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The Newly Nominated Commissioner

Posted on Feb. 20, 2018

The press reports that President Trump would nominate Chuck Rettig as the new IRS Commissioner were followed with a formal announcement. Assuming he is confirmed, Mr. Rettig will serve as the first tax lawyer in this position in the new millennium. I applaud the return to having someone run the IRS who has a deep understanding of tax law but perhaps this shows my age rather than my management acumen. In addition to applauding the return to the position of commissioner someone who has a career in tax law, I also applaud the selection of Mr. Rettig who will perform ably in this position based on his experience and demeanor.

For those interested in tax procedure and tax controversy, it is especially notable that the President has nominated Mr. Rettig. Even in the bygone era of tax lawyers as commissioners, it was not necessarily the norm to appoint a tax lawyer who specialized in controversy rather than tax planning. This is an important opportunity for the shaping of tax administration by someone very familiar with tax procedure and the issues created when taxpayers have a problem with the IRS. One earlier commissioner with a litigation background (having taken Flora v. United States to the Supreme Court twice) who served with distinction and stood up to President Nixon when he sought to use the IRS to torment his “enemies” was Randolph Thrower. It is a proud tradition to uphold.

Since the appointment of Charles Rossotti in 1999, Presidents have appointed a series of individuals with management experience but not tax experience. Mark Everson became commissioner in 2003 with a fair amount of government management experience, Douglas Shulman in 2008 with public and private management experience, and John Koskinen in 2013 with significant public and private management experience. Each of the “management” commissioners over the past two decades had the type of experience necessary to run a large organization, but a steep learning curve on the culture of the IRS and the tax laws it administers. With the exception of Commissioner Everson, I met each of the others briefly and formed favorable impressions. Commissioner Koskinen seemed terrific but could not shake the real or apparent hatred of several vocal members of Congress.

From the time I started working at the IRS and for several decades before, the traditional appointee to the position of Commissioner was a tax lawyer. Usually someone from a big firm and someone with decades of tax experience. Even a lawyer at a big firm, however, has no experience managing a large organization like the IRS with many components. As the information technology component of the administration of the IRS became more and more important, the desire for a tax lawyer became less and less. So, for the past two decades we have had a commissioner who was a management specialist rather than a tax specialist who might surround themselves with others with strong management experience. It’s past time to try a tax lawyer again.

So, who are getting? I had the pleasure to serve with Mr. Rettig on the ABA Tax Section governing council first as co-fellows at large and then with Mr. Rettig elevated to the executive leadership of the section in charge of the finances. He took on the leadership position at a time of challenging finances for the section and he immediately took on the hard task of finding places to cut the budget and seeking new sources of revenue. He has done an excellent job in this position. He has management experience as the managing partner of his firm. He has quite a resume of service to the profession and to the government on advisory boards. He has also been one of the creative forces and leaders behind a very successful ABA conference on offshore issues.

Much of Mr. Rettig’s practice in the past several years has centered on representing individuals with assets offshore who needed to reach an agreement with the IRS. In this type of practice he must learn criminal tax law, civil tax procedure, tax litigation, and a lot of client management. My friend John McDougal who spearheaded the IRS efforts in offshore identification and compliance prior to his retirement has nothing but good things to say about Mr. Rettig as a practitioner having worked with him closely on a number of matters. Praise from John is not easy to come by. I have heard praise for Mr. Rettig from those who work closely with him on many occasions.

Mr. Rettig has a great personality and the kind of personality that will allow him to build the kind of rapport with Congress that the IRS desperately needs in order to get back to proper funding levels. I do not mean to suggest that I think he can charm his way to greater budgets, but I think he will figure out how to work with the appropriate people to make it possible to make a winning pitch for the type of support and the amount of funding that the IRS needs to properly do its job.

The non-tax background commissioners of the past two decades have been smart people with lots of relevant experience in running an organization but it will be refreshing to have a leader of the IRS who knows the tax system from the trenches. He is someone who can quickly size up the proposals being made to him from the compliance and taxpayer assistance functions. Having worked with many clients seeking to hide their money offshore and seeking to fix a problem of having an offshore account created by someone else, he will be able to size up the types of strategies that will allow the IRS to put resources into the proper place to promote compliance based not just on reports from various IRS functions but from decades of working with taxpayers seeking to comply (or not) with the tax laws.

The President has made a great choice. I hope Congress will quickly confirm the choice so that the IRS does not go too long without leadership.

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