The Gem State Tax Symposium brings top national and Idaho speakers to Boise State to discuss current tax issues, law changes and policy issues professionals are facing. Participants can earn up to 9 CPE credits or 7.5 CLE credits.** The 2025 Gem State Tax Symposium will be held on Friday, May 16, 2025.
Each year, the Gem State Tax Symposium brings together industry professionals and top speakers to address policy issues, law changes and issues that you face each day in the profession. In addition to the educational benefits, your attendance has also helped to support student success. Over the last couple of years, the Gem State Tax Symposium has provided thousands of dollars in scholarships for accountancy students at Boise State and law students at the University of Idaho who are concurrently earning graduate degrees in taxation at Boise State.
You can help make a difference in the lives of our students. Please consider making a gift to support scholarships for Boise State accountancy and JD/MSAT students. To deserving students, these awards are needed now more than ever.
To make your gift, please visit Give.BoiseState.edu and search for “Gem State Tax Symposium.” Gifts can be completed using a credit or debit card. Thank you for your consideration!
Gem State Tax Symposium
The Symposium
Presented by Boise State University Department of Accountancy and University of Idaho College of Law
For CPAs, attorneys and other tax professionals
The Gem State Tax Symposium brings top national and Idaho speakers to Boise State to discuss current tax issues, law changes and policy issues professionals are facing. The 2025 Symposium will be held on Friday, May 16, 2025. Participants earned up to 9 CPE credits or 7.5 CLE credits.**
2025 Plenary Speakers:
Scott Schiefelbein, Deloitte
Jeff Lingwall, Boise State University
John Mitchell, M & H Economic Consultants
Jeff Kummer, Deloitte
2025 Breakout Speakers:
Adam Golden, Tax Search Inc.
Adam Sweet, Eide Bailly
Thomas Sykes, Sykes Law Offices of Thomas D. Sykes PLLC
Jack Dalton, White Cloud CPA Group, and John McGown, Hawley Troxell
Sponsors
Thank you to our 2024 Platinum Sponsors: Ahrens DeAngeli Law Group • Deloitte LLP
Silver Sponsors: Harris & Co PLLC • Boise Cascade • Idaho Society of CPAs •
If you have questions about the conference please contact the event coordinator, David Klungle at Davidklungle@boisestate.edu. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Morgan Harris, morganharris@boisestate.edu.
** for more information concerning CPE and CLE credits see fine print tab
2025 Gem State Tax Symposium Agenda
Time
Session
Presenter
Topic
7:00 – 7:30 a.m.
Registration check-in and Continental Breakfast
NA
NA
7:30 – 7:45 a.m.
Welcome and Overview of Sessions
NA
NA
7:45 – 9:00 a.m.
Session #1
Jeff Lingwall
Ethics
9:00 – 9:10 a.m.
Transition
NA
NA
9:10 – 10:25 a.m.
Breakout 1A
Adam Golden
Recruiting and Retention for In-House Corporate Tax Departments
9:10 – 10:25 a.m.
Breakout 1B
Adam Sweet
Pass-Thru Update
10:25 – 10:40 a.m.
Refreshment Break
NA
NA
10:40 – 11:55 a.m.
Session #2
Scott Schiefelbein
State Tax Update
11:55 a.m. – 12:40 p.m.
Lunch Break
NA
NA
12:40 -1:55 p.m.
Session #3
Jeff Kummer
Tax Policy Update
1:55 – 2:05 p.m.
Transition
NA
NA
2:05 – 3:20 p.m.
Breakout 2A
Thomas Sykes
Impact of Loper Bright
2:05 – 3:20 p.m.
Breakout 2B
Jack Dalton & John McGown
Practical Issues of Using Financial Power of Attorney and Post-Mortem Administration
3:20 – 3:35 p.m.
Refreshment Break
NA
NA
3:35 – 4:50 p.m. p.m
Session #4
John Mitchell
Economic Update
4:50 – 5:00 p.m.
Closing Remarks
NA
NA
Location
The Gem State Tax Symposium will be held in the Micron Business and Economics Building at Boise State University, 2360 W. University Drive, Boise, ID 83706 (on the corner of University Drive and Capitol Blvd).
Free parking will be available in the Brady Garage next to the Micron Business and Economics Building. *Campus is currently repairing portions of the Brady Garage. Please follow all signage for parking.
Jeff earned his JD from the Yale Law School and his Ph.D. in Economics and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University. He also did graduate work in statistics at Brigham Young University. He has published on a wide variety of topics, such as the procedural aspects of mass litigation, consumer financial protection, blockchain-based contracting, education law, and the history of corporate social responsibility. Before joining Boise State, Jeff taught commercial law and data science at Truman State University, practiced class action defense law, and clerked for the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. His spare time is usually occupied with his seven amazing children.
John Mitchell
John Mitchell received his B.A. degree from Williams College and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oregon. He is a fellow of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was a professor of economics at Boise State University for 13 years, before joining U.S. Bancorp in 1983. He was Chief Economist of U.S. Bancorp until July of 1998 and served as Economist Western Region for US Bank until July of 2007, He wrote US Bank’s economic publications and was a columnist for Oregon Business Magazine. He was Business Analyst for KPTV on Portland. He served as Sterling Bank’s economist from 2007 to 2012. He has been making economic presentations on the nation and the region for more than 52 years and currently speaks to business groups around the nation.
John was a member of the Western Blue Chip Forecast Panel, the ABA’s Panel of Economists, a Trustee of the Aquila Tax Free Trust of Oregon, and a Board member of Oregon Mutual Insurance. He is a Board member of Northwest Bank. John was Chairman of the Oregon Council of Economic Advisors from 1992 to 1998 and a member from 1984 to 1998. He currently serves on the Association of Washington Business’s Council of Economic Advisers.
John and his wife, Carol live in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He enjoys biking, railroading, sea kayaking and his granddaughters.
Scott Schiefelbein
Scott Schiefelbein, a Managing Director in Deloitte’s Washington National Tax practice, has practiced business and tax law for over 29 years. Scott has also led Deloitte’s Portland multistate tax practice since 2008. Scott serves as the firm’s Jurisdictional Technical Lead for all Alaska, Idaho, and Oregon tax questions. Scott also is a member of Deloitte’s multistate tax controversy practice and represents taxpayers in audits and also before the Oregon Tax Court (Magistrate Division), including several software, cloud-based, and consumer products companies.
Scott joined Deloitte in 2008 after spending eight years with Portland-area law firms where he practiced tax and business law. Scott represented clients in disputes with both the Internal Revenue Service and state tax agencies.
Scott is a frequent speaker at Deloitte-sponsored seminars and trainings as well as external speaking events in addition to writing articles for various tax publications. Scott also serves on the Oregon State Bar Laws Committee. Scott graduated from the Duke University School of Law and graduated with Honors and Highest Distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jeff Kummer
Jeff Kummer, a Managing Director, Tax Policy, at Deloitte’s Washington National Tax practice has over 25 years of experience in the tax policy arena and is currently responsible for communicating emerging tax developments in the U.S. Congress, the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department, and the federal courts to the Firm and its clients. Jeff oversees the content development of Tax News & Views as well as thought leadership publications on issues such as the U.S. deficit and fundamental tax reform.
His Capitol Hill experience includes working on tax and budget issues for former U.S. Senator and Senate Finance Committee member Steve Symms, R-Idaho.
Jeff holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Idaho and an MBA from Johns Hopkins University.
Adam Sweet
Adam leads Eide Bailly’s Passthrough Entity Consulting group. He has extensive knowledge in the area of partnership tax, including interpreting partnership agreements, allocation and distribution provisions, and issuing compensatory equity. He is also experienced with both the buying and selling sides of domestic and foreign joint ventures, tax credit partnerships, as well as a variety of IRS controversy matters. Adam also leads Eide Bailly’s Opportunity Zone working group.
Adam Golden
Adam Golden has spent the last 20+ years at TaxSearch, helping companies build and maintain world-class tax departments, having trained directly under the company’s owner and founder, Tony Santiago. Over the years, Adam has developed expertise in consulting with hiring authorities on the intricacies of the tax market and has established himself as one of the premier recruiters of top-tier tax talent in the country. Adam advises his clients and candidates on a myriad of topics, including succession planning, retention strategies, salary benchmarking, and various career-related matters that arise throughout a tax professional’s career. His clients and candidates work at companies as large as those in the Fortune 10, as well as at mid-size companies globally. Adam currently leads TaxTalent’s Symposia Training Program, a one-of-a-kind developmental program designed to train the next generation of tax leaders for their first head of tax position.
Adam has been invited to speak at numerous Tax Executive Institute (TEI) chapter conferences to address recruitment, retention, and development trends within the tax profession, and he has also been invited to speak at numerous industry groups about the tax market. Lastly, Adam has spoken at multiple college campuses across the country, discussing “Careers in Tax” with students in the accounting and finance programs.
A father of three, Adam currently lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, though he is originally from Georgia. In his free time, he enjoys cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs on weekends and hitting the golf links!
John McGown
John McGown is an experienced tax attorney with depth in a broad range of tax-related areas achieved through over 40 years of practicing law with Idaho’s oldest and largest law firm. He has taught graduate courses in estate planning, partnership tax, state taxation, tax-exempt organizations, and personal financial planning.
Also a certified public accountant, he has been a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel since 1997 and previously served as the Idaho State Chair.
A frequent lecturer, John McGown has conducted over 100 continuing education presentations to various professional groups.
John has served as Chair of the Section of Taxation of the Idaho State Bar and the Idaho Tax Practitioner Liaison Committee (to the IRS). He has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America by having been selected in (1) Tax Law and (2) Trusts and Estates annually since 2007. For 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021, he was selected as Boise Tax Law Lawyer of the Year. For 2018 and 2022, he was chosen as Boise Trusts and Estates Lawyer of the Year. John has been recognized by Super Lawyers, where he was selected in Tax and/or Estate Planning and Probate annually since 2013.
John was selected to receive the Distinguished Lawyer Award in 2014. It is the highest singular recognition bestowed upon any individual member of the Idaho State Bar. This award is given to an attorney (or attorneys) each year who has distinguished the profession through exemplary conduct and many years of dedicated service to the profession and Idaho citizens.
For almost 20 years, John served as the column editor for “Tax Thoughts” in The Advocate, a monthly Idaho State Bar Association publication. He is the author of numerous articles in TAXES–The Tax Magazine, Taxation for Lawyers, Tax Notes, the ACTEC Law Journal, The State and Local Tax Lawyer, The Journal of Taxation, The Journal of State Taxation, and the Idaho Law Review.
In his spare time, John enjoys being active outdoors and has completed 17 Races to Robie Creek–the most challenging half marathon in the West–and reached the summits of McGown Peak and Mt. Borah, Idaho’s highest point.
Specialties: John McGown practices general tax law, estate planning, tax disputes, tax-exempt organizations, and probate law. John does not handle tax collection work
*CPE Subject Areas and number of CPE credits are pending review. The Department of Accountancy at Boise State has made every effort to comply with the CPE requirements set forth in the joint NASBA/AICPA Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education, Rev. Jan. 2012 (Standards). As noted in the Standards, “it is the participant’s responsibility to report the appropriate number of credits earned” and “state boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit.” Per the Standards, CPE credits are granted based on a 50-minute hour.
Complaint Resolution Policy: Contact the Department of Accountancy at acct@boisestate.edu to register complaints related to the timeliness/accuracy of CPE credit reporting, program delivery, or program content.
Refund/Cancellation Policy: Refund less 10% for cancellations. Refunds unavailable after May 20.
CLE Credit Information:
The Department of Accountancy has applied to the Idaho State Bar for 7.5 CLE credits, based on a 60-minute hour (6.5 credits of general; 1 credit of ethics). Approval is pending. The Idaho State Bar has final authority on the approval/acceptance of individual courses for CLE credit.
