2018 Tax Compliance Summit Featured Speakers

Here are some of the speakers for this year's conference:

Kathy Pitts

Kathy H. Pitts is an Executive Director with Ernst & Young LLP’s National Exempt Organization Tax Services practice. She is the Southeast region leader for this practice. Kathy provides services to tax-exempt organizations, including health systems and hospitals, colleges and universities, governments, public charities and their related subsidiaries.

She provides these organizations with tax services related to a variety of issues, including federal, state and foreign transaction tax compliance and disclosures; IRC Section 501(r) policies and compliance; unrelated business income identification and reporting; program service, community benefit and financial assistance disclosures; intermediate sanctions, private inurement and private benefit analysis; and lobbying and political activity analysis. She has represented taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service in applications for tax exemption, changes in tax exempt status, private letter and other rulings, and audit inquiries.

Kathy has over 25 years of experience in public accounting. She enjoys teaching technical and behavioral courses to both Ernst & Young LLP professionals and external audiences.

Kathy received a B.S. in accounting, cum laude, from The University of Alabama. She is a certified public accountant licensed in Alabama, Georgia, and Maryland. Kathy is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants. She has also successfully completed the Certified Management Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, and Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Certified Healthcare Financial Professional examinations. Kathy is a member of the Gulf Coast IRS Tax Exempt/Government Entities Council.

Deborah Pflieger

Debbie joined Ernst & Young in November 2005 and is a Principal in the Financial Services Organization. Debbie is EY Americas’ Tax Information Reporting and Withholding Services leader and consults with our clients in the information reporting and withholding arena, assisting them to understand and comply with their many obligations in this area. Debbie focuses on domestic reporting and withholding issues (i.e., Forms 1099 and backup withholding), nonresident alien reporting and withholding issues (i.e., Forms 1042-S and section 1441 withholding), the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) and the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”).

Debbie has many clients in the financial services industry, and also works with non-financial institution payors who face significant information reporting and withholding challenges.

Debbie received a BS in Government from Georgetown University, a JD from Georgetown University Law Center, and an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University. She served as a member of IRS’ Information Reporting and Advisory Committee from 1997 through 1999, and was chairperson of the Committee in 1998. She is also a past chair of the AICPA’s Relations with the IRS Committee. Debbie was an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center where she taught Federal Tax Practice and Procedure in the LL.M. program.

Debbie is a popular speaker amongst external groups who focus on information reporting issues.

Edward S. Koonce

Ed Koonce is the Assistant Director of the Personal Taxes Division of the North Carolina Department of Revenue.  His primary duties as Assistant Director of the Division includes administering and ensuring compliance with the individual income tax laws of this State. He also advises taxpayers, accountants, lawyers, and other tax professionals on questions regarding the application and interpretation of North Carolina tax laws.  In addition, he supervises Administration Officers in the Appeals Process.   

Ed began working with the Department of Revenue in August 1984 as an auditor in the Individual Income Tax Division.  He received his B.S. from Barton College, (formerly Atlantic Christian College.)

Janice Davidson

Davidson has been an employee of the North Carolina Department of Revenue since 2005.  She currently serves as an Assistant Director in the Tax Administration’s Sales and Use Tax Division which administers the North Carolina General Statutes for:

Sales and Use Tax
Certain Machinery and Equipment Excise Tax
White Goods Disposal Tax
Solid Waste Disposal Tax,
Dry-Cleaning Solvent Tax
Scrap Tire Disposal Tax
Alternate Highway Use Tax
911 Service Charge for Prepaid Telecommunications Service

Davidson is also the Division’s Rule-making Coordinator.  She previously served as the Agency’s Final Decision-maker, as IFTA Legal Counsel for the Jurisdiction of North Carolina, and as a hearing officer with regards to Excise Tax licensees.  Additionally, she was selected to participate in the Department’s 2009 Leadership Development Program.  Prior to working for the Department, Davidson was employed in the private practice of law for 25 years.

Davidson is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and the UNC School of Law.  She has been a licensed member of the North Carolina State Bar since 1979.  She is admitted to practice in the federal courts of the Eastern and Middle Districts of North Carolina and before the United States Supreme Court.

Terri Crowl

Terri Crowl is a Content and Compliance Specialist for Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE Nonresident Alien Taxation. In her current role, she assists clients with tax residency and treaty analyses, processing procedures, system function analysis and product and tax issue training. In addition, she is responsible for staying abreast of regulatory and tax treaty changes affecting payments to nonresident aliens, and works closely with product development staff to ensure these changes are properly implemented in various software applications. She has been part of the Thomson Reuters (formerly Windstar Technologies) staff since 2001, joining full-time in 2007. Terri previously served for over seven years as the International Tax Coordinator at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., where she oversaw all payments made by the university to non-immigrants and ensured proper tax reporting and withholding. At Mason, Terri provided tax return preparation workshops for its nonresident alien population and informational sessions for faculty and staff on making payments to foreign nationals. She also completed I-9s for international employees and served as a backup Designated School Official for the F-1 student program. Prior to moving into the higher education arena, Terri held numerous roles at World Learning, Inc., assisting in the administration of US Agency for International Development education and training grants for J-1 visitors from all over the world.

A graduate of Middlebury College, Terri has been a presenter and curriculum developer at International Tax Summits at St. Norbert College, various NAFSA conferences, American Payroll Association Congress and Educational Institute Payroll Conferences, and on-site client trainings.
 

Scott Annis

Scott Annis is a Business Solutions Architect for Thomson Reuters responsible managing relationships with ERP interface clients as well as consulting and seminar training on International Tax Navigator software. Scott has worked at Thomson Reuters (Formerly Windstar Technologies)
since 1995 holding a variety of development and support management roles. Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, Scott held a number of technical positions including Micro Computer Manager with the Flatley Corporation and Director of Management Information Systems for Dunfey Hyannis Hotel. He also developed access control, along with timekeeping and inventory control systems as a contractor for Chrysler Corporation.
 

Bridget S Bishop

Bridget Bishop provides legal counsel to the constituent institutions on U.S. immigration law matters and operates a shared services pilot program through which she provides direct representation of participating constituent institutions regarding employment-based immigration nonimmigrant and immigrant sponsorship.

Bridget joined the UNC System in 2010 after working for six years in private practice at a boutique immigration law firm.  Prior to private practice, she served as a law clerk for the Honorable Linda McGee on the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Bridget received her Juris Doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia.
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Jammie Owens

Jammie F. Owens is a Revenue Agent with Internal Revenue Service.  She has been with the IRS since 1989, in the Examination Division, conducting audits on various types of entities. Currently she is a Federal, State & Local Government Specialist (FSLG) with the Tax Exempt/Governmental Entities Division, specializing in Employment Taxes.