During a dozen years at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), he held a variety of positions both in the agency’s Washington, DC headquarters and in its Chicago, IL district office. While in the Service’s artificial intelligence labs, he led two nationwide electronic filing pilot programs, which required an understanding of and coordination between multiple functional areas. He also served in a professional staff position on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, where he helped Senator Grassley provide IRS oversight on issues ranging from private debt collection to relocation expenses.

His experience with the National Association of Enrolled Agents and H&R Block provides him a deep tax professional perspective. He served as NAEA’s chief advocate for more than a decade, acted as primary spokesman to both tax and general media, founded its political action committee, and subsequently served as head of office.

Bob is an enrolled agent who brings to the table significant public sector, trade association, and private sector experience in tax administration, tax policy, and public policy.

Services

Kerr Consulting takes on a handful of clients and provides deeply personalized services that generally fall into one of the following three categories:

• Consulting
• Education / Speaking
• Tax Planning, Preparation, & Controversy

Consulting

After decades in the world of tax administration, Bob is hanging out a shingle because he believes tax administration should work better for everyone and because he is uniquely placed to help clients understand and meet their potentials and to construct compelling narratives for policy-makers and decision-makers in Washington, DC.

He believes a well-functioning, effective, efficient federal tax administration system is in every American’s best interest. He also believes a tax administrator, IRS in this case, does not function in isolation, but as part of a larger ecosystem, the health of which is important to all participants.

All too often a tax administrator believes associations and/or private sector participants are the enemy, and all too often associations and private sector participants return the animus. In the resulting stalemate, no one wins. It doesn’t have to be this way. Reach out if you’d like to discuss further.

Tax Instructor / Speaker

Bob is an accomplished speaker and instructor, with experience speaking before crowds both small and large, and is available for keynote addresses as well as continuing education for tax professionals.

He is able to lead courses on a wide range of topics, including federal tax law changes; how tax law is made; the Taxpayer Bill of Rights; and Circular 230 and professional ethics. His breadth and depth of experience in tax administration and tax practice make him a lively moderator of (or participant in) panel discussions.

Or, should you be looking for someone to provide keynote or other remarks on tax administration, tax practice, the perils of retroactive tax law changes, return preparer oversight, practice management—or any other at least somewhat tax-related topic — just ask.

Tax Planning, Preparation, & Controversy

(coming soon)

Bob is an enrolled agent, and is licensed to practice before the Internal Revenue Service. He understands getting your taxes right is, or can be, a real challenge, and one best managed well before April 15th (or any other filing deadline).

He also is fully aware of that feeling when you receive a letter from IRS. No one wants a letter from IRS. Nearly everyone opens such a letter with trepidation—if he or she opens the letter at all (pro tip, gratis: ignoring IRS notices is rarely a successful long-term strategy).

He would like to help clients who want to manage their individual taxes thoughtfully and strategically as well as those who have lost their way (for instance, those who have neglected their filing requirements). Contact Kerr Consulting if you would like to discuss your particular needs.