South Jersey Working Together Conference 2013
A Joint Effort of Public & Private Tax Professionals

Dear Practitioners,

I'm sure most of you are aware that due to the reductions in the federal budget, the IRS along with all federal agencies are facing at least 5-7 days without pay for their employees. In attempt to limit this hardship, the executives at the IRS have been reducing costs wherever possible especially with travel. It wasn't until about 2 weeks ago when we began learning that many areas of the IRS who have played significant roles in past South Jersey Working Togethers, would not have enough funds to travel to the conference and be a part of our face to face panels. As each day passed, we were challenged more with less and less resources to put on this program.The situation finally became so severe that we had one of two choices, either have the panels take place atremote location and have the audience view them on a projected screen for eight hourswith very little interaction, or postpone the event until a time when it can be done again properly. After muchsoul searching, discussion and anguish, we have made the painful decision not to go on with the program for this year. We felt this was the only proper decision to make. Potentially, we could haveIRS panelists participate "virtually" thru Microsoft Live Meeting, howeverwe don't believe it would be desirable to have an 8 hourWorking TogetherConference in this manner. Not only do we believe it is not conducive for a conference such as this, but we have learned over the years that the practitioners want the interaction they have had with IRS personnel after their presentations and during the lunch break.

I apologize if this has caused any hardship on your part. Needless to say, refunds will be handled by Rowan University.We thank not only the practitioners who have worked with us over the years to plan and put on this event, but also all the practitioners who have taken the time to attend,andmade it the success it was. Please look for future correspondence from us about other programs that we may be doing electronically. Also, as the budget climate permits, we will look into resurrecting our Working Together program in the future. If you have any concerns and/or questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Ric Costow

Ric Costow

Stakeholder Liaison

Small Business/Self Employed Division'

IRS

856-414-6721