KPMG'S Tax Governance Institute Webcast To Focus On Tax Reform For Partnerships And S Corporations

NEW YORK, April 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- KPMG's Tax Governance Institute (TGI) will continue its focus on business tax reform with a webcast on Wednesday, April 3, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. (ET), that will examine parts of a new proposal from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) that calls for simplifying tax rules for small businesses, mostly addressing "pass-through" entities.

The live video webcast, titled "Comprehensive Tax Reform: Discussion Draft for S Corporations and Partnerships," will specifically look at the two separate options in the draft, both of which propose significant changes to the rules affecting these pass-through entities.  One option makes specific revisions to the current rules; the second replaces current tax rules with a new unified pass-through regime. The proposal is part of the House Ways and Means Committee's broader efforts on comprehensive tax reform.

Board and audit committee members, CFOs, tax directors and other business professionals interested in attending the program can register at: www.taxgovernanceinstitute.com.  

KPMG tax principal James Sowell, a member of the Passthroughs group of the firm's Washington National Tax practice, will moderate a distinguished panel including:

• Joseph Mikrut, partner, Capitol Tax Partners, and former tax legislative counsel for the U.S. Treasury Department.
• Harold Hancock, tax counsel, Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Carol Kulish Harvey, director, Washington National Tax, KPMG LLP.

"The proposal would substantially change the federal tax treatment of partnerships and S corporations," said Sowell, a former associate tax legislative counsel and attorney advisor at the U.S. Treasury's Office of Tax Legislative Counsel.

During the 90-minute TGI webcast, panelists will discuss reforms in the draft that would:

• under one option, make targeted changes to tax rules applicable to partnerships and S corporations;
• under a second option, create a unified regime for all passthroughs that would radically change the current treatment of partnerships and S corporations;
• under the proposed unified regime:
  • alter the ability of partnerships to specifically allocate income items, impose gain recognition on all distributions, and institute a new withholding regime applicable to all domestic pass-through owners;
  • and liberalize the eligibility requirements and flexibility of  "pass-through corporations" beyond what historically has been available for S corporations, while dramatically reducing the simplicity of the rules applicable to such entities.

Part of the KPMG Institute Network (www.kpmginstitutes.com), the Tax Governance Institute (www.taxgovernanceinstitute.com) provides opportunities for board members, corporate management, stakeholders, government representatives and others to share knowledge regarding the identification, oversight, management, and appropriate disclosure of tax risk.

About KPMG LLP

KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm (www.us.kpmg.com), is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International").  KPMG International's member firms have 152,000 professionals, including more than 8,600 partners, in 156 countries.

SOURCE KPMG LLP