PICPA State Taxation Committee Annual Q&A with DOR Webcast

Jeff Spengler is a partner in the tax services group of Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP. He specializes in serving midmarket and closely held companies within several industries including construction, manufacturing, and distribution as well as not-for-profit companies. Jeff has provided both federal and state tax planning and structuring advice for midmarket corporations, partnerships as well as individuals. He is currently serves the Vice President for the PICPA and has been active in serval PICPA committees including the state tax committee (chair), and the local tax committee of the Pittsburgh chapter for over 15 years.

John J. Kaschak, CPA, CISA, GGAP, CGFM
Deputy Secretary for Taxation
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue

John is the Deputy Secretary for Taxation, Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. As Deputy Secretary for Taxation, John is responsible for managing the Bureaus of Corporation Taxes, Motor and Alternative Fuel Taxes, Individual Taxes, and Business Trust Fund Taxes, and also the operations of the Taxpayer Services and Information Center and Voluntary Disclosure Program. He also directs the review of corporation tax reports, motor fuel reports, personal income tax returns, inheritance tax returns, realty transfer tax documents, Property Tax/Rent Rebate claims, sales tax returns, and employer tax returns.

Previous to his current position, John was the Director of the Pennsylvania Office of Budget, Office of Comptroller Operations, Bureau of Audits. The Bureau of Audits is the primary internal audit function within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and is responsible for conducting performance audits of Commonwealth’s agencies and their subrecipients, providing systems development implementation guidance, conducting various desk reviews including those of subrecipient single audit reports, and assisting the Commonwealth’s independent auditors with financial statement and single audit procedures. Immediately preceding his role in the Office of the Budget, John was employed by the Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General.

Before his dozen years of public service, John spent over four years in the public accounting profession, conducting financial statement and single audits of a variety of state and local government entities in both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of Maryland. The majority of John’s public accounting experience was spent with Ernst & Young LLP.

John holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration-Accounting from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Global Management Accountant, Certified Information Systems Auditor, Certified Government Auditing Professional, and Certified Government Financial Manager.

John serves on the US Comptroller General, Government Accountability Office, Green Book Advisory Committee. He is currently serving as a member of the American Institute of Public Accountants’ (AICPA) Government Performance and Accountability Committee (GPAC). He is a member of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (PICPA) Council, as well as their Legislative and Local Government Committees, and was named to the 2012 class of the “40 Under 40: PICPA Members to Watch.”

C. Daniel Hassell was nominated by Governor Tom Wolf on April 24, 2017 as Secretary of Revenue and unanimously confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate on June 19, 2017. Hassell has more than three decades of experience as a senior tax policy analyst with the Department of Revenue and the Pennsylvania Senate. In December 2009, Governor Ed Rendell nominated Hassell as Secretary of Revenue, after which he was confirmed on April 14, 2010 and served in that capacity until January 2011.

Hassell has previously served as Deputy Secretary for Tax Policy for the Department of Revenue, where he coordinated department decisions on all aspects of tax policy. Hassell evaluated the impact of proposed tax legislation, regulations, policies, procedures and public statements, as well as researched and prepared tax revenue projections for the Office of the Budget and the Governor. He oversaw the bureaus of Research and Audits, the Board of Appeals and the Economic Development Office. Hassell has authored three tax policy articles published in State Tax Notes, a leading multi-state tax news source.

Hassell is an Erie native who graduated valedictorian of Strong Vincent High School in 1979. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Westminster College and a Master of Science in Public Management and Policy from Carnegie-Mellon University’s Heinz School of Urban and Public Affairs. Hassell also completed a program for senior executives in state and local government offered by Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Hassell has worked for the Department of Revenue since 1995, and previously worked for the department from 1981 to 1985. During the nine years between, Hassell served as budget specialist for the Pennsylvania Senate Appropriations Committee.

Hassell resides in Susquehanna Township, and he and wife Ellen are proud parents of three children, Rosie, Ben and Lydia.

Thomas Gohsler, Esquire
Deputy Chief Counsel
PA Department of Revenue, Office of Chief Counsel

Tom Gohsler serves as Deputy Chief Counsel for the General Legal Division of the Department of Revenue.  Tom’s primary responsibilities include general legal counsel and assistance concerning Pennsylvania inheritance tax, as well as matters involving gaming revenue, contracts, procurement, and employment law.  In addition, he serves as counsel to the Pennsylvania Lottery.  A member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the Office of General Counsel’s Trust and Estates Practice Group, Transactions Practice Group and Intellectual Property Practice Group, he has spoken at the Department’s annual Tax Seminar and county estate planning seminars regarding tax related issues.  He is a graduate of the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Scranton.