Texas Society of CPAs issued letters to members of the Texas House Judiciary Committee on Friday asking for their support on tax strategy patents legislation.
In past action, Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has led the charge of stopping the issuance of said patents to make it easier for taxpayers and their advisers to reform the nation’s patent laws.
TSCPA believes that tax strategies patents undermine the integrity of the tax code and unnecessarily complicate compliance. Currently there are more than 130 tax strategy patents issued and more than 150 pending.
Thank you for the inquiry. TSCPA, in a coordinated effort with the AICPA and other state societies, has been very active since 2009 in advocating legislation to ban the patenting of tax strategies. Legislation in the patent area moves very slowly if at all because there are so many diverse parties involved in the process.
We blogged in April that the Senate passed S. 23, the America Invents Act on March 8, that included our profession’s provision to stop issuance of additional tax strategy patents. With the help of Texas Chairman Lamar Smith (R-21), the House Judiciary Committee passed a companion patents bill H.R. 1249 on April 14.
Our provision in section 13 of H.R. 1249 is a small piece of a comprehensive and politically-charged patents reform bill. We feel, however, that it’s the best chance in a long while to end the problem. Last month, TSCPA representatives met with the congressional offices of both Texas Senators and 17 House members in D.C. to ask for continued support in keeping our language in the bill. It may come up for a vote next week and TSCPA is preparing to send additional correspondence as early as Monday. We would appreciate TSCPA members contacting their legislators to ask for support of section 13 Tax Strategies Deem Within the Prior Art in H.R. 1249 the America Invents Act. If you need a congressional phone number, contact Patty Wyatt at pwyatt@tscpa.net.
Posted by: James A. Smith, CPA, Federal Tax Policy Committee Communications Subcommittee Chair | 06/10/2011 at 06:09 PM
It's been months already, do you have any update to this case?
How did Texas House Judiciary Committee then react to this petition?
Is there also any follow up action from Texas Society of CPA's?
Posted by: Certified Tax Coach | 06/08/2011 at 10:33 PM