IRS Executive Director Becky Chiaramida and IRS Senior Manager Tracey Showman to Speak at Bentley University 16th Annual IRS Town Meeting on October 26

Speakers Will Explore How to Resolve Systemic Problems, and the Workforce’s Effect on the IRS Strategic Plan

Becky Chiaramida, executive director of Systemic Advocacy, National Taxpayer Advocacy Headquarters, TAS Systemic Advocacy, Washington, D.C., will present "Systemic Advocacy: Identifying and Resolving Systemic Problems" at the 16th Annual IRS Town Meeting at Bentley University on Monday, October 26, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Wilder Pavilion, Adamian Academic Center. The program is sponsored by the Bentley Law, Taxation and Financial Planning Department and the Internal Revenue Service.

Chiaramida will discuss the latest initiatives of the Taxpayer Advocate Systemic Advocacy to resolve problems, including recommending administrative changes to IRS policy, procedures, and processes. The event will also feature IRS Senior Manager Tracey Showman, who will present "The Workforce of Tomorrow and the Critical Role it has in the Success of the IRS Strategic Plan."

The IRS Town Meeting will include the following four panels:

* Servicewide Approach to International Tax Administration.
-The latest initiatives the IRS is using to deal more effectively with the increased globalization of individual and business taxpayers, with special emphasis on withholding tax

*IRS Examination - Balancing Service and Enforcement:
-Resources to improve service to make voluntary compliance easier
-Enforcement action and the noncompliant taxpayer

*The Underground Economy and Employee Misclassification:
-Federal guidelines for worker classification
-Efforts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through the Joint Task Force to better coordinate agency investigative/enforcement activities to identify and stamp out fraudulent employment activities and to protect workers

*Ethics and IRS Return Preparer Penalty Programs
-Preparer misconduct that can result in serious civil and criminal penalties

For a complete program please go to: http://www.bentley.edu/fptx/news_and_announcements.cfm

Participants who complete the seminar receive 8.0 CPE credit hours or .8 CEUs (one hour qualifies as ethics requirement). For meeting agenda information, call 781.891.3198. For registration information, call 781.891.2549. A fee of $175 includes handout materials, continental breakfast, lunch and refreshments. Directions to Bentley are available at http://www.bentley.edu/directions

About Becky Chiaramida
Becky Chiaramida is the Executive Director of Systemic Advocacy in the Taxpayer Advocate Service. In this position, she has oversight responsibility for Systemic Advocacy and the National Taxpayer Advocate's Annual Report to Congress (ARC).  She works closely with the NTA in the delivery of the Annual Report, which addresses at least 20 of the most serious problems confronting taxpayers. Systemic Advocacy is also responsible for identifying and making recommendations to correct systemic problems with IRS processes and procedures, which create burdens for large groups of taxpayers. 

Before joining Systemic Advocacy, Chiaramida was the Director, North Atlantic Area Collection for the IRS. In this position, she was responsible for face-to-face collection activities for New York, the six New England states, and the United States possessions of Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. She also had responsibility for the International Collection Revenue Officer groups who address the filing and/or payment delinquencies of US citizens living abroad. She has held a variety of management positions and executive leadership posts, and began her IRS career as a Revenue Officer in Richmond, VA.

About Tracey Showman
Senior Manager Tracey Showman was selected for a one-year developmental assignment working directly with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support. Previously at the IRS, she served as the Agency-Wide Shared Services (AWSS) Director of Special Projects, with responsibility for the design and delivery of service-wide Virtual Office and Video Relay Pilot Programs, and as a  volunteer for the IRS Commissioner's Workforce of Tomorrow Taskforce as the Lead for the Valuing and Retaining Our People Team, which delivered initiatives to improve employee engagement, recognition, career development, and a sense of community. 

Showman joined the IRS in 2005 as an analyst in Real Estate and Facilities Management (REFM) with the AWSS organization. On the heels of the REFM reorganization in 2007, she was selected as a senior manager with responsibility for the start up of the new Management and Administration office. In this role, she led the delivery of human resources, training, communications, strategic planning, and performance metric services to the REFM organization. She also led or supported several special projects to include: serving as the representative for AWSS on an IRS Strategic Planning team, and Team Leader in the development of the AWSS business plan.

BENTLEY UNIVERSITY is a leader in business education. Centered on teaching and research in business and related professions, Bentley blends the breadth and technological strength of a university with the core values and student focus of a close-knit campus. Our undergraduate curriculum combines business study with a strong foundation in the arts and sciences. The McCallum Graduate School emphasizes the impact of technology on business practice, in offerings that include MBA and Master of Science programs, PhD programs in accountancy and in business, and custom executive education programs. Located minutes from Boston in Waltham, Massachusetts, the school enrolls approximately 4,000 full-time undergraduate, 250 adult part-time undergraduate, 1,400 graduate, and 30 doctoral students. Bentley is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges; AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business; and the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS), which benchmarks quality in management and business education.