WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance, has hired a new tax counsel to advise him on tax matters relating to tax-exempt organizations, including legislation and investigations. Theresa Pattara comes to Grassley’s staff from the Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Exempt Organizations.
"It’s great to have Theresa on staff," Grassley said. "The federal Treasury foregoes billions of dollars a year from tax-exempt groups. I need a good member of my tax team to help make sure tax-exempt policy works as well as possible. Theresa knows these issues inside and out."
Prior to joining Grassley’s staff, Pattara was a project manager with the IRS Office of Exempt Organizations, where she managed two key projects -- the implementation of the charitable provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and the revision of the Form 990. Since joining Exempt Organizations in September 2000, she also worked in Rulings and Agreements, Customer Education and Outreach and on the 990 e-file project.
Pattara served on Grassley’s Finance Committee staff in 2005 and 2006 as a Capitol Hill fellow, selected by the IRS and the committee through a competitive process. A native of Scranton, Pa., she is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Scranton, where she earned her bachelor’s of science degree in accounting, and earned her juris doctorate degree from Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to joining the IRS, she was a licensed certified public accountant in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia and was a senior tax associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC in Philadelphia and Washington, DC. While completing her J.D., she worked with Peterson & Basha PLC, where she specialized in tax issues for small businesses, tax-exempt organizations, trusts and estates.
Grassley has focused on tax-exempt policy and organizations for more than five years as chairman and ranking member of the Finance Committee. He has reviewed organizations including the American Red Cross, the Nature Conservancy, the Smithsonian Institution, and most recently, colleges with well-funded endowments, several media-based ministries, and non-profit hospitals.