The Institute for Professionals in Taxation (formerly the Institute of Property Taxation) - Chicago Area was started as a luncheon group designed to establish a local education and information exchange forum for tax professionals in the greater Chicago Area. The main objective was to provide a platform for an exchange of ideas and solutions to local tax issues.
Meetings are held four times a year in February, May, October and December. The first three meetings are usually held on the second Wednesday of the month and the last meeting is held the first Wednesday in December. Programs for February and October concentrate on Property Tax issues. The May meeting concentrates on Sales Tax issues. The final meeting of the year, in December, provides a program that addresses both Property Tax and Sales Tax.
In summer of 1984 Tom Vanderah of Montgomery Wards called a meeting with Patrick T. Shields, Sear Roebuck, Donald A. Blum, Allstate Insurance, Donald F. Nesci, Unocal Corporation, Patrick J. Feldman, Beatrice Foods and Charles Wieshampell, Montgery Wards, to discuss the creation of a Chicago Area IPT Luncheon Group. Tom was designated the overall chair. They planned for several months and had their first meeting on February 13, 1985 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare. It was well attended by an even 100 people. The program was “Are syndicated values market value? What do they represent? How can we use them?” The speakers were William J. Townsley, CEO, Real Estate Analysis Corp. and Kevin O'Keefe, Partner, O'Keefe, Ashendon, Lyons & Ward. Accept for a period in 2010 there has been four meetings a year ever since. The meetings are held in January, May, October and December. The group began alternating their meetings between downtown Chicago and the suburbs but have since only had them in downtown as this drew a better attendance and reached more people.
The speakers have come from all over the country. Most are local, however, some of the speakers have been from both the east and west coasts.
Two decades have past and membership at the meetings has continued to grow, with attendance being the highest in the country. Our group is the longest continuous running IPT luncheon group in the country. Through the years there have been meetings which have been attended by over 150 tax professionals. Over 2,100 different people have attended at least one meeting during our existance.
With the success of our first golf outing in 1994, annual golf outings are held as part of the Chicago Area IPT's schedule of events at Oak and Maple Meadows Golf courses. The outings have been a sell out each year.
Membership in the Chicago Area IPT is key to its success. Attendance by all property, sales and state income tax professionals regardless of their membership status with the national IPT is important. We continue to offer knowledgeable speakers, addressing timely and important tax topics. We encourage you to seek membership in the National IPT as it broadens the small scope which we initiate.
We encourage you to become an active participant in all future events. If you are interested in participating on a committee, please contact a current committee member or send us an email.
