Ameek Ashok Ponda, a tax partner in Boston and a member of the Sullivan & Worcester’s management committee, has been appointed to the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council (IRSAC).

IRSAC provides a forum for senior IRS executives and representatives of the public to discuss tax administration issues. IRSAC members include lawyers, accountants, academics and economists from around the country. As an advisory body designed to focus on broad policy issues, IRSAC reviews and comments on taxation policies, procedures, and programs, with a view to advising the IRS Commissioner on matters of tax administration and to suggesting operational improvements.

“Ameek’s appointment to IRSAC’s very select group of tax professionals is a testament to his expertise and his commitment to improving our taxation system,” said Joel R. Carpenter, co-managing partner of Sullivan & Worcester. “Ameek follows in the footsteps of the founder of S&W’s Tax Department, Frederic G. Corneel, a recognized giant in the tax bar who twenty years ago served on the IRS Commissioner's Advisory Group, the predecessor body to IRSAC. We are proud that members of our Tax Department are so civic minded, even as they continue to steadfastly serve the needs of our clients.”

Mr. Ponda is the current director of Sullivan & Worcester’s Tax Department, which is among the six finalist law firms nationwide for Chambers USA Awards for Excellence 2010 in Taxation Law. He has published numerous articles in leading tax journals, which have been recognized for their analytical depth and their prescriptions for tax policy. Several of Mr. Ponda’s tax articles precipitated changes in thinking at the Treasury Department that culminated in changes to the federal tax law.

A member of the American Law Institute, the International Fiscal Association, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), and the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston (SABAGB), Mr. Ponda was selected in 2007 as one of the Boston Business Journal’s “40 Under 40,” an award recognizing Boston’s next generation of business leaders and innovators. “Ameek is an incredibly accomplished and thoughtful tax attorney,” said SABAGB President Natasha Varyani. “He is a doyen of the tax bar, and will bring real world experience and practical insights to IRSAC’s mission.”

In addition to his impressive professional accomplishments, Mr. Ponda is actively involved in cultivating a new generation of tax lawyers. For more than a decade, he has been an adjunct faculty member at Boston University School of Law’s Graduate Tax Program, teaching courses in Business Tax Planning, Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions, International Transactions, RICs & REITs, and Financial Products. “A stalwart member of our nationally recognized tax law faculty for over ten years, Ameek at times has taught as many as three courses per year,” said Professor Daniel M. Berman, Director of the Graduate Tax Program at the Boston University School of Law. “He will be a fantastic and energetic addition to IRSAC.”

“It’s truly an honor to be selected as a member of IRSAC,” said Mr. Ponda. “Our federal government relies enormously on the IRS to effectively and efficiently administer our tax system and collect taxes. Public input into that process can only advance the cause of sound tax administration, and I look forward to contributing to IRSAC’s mission.”

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