THE IRS of the USA has announced the selection of seven new members for the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council (IRSAC), which provides an organized public forum for IRS officials and representatives of the public to discuss key tax administration issues.

The Council provides the IRS Commissioner with relevant feedback, observations and recommendations. It will submit its annual report to the agency at a public meeting in November 2018. The IRS generally appoints members to the IRSAC who represent the taxpaying public, the tax professional community, small and large businesses, academia and the payroll community.

The following persons have been appointed to serve three-year term on the council beginning in 2018:

1. Mr. Ben Deneka manages H&R Block's relationship with the IRS and represents H&R Block in various industry working groups, including Council for Electronic Revenue Communication Advancement.

2. Ms. Diana Erbsen is a tax partner at DLA Piper in New York, N.Y. She represents business entities, individuals and trusts and estates in complex federal, state, local, civil and criminal tax controversies. Federal matters include IRS audits, IRS appeals and tax litigation in the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. District Courts and U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

3. Mr. Antonio Gonzalez is a certified public accountant and is founder and co-owner of Sydel Corporation in Coral Gables, Fla., which is both an accounting and information technology consulting firm for multiple organizations.

4. Mr. Charles Read is a certified public accountant and the founder and CEO of Custom Payroll Associates Inc. in Lewisville, Texas, where he has been preparing business and individual tax returns since 1991.

5.Mr. Martin Rule is a certified public accountant and senior manager with Deloitte Tax LLP in Chicago. He is a subject matter expert in both tax management and payroll processing with a range of knowledge stemming from employment with academic institutions, private tax practitioner businesses and healthcare institutions.

6. Mr. Jeffrey Schneider is an enrolled agent and a vice president with SFS Tax & Accounting Services in Port St. Lucie, Fla. His company handles all areas of tax for multiple types of taxpayers including bookkeeping, payroll and other related services.

7. Ms. Patricia Thompson is a certified public accountant and tax partner with Piccerelli, Gilstein & Company, LLP in Providence, R.I. She has extensive experience in complex tax transactions, including multi-state tax returns, real estate transactions and like-kind exchanges.

The 2018 IRSAC Chairman is Dr. Dennis Ventry, Jr, professor of law at the University of California-Davis, School of Law in Davis, Calif. Dr. Ventry's areas of specialization include standards of tax practice, tax administration and compliance, tax expenditure analysis, tax policy, legal and professional ethics, whistleblower law, family taxation, and U.S. economic, legal and tax history. Mr. Ventry is a member of the American Bar Association, the Association of American Law Schools, the Law and Society Association and the National Tax Association.