On Wednesday, March 7th, I’ll be sharing my thoughts and insights on “2011 Significant SALT Developments and Predictions for 2012” in a live, two-hour Q&A session on iShade. If you’re an iShademember, you’ve likely seen the Q&A announcement in the iShade bulletin, caught it on twitter (@iShade has been tweeting about the Q&A often!) or on another social media channel.
If you’re not oniShade, you’re probably wondering what iShade is. In a nutshell, iShade is the Accounting Profession Online – a free, on-line community where accountants from across the country and around the globe can gather, collaborate, interact and continue to develop themselves both personally and professionally. Not only am I an iShade member, but my blog, The State and Local Tax “Buzz”, is one of the more than 70 accounting/finance/tax blogs on iShade. (See my December 11, 2011 post, “The State and Local Tax “Buzz” is now on iShade”). Recently I also became a member of the iShade faculty, a panel of expert practitioners and consultants within the accounting profession that are passionate about sharing their knowledge and expertise with iShade members.
Now that you know what iShade is, you’re probably wondering about this live SALT Q&A and what exactly IT is. I suppose the easiest thing for me to do is explain what I’ll be doing during this live SALT Q&A session. From 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. CST on March 7th, I’ll be logged into iShade, poised and ready to answer member’s questions on SALT issues affecting their companies and/or business clients and sharing my thoughts on some of the most significant SALT developments of 2011 and what we may see occur in 2012.
How do you participate in the Q&A? At any point during the two hour session, sign into iShade and make your way to the “Practitioner to Practitioner” group (when you join iShade you’re automatically enrolled in the “Practitioner to Practitioner” group). Once you’re in the group, look for the discussion topic “LIVE SALT Q&A Session with Sylvia Dion”. Go to the discussion, choose “REPLY TO THIS TOPIC”, write up your question and submit the reply. It’s that simple! When I come to your particular question, I’ll copy your question into my response (so that all participants can see both the question and the answer) and “reply” back with my response.
Here are a few more things to keep in mind:
- Although questions (i.e., replies to the topic) can be submitted anonymously (by checking the “post anonymously” box), it would be helpful for me as I respond to know a little about you and/or the reason for the question, e.g., “I’m a CPA practitioner who deals primarily with accounting and audit issues. I don’t deal with State business tax issues often and have a client that is thinking of expanding into new states – so I really need to understand state tax nexus.” Or, “I’m a CPA in industry who has recently been given responsibilities for sales taxes, an area I’m not familiar with, and need some guidance on where I can find some good sales tax resources.” Or “Our company is planning on doing more business on-line and I keep hearing about these ‘Amazon laws’, should we care?” Including a little about yourself would be helpful, but is, of course, optional.
- Also, if you have a question you’d like to pose, but will not be available to pose your question during the LIVE two hour session, feel free to pose your question beforehand. You can do this one of three ways: (1) You can post your advance question as a “REPLY” to the “LIVE SALT Q&A Session With Sylvia Dion” discussion I created in the “Practitioner to Practitioner” iShade Group. By posting right into the discussion in advance, you’ll insure that your question is already in the line-up of questions to be answered. (2) You can send me a message through iShade with your advance question. (3) You can post your question in a “comment” directly on this blog. If you plan to post or send a question in advance, please do so by 11:00 a.m. CST on Wednesday, March 7th. Also, if you submit an advance question, you’ll need to view the LIVE discussion topic in the “Practitioner to Practitioner” group to see the response.
- While this first SALT Q&A (there will be more) is intended to focus on 2011 Significant Developments and 2012 Predictions, all SALT business questions are welcome as no question is off limits. However, please note that in some cases, I may feel a question is either too specific (requiring more time than available to respond) or that more facts are needed to provide a response that I’m comfortable giving. If this is the case, I’ll respond to the question by simply noting this and suggest that I answer the question off-line. Please don’t feel overlooked if this is my response – just keep in mind that this means your question will receive my individual attention.
- And finally, as all you tax folks out there know, informal responses provided in a Q&A session are not intended to be and should not be construed to be legal or tax “advice”, and as such, cannot be used for avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code or under the statutes of any State Tax Agency. (You’ll see a standard Circular 230 disclaimer posted on the LIVE discussion topic.)
So, we’re into the countdown – it’s almost time for the LIVE SALT Q&A on iShade. I look forward to “seeing” you there! Get those SALT questions ready!
