IRS Tax Forums

[Gary2]

Are the IRS Tax Forums, held at various times throughout the country, worthwhile? What do you expect to get out of them? I'm going to be making the trip anyway, so for me, it's just a question of registration and extra hotel nights.

I found an old thread on the subject that seemed more concerned with the hotel than the forums.

Many thanks

[PIGLEE]

I think they are great. You get to chose what sessions you want to go to, they even have speakers from NATP, NAEA and several others. Some sessions are great, others no so. But by talking to others you find out which ones are worth wile. Getting to talk to other preparers I think is one of the best features.

[bgiez]

I've been to 5 IRS Tax Forums in the past 8 years; 3 times to Vegas (my son lived there, which is the only reason I went to Vegas), once to Chicago, and last year to San Diego (where my son lives now). You can get at least 18 CPEs including 2 of ethics. There is also the vendor hall where there are reps from varous IRS and other governmental agencies, software vendors, etc.

I have found the forums useful and have taken the 990 sessions several times. Based on last year's experience, I would say that the IRS speakers have greatly improved and the speakers from the professional organizations, such as NAEA & NATP are always good. Sometimes a 50 minute session is not long enough to do the subject justice.

It is really important to look at the schedule of sessions ahead of time and prepare a plan for which sessions you want to make sure you get in to.

Unfortunately this year I'll be getting my CPEs locally or self-study.