Gleim Instruct Professor Spotlight–Nate Wadlinger

With respect to teaching I have taught almost every tax class offered in accounting programs. The classes I feel best teaching are the basic federal income tax courses, business entity taxation courses, and tax research [ … ] I focus my time on legal research of federal income tax issues. Most of this research deals with application of the tax law to various situations [ … ]I am involved with many professional organizations including FL Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Tax Section of the Florida Bar.

I feel that tax is an area that you really need to practice to be an effective teacher. Tax changes so frequently; the law, the technology, common issues raised by taxpayers, and lots of other issues. It is not like an algebra class where the concepts and rules taught have remained pretty much the same for the last few centuries. Just in the last year and a half alone, with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, there have been major changes in the tax law requiring some topics where the material is completely different like certain provisions in the international tax rules or the Section 199A Qualified Business Income deductions. So I decided with my goal of teaching tax it would make me more effective to practice while teaching. That has always been my goal to do both.

Usually when a tax law is new or uncertain research can help with application of these nuances in the law. There have been times when the Courts have even looked to law review articles like mine that have helped in make judicial decisions and forming the law.

I was dreading my first tax class! Tax just sounded so boring. However, once I had my first few tax classes I fell in love with material, specifically the way class was taught. There was legal reasoning, lots of colorful tax court examples used to explain, and the professor had us learn the tax law by jumping right into the Internal Revenue Code. When I took that class I knew I wanted to teach tax at some point as I enjoyed the academic setting and really enjoyed the material [ … ] I also wanted to make a seemingly boring topic an interesting one, just like my professor did for me. He used lots of puzzle type analogies to explain the topics. I wanted to show future students that an area many people think is boring is actually very interesting.

I stress for students to understand general themes that are important in tax. For example, gross income is defined broadly, but deductions are defined narrowly. Some other examples include time value of money savings when it comes to tax deductions and how Congress favors small business through many tax benefits in the Tax Code. These kinds of themes are prominent throughout the law and can help students remember years later even after they put down the books.

My most creative approach involves using costumes and music to teach certain tax themes. Over the last year I have been putting together costumes and music/themes for my tax classes that I teach at FSU. Again, I really enjoy tax, and being able to think of costumes and music related to tax concepts helps students remember concepts. For example, I dress up like Sherlock Holmes when I go over the introduction to the tax research process because tax research involves lots of deduction and induction like Sherlock Holmes. I have a costume for just about every class. Not only do the costumes help students remember certain themes, but they also provide entertainment for the students!

The most challenging part of being a tax professional is being the bearer of bad news. You are applying the tax law as laid down by Congress. There will be times that certain tax provisions are unfair for some parties but not others. And your client may be subject to those rules where they get unfair treatment. To evaluate whether a tax is a good tax, it’s important to consider simplicity (or how simple is it to file and administer), efficiency (does it affect economic transactions negatively), and finally, equity, or fairness. You will come across times when the tax law is unfair to your client’s factual situation, but that is how Congress laid out the law. [ … ] These types of situations result in difficult conversations with the client and they can be extremely challenging.

Taxes are dreaded by the general public, but they also are something that must be completed. If you are effective and efficient with respect to tax preparation, you will have happy clients that have their taxes completed for the year. Further, for some clients a tax preparer might be considered one of [their] most trusted advisors.

I enjoy analyzing the issues like a puzzle. Further, it’s never boring in the tax field with respect to not having new issues. And that’s especially the case today with the recent major changes in tax law due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Right now it’s such an excellent time to be working in the tax industry.

I feel that tax is an area that you really need to practice to be an effective teacher. Tax changes so frequently; the law, the technology, common issues raised by taxpayers, and lots of other issues. It is not like an algebra class where the concepts and rules taught have remained pretty much the same for the last few centuries. [ … ] So I decided [ … ] it would make me more effective to practice while teaching. That has always been my goal, to do both. And while I knew I wanted to go into teaching tax, I really enjoy practicing in the tax area as well!