Virtual State Tax Symposium
Online
5.00 Credits
Member Price $299.00
Price will increase by $50 after 10/20
Non-Member Price $399.00
Price will increase by $50 after 10/20
Overview
Keeping up with Virginia and local tax changes doesn’t have to mean leaving your office.
Join the VSCPA and experts from the Virginia Department of Taxation online for a day dedicated to clarity, collaboration and practical insight. Gain a deeper understanding of the latest updates, explore their real-world implications and walk away with the knowledge and confidence you need to better serve your clients and organization.
Prerequisites
None
Designed For
CPAs who work in the field of taxation.
Preparation
None
Sponsors
October 21, 2026
General Session
- 1. Virginia Conformity After Federal Tax Reform: What Changed & What Still Decouples
Ryan Cunningham, Tax Legislation Manager, Virginia Department of TaxationRyan Cunningham
Ryan Cunningham is Tax Legislation Manager with the Virginia Department of Taxation. He is responsible for analyzing pending state and federal legislation and litigation, and the formulation and review of potential executive or legislative initiatives. He also serves as a liaison for highly technical and complex tax issues within and outside the agency.
Virginia's 2026 conformity legislation replaced the rolling conformity date of Dec. 31, 2025, and Virginia generally conforms to the 2025 Federal Budget Reconciliation Act with specific exceptions.
Learning objectives:
- Identify Virginia's current IRC conformity date and explain the practical impact of moving from rolling conformity to fixed-date conformity.
- Distinguish between federal provisions Virginia conforms to and provisions where Virginia requires state-specific adjustments.
- Apply the conformity framework to client planning, return preparation and documentation for 2025 Virginia income tax returns.
Credits: 1 - Taxation
This session is available to registrants only.
General Session
- 2. Business Tax Changes: Expensing, R&E, Depreciation & 163(j)
Ryan Cunningham, Tax Legislation Manager, Virginia Department of TaxationRyan Cunningham
Ryan Cunningham is Tax Legislation Manager with the Virginia Department of Taxation. He is responsible for analyzing pending state and federal legislation and litigation, and the formulation and review of potential executive or legislative initiatives. He also serves as a liaison for highly technical and complex tax issues within and outside the agency.
Session 2: Business Tax Changes: Expensing, R&E, Depreciation and §163(j)
This session should be the most technical business-tax session. Virginia deconforms from federal immediate expensing for qualified production property, domestic R&E expensing, and increased expensing limits for certain depreciable business assets. Virginia also reduced the subtraction for federally disallowed business interest from 50% to 20% for taxable years 2025 and after.
Learning objectives:
• Recognize the Virginia additions and subtractions required when federal and Virginia depreciation or amortization treatment differs.
• Explain how Virginia’s treatment of domestic R&E expenditures and qualified production property affects multi-year planning.
• Calculate the planning impact of Virginia’s reduced business interest subtraction under IRC §163(j).
Credits: 1 - Taxation
This session is available to registrants only.
General Session
- 3. Pass-Through Entity Tax & Owner-Level Planning
Elil Arasu, Mesa Tax ConsultingElil Arasu
Elil Arasu is a managing director in BDO’s State & Local Tax services. She has more than 15 years of state tax consulting experience within a public accounting environment. She serves as a firm specialist in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, including the Virginia Business, Professional and Occupational License (“BPOL”) tax. Elil consults on all aspects of state income tax, including participating in mergers and acquisition transactions, due diligence reviews, representation on state tax controversy matters, and assisting companies with state tax compliance and state tax provision matters. She has worked with Fortune 1000 and mid-size companies in industries such as manufacturing, retail, healthcare, hospitality, real estate, technology and nonprofit.
Session 3: Pass-Through Entity Tax and Owner-Level Planning
This session would be especially valuable for CPA firms serving partnerships, S corporations and owner-managed businesses. It should cover election strategy, owner credits, cash flow and client communication.
Learning objectives:
• Explain the Virginia pass-through entity tax election and when it may benefit owners.
• Evaluate PTET planning considerations for partnerships, S corporations and multistate owners.
• Identify compliance, payment and owner-credit issues that CPAs should address before year-end.
Credits: 1 - Taxation
This session is available to registrants only.
General Session
- 4. Individual Income Tax Changes: Deductions, EITC, Rebates & Estimated Payments
Ryan Holloway
This session should focus on individual return-preparer issues and client-facing planning opportunities. Virginia’s conformity guidance also highlights continued Virginia-specific treatment of itemized deductions, including continued application of Virginia’s Pease limitation even though federal law changed.
Learning objectives:
• Identify individual income tax changes affecting Virginia taxpayers and explain how they flow through return preparation.
• Evaluate the effect of Virginia-specific itemized deduction limitations on taxpayers with higher income or large deductions.
• Advise clients on estimated tax, withholding and refund/rebate expectations based on recent Virginia law changes.
Credits: 1 - Taxation
This session is available to registrants only.
General Session
- 5. Virginia SALT & Employer Tax Update: Corporate, Local, Sales Tax, Mulitstate & VEC Issues
Kristofer Thomas, State and Local Tax, Ernst & YoungKristofer Thomas
Kristopher is a Partner in the EY State, Local, and Indirect Tax Services group located in Tysons. Kris has over 17 years of experience serving clients in the Northern Va, Washington DC, and Richmond markets.
Kris has coordinated and managed the state and local compliance process from start up corporations with one or two filings to multinational Fortune 500 companies with over four hundred state and local filings. Kris has implemented best practices from a state and local provision process with a number of clients to remedy deficiencies, minimze hours incurred, and develop a process to clearly reflect client's current and deferred state tax provision.
This closing session should help practitioners look beyond the current filing season. It can include market-based sourcing, BPOL/local license tax issues, nexus, sales and use tax, credits, local tax controversies and work-group activity.
Revised learning objectives
• Identify recent and emerging Virginia SALT issues affecting corporate, pass-through and multistate business clients.
• Explain how Virginia nexus, apportionment, BPOL, sales and use tax, and local tax rules create compliance and planning risks.
• Develop client advisory questions CPAs can use to uncover Virginia SALT exposure, including multistate activity, remote sales, local tax obligations and payroll-related compliance issues.
Credits: 1 - Taxation
This session is available to registrants only.
Non-Member Price $399.00
Member Price $299.00