Taxing eloquent – Grapevine – Larry R. Langdon, commissioner of the IRS’s Large and Mid-Size Business, has worked to target abuse tax shelters, managed overhaul to make agency industry-based – Brief Article
Roy Harris
“I’ve had one of the most interesting jobs in Washington,” says outgoing Internal Revenue Service official Larry R. Langdon. And Langdon, commissioner of the IRS’s Large and Mid-Size Business (LMSB) Division, can support that claim.
Since emerging from retirement four years ago, the former Hewlett-Packard Co. vice president has worked tirelessly with former IRS commissioner Charles Rossotti to target abusive tax shelters and help the agency adjust to the global economy, and has managed an overhaul to make IRS units industry-based, rather than region-based.
The changes came just in time. The 9/11 terrorist attacks created enormous tax challenges, especially among airlines. “Within days of threatened bankruptcies, we got calls about refunding both the income and excise taxes that had been overpaid,” Langdon recalls. Under the new organization, “we could expedite those claims.”
Meanwhile, corporate accounting scandals cast a glaring spotlight on the IRS’s continuing tax-shelter offensive, and LMSB had success in speeding up the auditing process through its “limited issue focus examination.”
Langdon’s strategy for LMSB is likely to continue under Rossotti’s replacement, Mark Everson, and Langdon’s acting successor at LMSB, Deborah Nolan, who has been Langdon’s deputy.
Lawmakers have praised Langdon, who turns 65 this year. Crediting Langdon’s “common sense,” Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) of the Senate Finance Committee says, “Larry helped implement the most sweeping changes at the IRS in 50 years–something I hope his successor will build upon.”
COPYRIGHT 2003 CFO Publishing Corp.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
