End of Tax Preparation Season Means Tax Seminar Season Is About To Begin

Overview

Many readers of this blog are tax preparers.  Many focus specifically on returns for clients engaged in agricultural production activities.  As tax season winds down, at least for the time being, another season is about to begin.  For me, that means that tax seminar season is just around the corner.  Whether it’s at a national conference, state conference, in-house training for CPAs or more informal meetings, I am about to begin the journey which will take me until just about Christmas of providing CPE training for CPAs and lawyers across the country. 

CPAs and lawyers are always looking for high-quality and relevant tax and legal education events.  In today’s post I highlight some upcoming events that you might want to attend. 

Calendar of Events

Shortly after tax preparers come back from a well-deserved break from the long hours and weekends of preparing returns and dealing with tax client issues, many will be ready to continue accumulating the necessary CPE credits for the year.  This is an important year for CPE tax training with many provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act taking effect for tax years beginning after 2017.

If you are looking for CPE training the is related to agricultural taxation and agricultural estate and business planning below is a run-down of the major events I will be speaking at in the coming months.  Washburn Law School is a major player in agricultural law and taxation, and more details on many of these events can be found from the homepage of WALTR, my law school website – www.washburnlaw.edu/waltr.

May 9 – CoBank, Wichita KS

May 10 – Kansas Society of CPAs, Salina, KS

May 14 - Lorman, Co. Webinar

May 16 – Quincy Estate Planning Council, Quincy, IL

May 18 – Iowa Bar, Spring Tax Institute, Des Moines, IA

May 22 – In-House CPA Firm CPE training, Indianapolis, IN

June 7-8 – Summer Tax/Estate & Business Planning Conference, Shippensburg, PA

June 14-15 – In-House CPA Firm CPE training, Cedar Rapids, IA

June 22 - Washburn University School of Law CLE Event, Topeka, KS

June 26 - Washburn University School of Law/Southwest KS Bar Assoc, Dodge City, KS

June 27 – Kansas Society of CPAs, Topeka, KS

July 10 – Univ. of Missouri Summer Tax School, Columbia, MO

July 16-17 – AICPA Farm Tax Conference, Las Vegas, NV

July 19 – Western Kansas Estate Planning Council, Hays, KS

July 26 – Mississippi Farm Bureau Commodity Conference, Natchez, MS

August 14 – In-House training, Kansas Farm Bureau, Manhattan, KS

August 15 - Washburn University School of Law/KSU Ag Law Symposium, Manhattan, Kansas

August 16-17 – Kansas St. Univ. Dept. of Ag Econ. Risk and Profit Conference, Manhattan, KS

September 17-18 – North Dakota Society of CPAs, Grand Forks, ND

September 19 – North Dakota Society of CPAs, Bismarck, ND

September 21 – University of Illinois, Moline, IL

September 24 – University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL

September 26-27 – Montana Society of CPAs, Great Falls, MT

October 3 – CoBank, Wichita, KS

October 11-12 – Notre Dame Estate Planning Institute, South Bend, IN

The events listed above are the major events geared for practitioners as of this moment.  I am continuing to add others, so keep watching WALTR for an event near you.  Of course, I am doing numerous other events geared for other audiences that can also be found on WALTR’s homepage.  Once I get into mid-late October, then the annual run of tax schools begins with venues set for Kansas, North Dakota, Iowa and South Dakota. Added in there will also be the Iowa Bar Tax School in early December.

Special Attention – Summer Seminar

I would encourage you to pay particular attention to the upcoming summer seminar in Shippensburg, PA.  This two-day conference is sponsored by Washburn University School of Law and is co-sponsored by the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs and the Kansas State University Department of Agricultural Economics.  I will be joined for those two days by Paul Neiffer, Principal with CliftonLarsonAllen, LLP.  On-site seating for that event is limited to 100 and the seminar is filling up fast.  After those seats are taken, the only way to attend will be via the simultaneous webcast.  More information concerning the topics we will cover and how to register can be found at:  http://washburnlaw.edu/employers/cle/farmandranchincometax.html.  We will be spending the first four hours on the first day of that conference on the new tax legislation, with particular emphasis on how it impacts agricultural clients.  We will also take a look at the determination of whether a C corporation is now a favored entity in light of the new, lower 21 percent rate.  On Day 2 of the conference, we will take a detailed look at various estate and business planning topics for farm and ranch operators.  The rules that apply to farmers and ranchers are often uniquely different from non-farmers, and those different rules mean that different planning approaches must often be utilized. 

Conclusion

If your state association has interest in ag-tax CPE topics please feel free to have them contact me.  I have some open dates remaining for 2018, and am already booking into 2019 and beyond.  The same goes for your firm’s in-house CPE needs.  In any event, I hope to see you down the road in the coming months at an event.  Push through the next few days and take that well-deserved break.  When you get back at it, get signed up for one of the events listed above.