7/30/2008
The Internal Revenue Service has honored George L. Whitfield, a partner at Warner Norcross & Judd LLP, for his contributions to improve the audit process for employee benefit plans.
Whitfield received a Commissioner's Award from the Tax Exempt & Government Entities Division of the IRS for his work on a task force that streamlined and updated the process used by the IRS to examine corporate employee benefit plans. The recommendations of the task force, which started as a Great Lakes initiative, have been adopted nationally by the IRS as part of its ongoing efforts to improve customer service.
Whitfield, who concentrates his practice on employee benefits and tax law, worked with a team of practitioners and IRS professionals to review and revise the entire audit process with the goal of making it more open, more efficient and less intimidating. The task force developed two new products that are now featured on the IRS web site: an audit efficiency guide, which provides standards on how to build an efficient working relationship between a revenue agent and a plan sponsor, and a top 10 list on how to prepare for an audit. They are available online at www.irs.gov/ep.
Active professionally, Whitfield co-chairs a subcommittee on employee benefits of the Taxation Section of the American Bar Association and is the past chair of the committee as a whole. He was also the founder and two-term chair of the Committee on Employee Benefits for the Taxation Section of the State Bar of Michigan. He was recently asked to serve on an ABA task force that will prepare a white paper on health-care reform to present to Congress early next year.
Whitfield has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for more than 20 years. He is also recognized among Michigan Super Lawyers.
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About Warner Norcross & Judd
Warner Norcross & Judd LLP is one of the leading law firms in Michigan. With more than 210 attorneys in Grand Rapids, Southfield, Sterling Heights, Lansing, Holland and Muskegon, Warner Norcross is a full-service provider of legal services. Nearly half of our partners are listed in the 2008 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Warner Norcross has been recognized as a national leader in client service among law firms by BTI Consulting, as one of the nation's leading employment law firms by Workforce Management and as one of the 101 Best & Brightest Companies to Work For in both Metro Detroit and West Michigan. The Firm represents local, statewide, regional, national and international clients in all areas of business and civil law.
Mary Ann
Sabo
Sabo Public Relations
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