Washington national tax services (WNTS)

With potential tax reform, Treasury's focus on increasing US competitiveness, and other significant legislative changes on the horizon, taxpayers can expect substantial modifications to the US tax system over the next several years that will significantly impact the way that companies do business. Analysis and preparedness are the keys to implementing successful responses to new proposals, new leaders, and new challenges for the business community.

PricewaterhouseCoopers' Washington national tax services (WNTS) group is poised to help companies stay up-to-date on the latest legislative and regulatory matters and navigate the ever-changing tax landscape.

WNTS is nationally recognized for its in-depth technical knowledge and experience in taxation and features a multi-disciplined group of specialists, including accountants, attorneys, and economists from a variety of backgrounds, including former government officials from the Treasury department, the Internal Revenue Service, and Congressional tax staffs, corporate tax directors, professionals from law firms, and tax advisors from the firm's practice offices.

Key tax areas


WNTS has specialists with extensive experience in a variety of federal tax issues, including a strong concentration in the areas of accounting methods and inventories. Specifically, our specialists in this area have deep experience in:

  • Accounting method and period changes
  • Capitalization vs. expense issues
  • The application of uniform capitalization rules
  • Deduction acceleration opportunities
  • Long-term contract accounting
  • Accounting for environmental costs
  • Meals and entertainment expenses
  • LIFO inventory implementations and enhancements
  • Accounting for intangibles
  • Depreciation
  • Income deferral opportunities
  • Installment sales
  • Like-kind exchanges
  • Cost recovery issues
  • Other federal tax issues


Major changes are underway at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). For the IRS, the focus is on speed and efficiency as the organization works to fulfill its commitment to improve audit coverage, increase collections, increase transparency, and end abusive transactions. For companies, it's no longer business as usual. It is important, now more than ever, to understand and comply with new IRS initiatives.

PwC's IRS service team is a national network of tax professionals prepared to help you successfully navigate IRS process and procedure to facilitate compliance, drive negotiations and issue resolution, and assist with strategic forward planning. Our team combines the knowledge and extensive experience of professionals from all major IRS functions including examinations, Appeals, international, and Chief Counsel.

As a result of this collective experience, the IRS Service Team brings valued, firsthand knowledge of the IRS—including the organization, people, process, and current initiatives—to provide clients with a range of services to manage their experience with the IRS effectively including:

  • Navigating the audit planning process
  • Limiting the scope of IRS examinations, where possible
  • Shortening exam cycles
  • Accelerating domestic and international issue resolution
  • Providing technical consulting on excise tax issues
  • Addressing information reporting and withholding matters

As well as:

  • Consulting on employment tax challenges
  • Facilitating 9100 relief
  • Navigating IRS practice and procedure
  • Negotiating Pre-filing and closing agreements

The WNTS legislative and regulatory services practice offers policy and strategic planning services in a broad array of tax, trade, and health care legislative issues.

We assist our clients—including corporations, associations, exempt organizations and business coalitions—in developing and implementing strategies to address proposed changes to legislation, regulations, and rulings. We may facilitate dialogues with the White House, Congress, Treasury Department, Customs Service, Internal Revenue Service, and the Office of Management and Budget, among other Administration agencies and entities.

Led by Bill Archer, former chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, Lindy Paull, Bob Shapiro, and Mark McConaghy, former chiefs of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, Ed McClellan, former Republican tax counsel of the Senate Finance Committee, and Don Longano, former Democratic chief counsel of the Committee on Ways and Means, the legislative and regulatory services group draws on the deep technical knowledge within WNTS to offer a fully integrated team approach to complex legislative and regulatory issues.

WNTS legislative and regulatory professions list WNTS legislative and regulatory professionals (19kb)

WNTS legislative and regulatory leadership

A key part of our team is our National economic consulting group, which provides a broad range of economic research, survey, statistical, and data analysis services including revenue and budget estimating.

The Washington tax service (WTS) is a retainer-based program designed to keep corporate executives "ahead of the curve" on significant federal legislative, regulatory, and administrative developments affecting their companies and provides planning ideas to address complex business problems.

WTS clients are served by an industry-focused client service team. Through a combination of conference calls, meetings, and written materials, the team provides individually tailored service to its clients. The WTS team draws upon the experience of appropriate technical and industry specialists to address the client's tax issues and interests. The large and diversified WTS client base has more than 150 companies, including many of the Fortune 100. Clients represent every major industry segment, including both US multinational corporations and foreign-based companies.

Clients tell us that WTS adds real value through the development of long-term relationships resulting in a deep knowledge of their business objectives, ready access to tax professionals in a wide variety of matters, and the analytical capabilities of a national group active in all aspects of tax law and development and administration in Washington, DC.



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