EY lures IRS Commissioner, Deborah Nolan

Ernst & Young LLP has announced that Deborah M. Nolan joined the firm as a Partner in the Tax Controversy and Risk Management Services (TCRMS) group within the National Tax Department.

Nolan most recently served as the Commissioner of the Large and Mid-Size Business (LMSB) division at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In her new role, she will help global and domestic corporations focus on working more effectively with the IRS and regulators around the world to reduce tax risk and increase tax certainty.

“We are very fortunate to add an IRS executive of Debbie’s caliber to our National Tax practice,” said Mark Weinberger, Americas Vice Chairman of Tax Services, Ernst & Young LLP. “Her distinguished reputation, wealth of experience, technical expertise, and history of international administrative cooperation will greatly enhance our ability to support clients in the global tax arena – an area of extreme importance and increasing interest to all of our multinational clients.”

Nolan’s career with the IRS included a number of executive leadership positions, including her most recent position as the Commissioner of the Large and Mid-Size Business (LMSB) division from 2003 to 2007. For nearly a decade, Nolan has been a key leader in modernizing tax administration for large multinational corporate taxpayers. As part of the IRS reorganization in 2000, she played an integral role in designing the LMSB organization. LMSB serves corporations, subchapter S corporations, and partnerships with assets greater than $10 million. It is responsible for approximately 60,000 multinational corporations and large enterprises with annual tax liabilities exceeding $200 billion. LMSB has over 6,000 employees and a budget of $770 million.

Specifically in her role as LMSB Commissioner, Nolan worked with taxpayers and other external stakeholders (including industry trade associations) to identify, address, and resolve significant tax issues across a range of industries. She was responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of a wide range of administrative initiatives to improve issue identification and resolution, including the Compliance Assurance Program, the Limited Issue Focused Examination program, the Industry Issue Resolution program and the Appeals’ Early Referral program. In addition, Nolan implemented the pre-filing agreement (PFA) program, one of the most significant administrative resolution programs in the IRS’ currency initiative. She also implemented policies designed to increase transparency and efficiency which ultimately lead to the introduction of the Form M-3 and the mandatory eFile program.

Nolan was responsible for the administration of tax treaties and tax information exchange agreements, and provided leadership in numerous forums for international tax administrators.

Prior to that role, Nolan held other positions at the IRS. She was the Deputy Commissioner of LMSB from 2000 to 2003 and as the Design Team Leader from 1999 to 2000, she led the team responsible for the design and implementation of the LMSB created as a result of the Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998. Previously, she held several other positions at the IRS District level and at the national level as Deputy Assistant Commissioner, International.

Nolan is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of California and holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from California State University, Hayward. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Presidential Rank Award, both Meritorious and Distinguished.