and advisor to our students (both online and SF based)-the mutual affection and admiration was immediately evident. Jack has practiced tax law in California since 1979. He obtained his JD at the University of San Diego School of Law and his LLM at NYU. He has experience in the law firm (Associate Attorney, Hassard Bonnington LLP; Principal, Law Offices of Jack Wm. Hodges), corporate (V.P. & Senior Tax Counsel, Wells Fargo & Co.) and Big 6, 5, 4 (Tax Principal, Ernst & Young LLP; Tax Partner, Arthur Andersen LLP) environments. In recent years, Jack has specialized in multistate income/franchise taxation of banks and financial institutions, becoming a nationally recognized expert in the field. He has served as Vice Chair of the American Bar Association Banking & Savings Institutions Tax Committee. Jack has been a frequent speaker and has authored many tax articles.

Please join me in thanking Frank for his dedication and contribution as Associate Dean (congratulate him on being able to take one hat off!) and welcome Jack to GGU School of Tax!

This fall, the 2003-2004 full-time MS tax program began with 35 remarkable students. As they rapidly approach the end of their second session with 6 classes completed, many already have full-time employment offers and a number have tax season internship offers! We still have a number of students eligible for internships -employers interested in hiring our students for the tax season or full-time may contact the School of Tax program coordinator, Esther Tanudjaja at 415-442-7898 or email her at etanudja@ggu.edu.

This year, Ted Mitchell of Delagnes Mitchell & Linder, LLP generously volunteered his time to the day tax program for a two day partnership compliance workshop. Thank you Ted! This workshop was in addition to a two day Individual compliance workshop using CCH Prosystems.

Last year I joined the board of a wonderful organization, Tax Aid. Tax Aid provides on-the-spot pro bono tax preparation services to individuals with annual income of $35,000 or less. Local tax professionals and others volunteer their time during tax season to assist families in obtaining much needed refunds including the earned income credit refund. Approximately 100 students and staff from GGU volunteered for Tax Aid last year. Joining the other volunteers to assist the families who come to the approximately 15 different sites in the SF bay area (and surrounding counties) was one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had! I hope to encourage many of our alumni and readers to join the others in giving a weekend day during tax season to this great organization! Training sessions will be held at Golden Gate University on January 10, 17, 24 & 31. For more information, contact Sue Chan at us-tax-aid@kpmg.com.

Some of the full time students joined some of our alumni to form a tax club whose purpose would be networking and sharing of tax technical knowledge. Wanting to avoid a sense of exclusivity and therefore avoiding the word "club", the name of the organization is the Golden Gate University Association of Tax Professionals. Current tax students, alumni and guests may attend the monthly luncheons featuring tax expert discussions. January 29th kicks off the first of these luncheon events with Thomas G. Manolakas and Daniel Raiskin speaking on Flow-Through Entities: Updates. Each meeting is eligible for 1 hour of CPE or MCLE. $15 covers lunch. For more information, to be added to the mailing list and to RSVP please contact the School of Tax Administrative Assistant, Natalie Villagomez at 415-442-7880 or email villagomez@ggu.edu.

The State Administration of Taxation (SAT) and the Ministry of Finance in China have sent 12 of their employees to our MS Taxation and our LLM Tax programs. 6 more employees are expected to join our program in January. I have had the pleasure of teaching TA 329 Tax Research and Decision Making to this wonderful, fun, hard-working group! Members of the International Tax Practice group of the SF Ernst & Young firm hosted a luncheon with an information session sharing both US tax transactions abroad and a counter discussion by the group from China SAT (equivalent to the Internal Revenue Service). It was a rich discussion of International tax policies and procedures- a rare opportunity of which we are proud to be a part!

Our adjuncts instructors not only keep busy in their tax practices and teach in our classrooms, many find the time to publish articles and write treatises! David E. Hardesty, CPA with the Larkspur, CA accounting firm Wilson Markle Stuckey Hardesty & Bott has just had his most recent treatise published by Warren Gorham & Lamont entitled Practical Guide to Corporate Governance and Accounting: Implementing The Requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Sarbanes-Oxley is certainly the hot topic of the day and we are proud to have another expert on this topic (Joe Walsh being one also) in our classrooms! David teaches TA 356 Choice of Entity: LLC vs S Corporations and TA 352 Taxation of Ecommerce.

The following scholarship winners received awards of approximately $1,890 to be applied towards tuition costs:

• Diana Chan
• Andrew Goldman
• Hiromi Ochoa
• Hai Tang
• Kevin Tsao
• Amy Yuen

It is truly gratifying to report to you that the number of School of Tax alumni making gifts to GGU has increased by 175 percent since just two years ago. This growing community of donors is helping bridge the gap between our vision of the School of Taxation's future and its current reality.

My heartfelt thanks goes to all our supporters who gave gifts from July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2003. Please join me in thanking these alumni and friends for their great belief in the School of Taxation, its academic programs and our students.

Bold names have given consecutively for the past 5 years or more. Chris W. Strand, 87

Mary Canning, 81, 82
Robert K. Taylor, 82
David G. Wehlitz, 70, 73
Phillips P. Yee, 78

Robert A. Docili, 75
Phillip Y. Guan, 00
Linda G. Montgomery, 84
Raul S. Tiansay, 92
Belan K. Wagner
Joseph G. Walsh

Chad P. Bowar, 99
Douglas A. Dexter, 81
Jill Elsner, 88
Loella V. (80, 86) & Ralph W. Haskew, 94
Thomas E. Hooper, 79
Gary W. Stachlowski, 85
Ronald P. (84) & Rebecca Y. Yee, 92

John T. Arao, 89
Diane Comi
Edward A. Cusnier, 85
Frank Ferri, 81
William P. Kelleher, 85
Marshall F. Kramer, 86
William E. Thomen, 99
Gregory J. Tully, 82
Christina J. Wu, 99

Phillip Arth, 72
Edgar H. Barber, 69
Michael J. Calegari, 86
Robert A. Champlain, 81
Vicky M.L. Chan, 93, 95
Martha K.L. Chan, 88, 93
Ingrid I. Distler-Popp, 81
Raymond F. Douglas, 76
Patricia J. Dugoni, 85
Jerrold S. Gold, 84
David E. Hardesty, 79, 85
Penelope A. Johnson, 76
Michael T. King, 83
Anthony R. Kopp, 96
James M. Krause, 85
Eldon H. Mather, 75
Kee Y. Park, 95
Dennis Perez
Charles Reibel, 86
Linda J. Reph, 92
Charles Rettig
Todd W. Robinson, 92
Amy L. Sutton, 94
Lina T. Swisher, 85
Carol Y. Waln, 87, 93
Peter B. Whitehead, 84
Earl D. Yerina, 88

American Express Foundation
Arthur Andersen (final donation)
Deloitte & Touche Foundation
Ernst & Young LLP
Friedlander Cherwon Capper LLP
Johnson & Johnson
KPMG Foundation
Mervyn L. Brenner Foundation, Inc.
San Francisco Chapter Tax Executives Institute
The Seattle Foundation

Every gift, no matter the size, makes a difference to the GGU School of Taxation. Due to space constraints, the printed Honor Roll of Donors includes those supporters who gave $100 or more to the School of Taxation during the fiscal year July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2003. We sincerely apologize for any inaccuracies that may have occurred. If you find any errors or omissions, please contact Jim Kowalski, director of development, at 415-442-7816 or jkowalski@ggu.edu.

The faculty and staff in the School of Taxation wish you a safe and healthy holiday season and New Year!