Michael Desmond will speak at the University of Chicago Law School's 79^th Annual Federal Tax Conference on November 6, 2026. Desmond will present, as a part of a panel, "Too Many Notes? Approaches to Writing Tax Guidelines." This panel would discuss the policy question of whether taxpayers and the IRS (and courts in resolving disputes) are better served by guidance that is (i) short and limited in scope, (ii) broader in scope but with general rules or principles or (iii) long, detailed and comprehensive. Each approach has its pros and cons, and no single approach works well in all situations. The answer to the basic policy question may impact (i) the form of guidance, (ii) the substance of guidance, (iii) the amount of IRS and Treasury recourses required to issue any particular guidance, (iv) the number of completed guidance projects, (v) the ease of administration (by the IRS) and application (by taxpayers) of guidance, and (vi) the validity of the guidance.