Tax Policy – International Tax Update

Leslie Robinson teaches financial accounting in the MBA and Business Bridge programs. Before joining the Tuck faculty in 2006, Leslie was an adjunct lecturer at the Kenan-Flagler Business School of the University of North Carolina where she earned her Ph.D. in Accounting. She is among Poets and Quants 40 best business school professors under the age of 40. Her research interests include the interaction of tax and accounting policy, and her expertise centers on the tax and accounting issues associated with multinational operations. Leslie has published her work in leading academic journals including The Accounting Review, the Journal of Accounting and Economics, and the Journal of Accounting Research. Leslie receives grants by national and international policy organizations to fund ongoing research, which she is invited to present at conferences and business schools in the U.S. and abroad each year. Before entering academia, she practiced as a CPA in the tax practice of Ernst & Young LLP and as a manager of tax planning for Wachovia Corporation from 1999 through 2002. The American Institute of CPAs named Leslie to the Candidate High Distinction Report in 1999 for being among the 100 highest scoring candidates nationally who took and passed all four sections of the CPA exam.

Bob advises the US companies on a full range of international tax issues and collaborates with Deloitte’s global member firms on international tax developments and initiatives, including those from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Bob joined Deloitte Tax from the US Department of the Treasury (Treasury), where he was the deputy assistant secretary for international tax affairs in the Office of Tax Policy. While there, he worked directly with the assistant secretary of tax policy and the international tax counsel in developing and implementing all aspects of US international tax policy, including treaties, regulations, and legislative proposals. He also was the official representative of the Obama administration for international tax policy and represented the US government at the OECD where he was involved in all aspects of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting initiative. Prior to joining Treasury, Bob had more than 25 years of experience in international tax matters, representing both corporations and individuals. Bob is a member of the executive committee of the US Branch of the International Fiscal Association (IFA) and a frequent speaker at IFA events worldwide. He a member of the advisory committee for the Annual Institute on Current Issues in International Tax at The George Washington University School of Law. He is a frequent speaker at events sponsored by such organizations as the Tax Executives Institute, the International Bar Association, American Bar Association Tax Section, and Irish Tax Institute. He presented the Twenty-Second Tillinghast Lecture on International Taxation at the New York University School of Law. Bob earned his Bachelor of Arts in English education from State University of New York at Albany and his Master of Arts in French language and literature from New York University. He went on to obtain his Master of Science in foreign service from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Law Journal. After graduating, he clerked for Judge Thomas A. Flannery of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and Justice Potter Stewart (Ret.) of the United States Supreme Court.

Chris serves multinational companies in a variety of industries specializing in mergers and acquisitions, foreign tax credit issues, financing transactions, and the utilization of partnerships in cross-border transactions. He also regularly advises clients on issues involving foreign currency, loss surrender and utilization, and the design and implementation of principal company structures. Prior to Deloitte, Chris was the assistant to the branch chief, Branch 4, in the Office of the Associate Chief Counsel (International) for the Internal Revenue Service. He also worked in the Office of the Associate Chief Counsel (Pass-throughs and Special Industries). Chris is a frequent speaker at national conferences, including those sponsored by Practising Law Institute, Tax Executives Institute, and University of Chicago School of Law. He is the author of numerous articles on tax planning for US based multinational corporations and the co-author of the Bloomberg/BNA Tax Management Portfolio Outbound Tax Planning for US-Based Multinational Corporations, No. 6380. Chris received a BA in religious studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a JD from North Carolina Central University School of Law, and an LLM in taxation from University of Florida Levin College of Law.