Related Professionals
HARRISBURG, PA, November 5, 2013 – Stevens & Lee Shareholder Thomas A. Bowen, Chair of the firm’s State and Local Tax Group, presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Council on State Taxation (COST) on October 24, 2013, in Phoenix, AZ.
Mr. Bowen co-presented “State Tax Appeal Procedures: Ins, Outs, Dos, & Don’ts/Tax Tribunals…Trend or Fad?” to a national audience of state tax professionals where he discussed the settlement and compromise process in resolving tax litigation, corporate tax departments working with outside counsel and the trend towards independent state tax tribunals and their advantages and disadvantages. Mr. Bowen contrasted the Pennsylvania tax tribunal, the Board of Finance and Revenue, before and after recent legislation that will be effective April 2014. He shared how to go about enacting an independent tax tribunal using the recent Pennsylvania legislation as his case study.
Considered to be the premier state tax organization in the U.S., COST is a nonprofit trade association consisting of over 600 multistate corporations engaged in interstate and international business.
Mr. Bowen concentrates his practice in state and local taxes, unclaimed property and economic development incentives. In the tax area, his focus is on controversies, planning and policy. A Certified Public Accountant and lawyer, Mr. Bowen spent seven years with Ernst & Young, LLP, most recently as the Mid-Atlantic Area Director of state and local income and franchise taxes. He also served as tax counsel to AMP Incorporated (now TE Connectivity), a Fortune 300 company for over 15 years.
Mr. Bowen frequently presents and writes articles on state and local tax issues for organizations, such as the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, Healthcare Financial Management Association, LeadingAge, COST and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Mr. Bowen is the Chairman of the Tax Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. He is an active member of the state taxation committee of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants, as well as the Council on State Taxation Practitioner Connection and the Tax Law section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
