Incorporated in 2012, the Joint TE/GE Council is a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Its purpose is to facilitate communication between the TE/GE Division of the Internal Revenue Service and employee benefits practitioners. The Joint TE/GE Council provides a forum for comments or questions to enhance the administration of tax code compliance and overall employee benefits regulatory and enforcement initiatives.

In 1991, the Baltimore Key District of IRS initiated the first outreach meeting. Each EP Area was represented on the planning committee. Thus began an annual meeting. Eventually, this meeting was hosted by the practitioner councils. Today, the Joint TE/GE Council, is a consortium formed by the Great Lakes Area TE/GE Council, Gulf Coast Area TE/GE Council, Mid-Atlantic Pension Liaison Group, Northeast Pension Liaison Group and Pacific Coast Area TE/GE Council (the “TE/GE Councils”).

The common thread among the TE/GE Councils is membership of employee plans practitioners (including practitioners from legal, accounting and consulting firms, as well as executives and in-house counsel from both for-profit and tax-exempt organizations) who dedicate the majority of their practice in the employee plans arena.

In 2010, the Department of Labor was invited to the meeting to share and crossover its insights with the IRS. Since that time, the Department of Labor has filled the first day of the meeting to its outreach and issues. The second day of the meeting is dedicated to Treasury and IRS outreach and issues.