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Tax Complexity 2016: The Increasing Compliance Burdens of the Tax Code
by Demian Brady April 06, 2016
Policy Paper No. 177 | April 18, 2016 | PDF Version | Press Release
I. Summary of Findings
National Taxpayers Union Foundation's (NTUF's) annual analysis of tax complexity in the United States reveals yet another year of unacceptably heavy burdens on America's taxpayers and businesses. The future does not look bright.
Based on the most current public estimates, the value of the time (6.1 billion hours) plus out-of-pocket costs expended annually on complying with the individual and corporate Tax Code amounts to an economic loss of $234.4 billion. Of this total, $64.6 billion is attributable to lost productivity from 1.9 billion hours spent on the 1040 tax form series alone. While $29.6 billion can be chalked up to software, tax preparation fees, supplies, and other overhead for the yearly tax filing chore. The remainder of the costs, made up mostly of corporate compliance pains, affects the economy in numerous ways such as higher prices for consumers, lower returns for shareholders, and less competitive operations abroad.
More misery is on the way. The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS's) combined regulatory "inventory," comprising the impact of all the tax agency's current or immediately planned rulemakings, is a staggering 8.96 billion hours. That time represents the equivalent of nearly 4.5 million Americans working a 40-hour week year-round. This tax compliance "army" is actually nine times larger than the active-duty strength United States Army, and more than twice as large as the active and reserve components of all the armed forces.
Incredibly, even as Americans read about the regulatory excesses of agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency or the Transportation Security Administration, the IRS imposes almost four out of every five hours of paperwork burden in the entire federal government-wide inventory.
Once this inventory is fully inflicted on the American people, the tax-related loss to the economy (including out-of-pocket costs) could exceed $330 billion. That's more than enough money to fund the legislative and judicial branches of the federal government, plus the U.S. Departments of Education, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, and Transportation … along with NASA.
High U.S. tax rates are certainly an impediment to economic growth. The corporate income tax is a drag on America's competitiveness around the world. When ranked against some of our biggest trading partners, American businesses face much bigger compliance headaches than their counterparts in other countries. Meanwhile, as families, small business owners, tax preparers, and even the IRS itself struggle to comprehend the tax laws, the entire structure of raising revenue threatens to collapse under the weight of its own complexity. The need for a simpler way of taxing that minimizes the damage to our economy and our civil rights has never been more imperative.
II. Introduction
"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
On February 3, 1913 the United States Congress ratified the words above in the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, thereby ushering in new governmental powers subjecting Americans to the federal income tax. The new tax regime enabled the federal government to more easily and readily raise revenues. But over time the system gradually became more onerous and burdensome to taxpayers. The convoluted process of preparing and filing tax forms is a source of real stress, fear, and dread for many taxpayers. The system today bears little resemblance to the relatively simple one codified in 1913.
The Tax Code has grown increasingly and astonishingly complex over the past century. Its annual enforcement and compliance costs require billions of hours, hundreds of billions of dollars, and thousands of federal employees. The complexity of the Code has spawned a multibillion-dollar industry, made up of professionals who spend years training in order to help individuals and businesses navigate the system (and frequently, even that is not enough to ensure accurate filings). New technology offers both benefits and risks. While technology makes it easier for many to file, it also puts taxpayer data at risk, a growing problem facing many.
The escalating economic costs of the Tax Code, combined with the IRS's deteriorating ability to protect and assist taxpayers, make it abundantly clear the current system is in need of reform. Simplifying the laws would immediately and directly improve the country's economic condition as well as taxpayers' everyday lives, and should be an urgent priority for lawmakers on Capitol Hill. In the words of the IRS's National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson: "… I believe we need fundamental tax reform, sooner rather than later, so the entire system does not implode."[1]
III. Complexity Continues to Grow
A. Compliance Time and Costs
The basic form that taxpayers must file to account for their federal income taxes is the 1040, along with its simplified alternatives the 1040A and the 1040EZ. Many middle-class filers use the regular 1040, requiring an average of 16 hours for preparation and submission time and $270. For these three forms combined and then averaged across the filing population, the activity of keeping records and completing, submitting and complying with the Internal Revenue Code's (IRC's) basic series of returns requires 13 hours from each filer. In total, the time spent on the 148 million 1040 forms filed in 2015 consumed 1.92 billion hours of productivity. This is time spent figuring out how much we collectively owe the federal government, a significant opportunity cost. To put this figure into perspective, think of it this way: this is equal to 80,000,000 days and over 219,000 years.
We can arrive at an estimate of the value of this time by framing it in terms of private sector labor costs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. employers spent an average of $33.58 per hour worked on total non-federal civilian employee compensation in December 2015 (that figure includes wages and salaries as well as benefits).[2] For 1.92 billion hours of such work, Employers would have paid $64.6 billion, valuable labor that will instead be lost to Tax Code compliance. Add that to the $29.6 billion in estimated out-of-pocket costs taxpayers spent on software and professional preparation services[3], and the total economic value of compliance burden for just the 1040 forms can be valued at $94.2 billion.
As costly and significant as this is, it just represents the veritable tip of the iceberg. In 2010 the National Taxpayer Advocate calculated how much time is spent complying with the entire Tax Code, not just those portions dealing directly with the 1040 series. Under this estimate, Americans spend an average of 6.1 billion hours annually![4] It is difficult to fully comprehend how staggering that figure is even when one measures it against a more familiar context: that is just over 696,347 years, the equivalent of 152.5 million 40-hour workweeks. It would take 59,580 American workers, who begin employment at age 18 and work every single week of their lives with no days off, until reaching the full Social Security retirement age of 67, to account for that much time.
For 6.1 billion hours of such work, employers would have paid $204.838 billion, valuable labor that will instead be lost to Tax Code compliance. Add to that the $29.597 billion in estimated out-of-pocket costs taxpayers spent on software and professional preparation services[5], and the total economic value of the compliance burden can be valued at $234.435 billion.
Taxpayers should be prepared for this load to get a lot heavier. Each federal agency must submit its estimate ("inventory") of compliance burden hours to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. To employ a budgetary analogy, these estimates effectively amount to "authorizations" of programs; the actual compliance burdens represent the equivalent of "outlays." Therefore the inventory of burden hours has a direct relationship to how taxpayers are later hit with a heavier workload at filing time. The latest "Inventory of Currently Approved Information Collections" shows a total compliance burden of over 8.964 billion hours for all activities of the IRS.[6]
B. Length of the Tax Code
The most tangible way to examine the growth of the Code and its overwhelming complexity is to look at its physical length. In 1991 the IRC contained a staggering 45,739 sections, sub-sections, and cross-references; by 2012 that figure had reached 66,812 – a 46 percent increase. From 2004 to 2012, the Advocate reported that there were 4,107 changes to the IRC, an average of more than one every single day. Not all the changes are the result of new legislation. Last year, the IRS announced inflation adjustments to 51 tax provisions.[7]
Exactly how long is the Code? In 2012 the Advocate noted, "The tax code has grown so long that it has become challenging even to figure out how long it is." Using Microsoft Word's "word count" function, it was determined that the statutes contain 3,951,104 words (just over five times the length of the entire King James version of the Bible). [8] In October 2015, the Tax Foundation attempted to recount the Code excluding tables of contents, appendices, references, amendments, and effective dates, whose inclusion may inflate the resulting figure. [9] This brings down the count to 2.4 million words, still a daunting read by any measure, at over twice the length of the entire seven books in the Harry Potter series.[10]
As the late TV pitchman Ron Popeil would say, "But wait, there's more!" Undergirding the complex Code are the 22 volumes of Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations.[11] These are the federal tax regulations set forth by the IRS. The Tax Foundation estimates that it includes 7,655,000 words.
C. Federal Tax Forms
For many years, National Taxpayers Union and NTUF have tracked the length of the Form 1040 and its accompanying instruction booklet – materials that many American taxpayers are all too familiar with on a yearly basis. In 1935 the Form was a single page consisting of 34 lines, with two pages of instructions. Now, it has 79 lines over two pages, requiring the equivalent of 211 pages of instructions. Starting in 2014, the IRS removed instructions for two forms and nine schedules from the 1040 instructions booklet and printed them each separately. NTUF accounts for this change in the table below.
Table 1. Form 1040 Form and Instruction Booklet Length
Tax Year Lines, Form 1040 Pages, Form 1040 Pages, Form 1040 Instruction Booklet
2015 79 2 211*
2014 79 2 209**
2013 77 2 206***
2012 77 2 214
1995 66 2 84
* The IRS did not include instructions for Form 1040 schedules in this edition of the instruction booklet. The 2015 Form 1040 instructions amounted to 105 pages. Instructions for Forms 8812 and 8949 and Schedules A, C, D, E, F, R, and SE (which were included in the 2013 Form 1040 instructions) totaled 106 pages.
** The IRS did not include instructions for Form 1040 schedules in this edition of the instruction booklet. The 2014 Form 1040 instructions amounted to 104 pages. Instructions Forms 8812 and 8949 and Schedules A, C, D, E, F, R, and SE (which were included in the 2013 Form 1040 instructions) totaled 105 pages.
*** Excludes one extra page in the IRS's online PDF version regarding donations for Philippines typhoon relief.
In total, the IRS currently has 199 individual income tax forms with a reported 2.647 billion annual burden hours, and 235 business tax return forms, with a 2.833 billion annual burden hours.[12] Additional forms, schedules, worksheets, and burden hours are required for other parts of the Tax Code (which add more burden hours), including:
Income Tax Returns for Estates and Trusts: 14 forms and worksheets, 376 million hours;
Estate and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Returns: 24 forms and worksheets, 2 million hours;
Income Tax Returns for S Corporation: 7 forms and worksheets, 889 million hours;
Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Returns: 14 forms and worksheets, 388 million hours, and
Short Form Returns of Organization Exempt From Income Tax: 8 forms and worksheets, 44 million hours.
D. The Paperwork Burden
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 requires the OMB to report to Congress regarding the burden imposed on the public complying with federal forms. It should be no surprise that the Tax Code accounts for an incredibly high percentage of the government's overall paperwork burden. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the OMB tracks the total hours each agency's information collection requirements impose on the public and publishes the results online. Unfortunately, a complete report has not been published since 2014, which included Fiscal Year 2013 data.
Table 2. Treasury Paperwork Burden Relative to Government-Wide Total
Fiscal Year Government Paperwork Burden (millions of hours) Treasury Paperwork Burden (millions of hours) Treasury Paperwork Burden, Percentage of Government Total
2005 8,241 6,435 78%
Source: Office of Management and Budget.
The Treasury's paperwork burden imposed on the public has grown from 6.4 billion hours to 7 billion hours over the period from fiscal year 2005 to 2013, and in that time, has never made up less than 74 percent of the burden imposed by all other government agencies combined.
According to the latest data from the OMB's Inventory of Currently Approved Information Collections, the paperwork burden across the federal government has an approved time burden of 11,435,121,196 hours.[13] As mentioned previously, The Treasury's currently listed share of this burden is 78 percent at 8,964,126,204 hours. The IRS is responsible for 99.6 percent of the entire Treasury Department's time burden. No other entity of the government – not the EPA, the FTC, OSHA, or any of the other regulators in Washington's alphabet soup – comes close to the IRS's regulatory reach.
While in some years an agency's burden hours may actually recede from the previous year due to changes in the law, an agency's discretionary actions, or even economic conditions, the net change in the burden can often serve as a proxy for how much more complicated the agency's workload has become. The graph below shows how new statutory requirements changed the burden hours for the Department of Treasury and the entire government between each fiscal year from 2005-2013.
As Figure 1 shows, the Treasury (largely the IRS) accounts for the majority of the net changes in government paperwork burdens. From Fiscal Year 2005 through 2013, the federal government's paperwork burden imposed on the public due to new statutes increased, on net, by about 1.3 billion hours.[14] The Treasury's rose by 838.4 million hours, about 64.5 percent of the total for all federal agencies combined.
Rarely in recent years have changes in statutes resulted in a net total reduction of paperwork burden. Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, in the immediate wake of President Obama's "economic stimulus" efforts, saw an especially large increase in new paperwork due to statutes: OMB noted that in 2010, the IRS's processing of individual income tax returns (identified as "control number 1545-0074") alone required 319 million hours of additional information collection that year.[15]
E. Paid Preparation: Luxury, or Necessity?
Not only is the Tax Code and its corresponding compilation of regulations extremely lengthy and convoluted, its prose style is also cumbersome, especially for those not steeped in legal writing. Take this section regarding taxation of employee annuities for example:
[If] in the case of a contract purchased under a salary reduction agreement, the contract meets the requirements of section 401(a)(30), then contributions and other additions by such employer for such annuity contract shall be excluded from the gross income of the employee for the taxable year to the extent that the aggregate of such contributions and additions (when expressed as an annual addition (within the meaning of section 415(c)(2))) does not exceed the applicable limit under section 415. The amount actually distributed to any distributee under such contract shall be taxable to the distributee (in the year in which so distributed) under section 72 (relating to annuities). For purposes of applying the rules of this subsection to contributions and other additions by an employer for a taxable year, amounts transferred to a contract described in this paragraph by reason of a rollover contribution described in paragraph (8) of this subsection or section 408(d)(3)(A)(ii) shall not be considered contributed by such employer.[16]
A number of factors contribute to the complexity: (1) the legal language with specified definitions of key words and terms used in the text, (2) the number of sections and subsections, and (3) the level of interconnectedness – how often other sections of the Code are referenced.
Most taxpayers do not need to delve this far in to the weeds of the law, but as the Tax Code grows more complex, an increasing number of taxpayers are likelier to pay money for professional services or other assistance to help them accurately file returns. The IRS reported that over 60 percent of filers employed a paid preparer.[17] Many others are turning to tax software. The practice has become virtually standard with the Advocate reporting that in 2013 over 94 percent of filers paid someone or used software to help prepare their returns.[18] According to market research firm IBISWorld, the tax preparation industry generated over $10 billion in revenue in 2015 and was comprised of 292,718 employees (down from 318,926 employees in 2014) across 118,890 businesses.[19]
For several years, National Taxpayers Union and NTUF have tracked the average fee charged by H&R Block, one of the largest such preparation businesses in the U.S. Perhaps not surprisingly; those fees have steadily increased along with the system's complexity.
Table 3. Average Fee Charged by H&R Block
Calendar Year Average Fee
2005* $145.08
2010# $187.93
2011** $190.97
Source: National Taxpayers Union, H&R Block. *Through March 15. #Through March 30. **Through April 30; total U.S. tax preparation fees divided by number of company-owned retail returns. H&R Block's calculation of the net average fee per return has changed in recent years, sometimes including fees from other services such as Refund Anticipation Loans.
It's worth noting even after adjusting the $27.36 average fee from 1980 for inflation (equal to $78.73 in 2016 dollars), the cost of return preparation has nearly tripled since then, suggesting that the growth in tax complexity is outpacing even the technological and administrative improvements that have been made to professional preparation firms in that time.
As more filers seek professional assistance out of fear of making a mistake and receiving a dreaded audit notice, the IRS has been attempting to tighten its oversight of preparers. In 2011 the IRS attempted to impose a licensing scheme that was subsequently struck down by court rulings that determined the IRS had exceeded its statutory authority. The Tax Return Preparer Competency Act of 2015 introduced in the House of Representatives would provide the tax agency with new credentialing powers. However, safeguards are already in place as each preparer must use a unique Preparer Tax Identification Number that can be used to identify patterns of fraudulent or questionable returns. Granting additional authority to the IRS could end up forcing many independent tax preparers out of business due to increased compliance costs. The result would mean less competition and fewer choices for filers.
Equally daunting is another longstanding scheme called the "Return-Free" system, which would have the IRS send prepared tax forms to citizens for their signatures. Aside from potentially duping taxpayers of considerable savings if they were to complete returns themselves or with private assistance, many Americans would likely be intimidated into submitting to the IRS's supposed "voluntary" procedure out of fear that not doing so would provoke government retaliation. In any case, a highly successful public-private partnership known as the Free File Alliance has for more than a decade provided free electronic tax return filing to millions of moderate-income filers. This service, scrupulously overseen by more than a dozen online tax preparation firms, has saved the consumers and taxpayers more than $1.4 billion in overhead costs since its inception.
F. Affordable Care Act Introduces New Complexities
President Barack Obama's signature health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), enacted 21 new tax changes, imposing additional cost and complexity burdens on filers.[20]
It was an extremely complicated legislative package. At the time, then House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi pleaded with voters, "But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it … ." Over the years since passage, very few people have actually read all of the legislation, but the IRS has published thousands of pages of regulations related to administration of the law as well as a compendium of resources to help explain compliance with the law to taxpayers and tax preparers. The IRS website has a section devoted to "Legal Guidance and Other Resources"[21] which links to dozens of separate pages containing informational PDFs, third party resources, and multimedia related to PPACA compliance. These include:
151 tips since 2013 under the "Health Care Tax Tip Archive" page[22];
15 flyers, publications, and trifolds totaling 161 pages;
Links to 22 YouTube videos available in English, Spanish, and Sign Language;
10 podcasts; and
5 webinars.
The IRS also lists, in electronic form, many of the various legal guidance, notices and regulatory decisions it has issued regarding PPACA implementation and compliance. On its "Affordable Care Act Tax Provisions" page, the IRS links to thousands of pages of regulations (including proposed, temporary, and final versions), Q&A documents, notices, news releases, and procedures.[23] The "Affordable Care Act Legal Guidance and Other Resources" page has even more documentation, many of which overlap with those listed on the Tax Provisions page.
The law requires all Americans to obtain health insurance coverage or be subject under the individual mandate to a tax penalty known as the "Individual Shared Responsibility Provision." The tax penalty for 2015 was the greatest of either $325 per adult and $162.50 per child (capped) or 2 percent of household income. This will rise starkly this year to $695 per adult and $347 per child or 2.5 percent of income. The IRS notes, "The law prohibits the IRS from using liens or levies to collect any individual shared responsibility payment. However, if you owe a shared responsibility payment, the IRS may offset that liability against any tax refund that may be due to you."[24]
PPACA also imposes an employer mandate. In 2015 this required employers with 100 or more full-time employees to provide health insurance. The threshold was expanded in 2016 to include companies with more than 50 employees. The penalty will equal $2,160 per full-time worker, after the first 30 employees. It is expected than many smaller businesses will shed employees or switch to part-time employees due to this compliance burden.
While the mandates were imposed to force individuals and businesses into purchasing health care, a different provision of the law intended to assist low-income earners actually imposes its own compliance burden. An Advance Premium Tax Credit (APTC) is available to offset some of the cost of buying plans through the online marketplaces the law established, but there has been widespread confusion regarding the nature of this credit. At the time of initial purchase of health insurance through a state or federal exchange consumers must estimate the amount of income they will earn through the rest of the year. This is used to determine the amount of federal subsidies they will receive via the APTC. Since projecting personal income over the course of a year can be difficult, many people misestimate. Before an additional year of the premium credits can be claimed, the previous year's amounts must be reconciled to account for overpayments or underpayments.
H&R Block found that 1 out of every 3 marketplace enrollees overestimated their incomes and then discovered they qualify for additional APTC subsidies that averaged $450.[25] Sixty percent of recipients of the APTC lowballed their earnings estimates and had to pay back a portion of their credits to the government. This is up from 52 percent of filers in the last tax season. On average, $579 had to be paid back, compared to $530 the previous year. Because the APTC is a "refundable" credit, available to individuals regardless of their income tax liability, this repayment often hits low-income filers. Mark Ciaramitaro, vice president of H&R Block health care and tax services, said "[t]he level of payback of the Advance Premium Tax Credit is significant in that it's costing taxpayers a large percentage of their refund – a refund many of them count on to pay household expenses."[26]
G. The Long Arm of the IRS Reaches Overseas
The United States is the only country within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that taxes citizens wherever they reside. Six million U.S. citizens who live abroad are renouncing their citizenship because of compliance burdens of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Enacted in 2010, FATCA requires any U.S. citizen or person[a] to report and pay taxes on their financial accounts held outside of the United States, even if they reside abroad. The law also requires foreign institutions to report certain information concerning their U.S. clients to the IRS.
Ostensibly designed to increase compliance with U.S. tax law and crack down on tax evasion, FATCA compels the IRS to devote more time and energy overseas. The United States already requires all citizens, regardless of residency, to pay income taxes. And although foreign governments[27] opt involuntarily to the FATCA regulations, the element of choice is nearly non-existent for most overseas institutions: those that don't comply with the law's reporting requirements must withhold a 30 percent tax from account holders.
For American citizens living outside the U.S., FATCA represents more than an additional reporting requirement. It is driving many to reconsider their citizenship altogether, with some polls placing that number at nearly 73 percent of all Americans abroad.[28] The IRS is required to report quarterly on the number of individuals who expatriate. From 2000-2009, 511 people surrendered their passport on average per year. Since 2010, the number has skyrocketed. On average, 2,490 people expatriated per year from 2010 through 2015, with a record number of 4,279 expatriates last year.[29]
For the IRS, it is difficult to overstate the challenges that enforcing the law entails. In fact, the agency essentially admitted that it was not ready to do so, issuing a notice in May 2014 that the 2014 and 2015 calendar years would be regarded as a "transition" period for administration and enforcement of FATCA, even though final regulations were issued in January 2013.[30]
While the law's full implementation is in limbo, some analysts have been skeptical of its ability to generate enough revenue to cover its administrative and enforcement costs, for which there has been no complete estimate. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that FATCA's provisions could raise $8.7 billion over ten years, or an average of $870 million per year. By comparison, accounting firm KPMG reported that 25 percent of the global banks it surveyed will budget at least $1 million USD, with many indicating they will require more than $100 million USD annually to comply.[31] The majority of firms surveyed indicated that they would not be able to do so on their own, as KPMG reported that "given the compliance workload involved and how much is at stake, the majority of organizations (57 percent) are using or planning to use a professional services firm(s) to assist with their FATCA implementation program, with another 29 percent considering doing so."[32]
H. The U.S. Tax System Is Lagging Behind Others
It is remarkable how complex the U.S. tax system is when compared to other developed countries. Every year, accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) publishes a report entitled "Paying Taxes" which compares the tax burdens faced by a hypothetical business in countries around the world. The burden is measured in hours per year spent complying with the country's tax filing procedures, the number of payments it must make to do so, the overall tax rate the business would face, and an "ease of payment" ranking that weights those metrics. As an illustration of how bad complexity is in the United States, NTU Foundation compared these measurements to four other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
On average, PwC's studies have shown that the U.S. ranks worst among the five OECD countries compared in terms of the total time a business spends complying with the Tax Code and only France scores a worse overall ease of payment ranking. It is tied for worst when it comes to number of payments required. The study is a sobering reminder of just how much more difficult it is for U.S. businesses to comply with the Tax Code than those in other large economically developed countries.
IV. Complexity Leaves Taxpayers in the Dark and at Risk
Individuals and businesses are subjected to the administrative burden of an overly complicated tax system, as well as the IRS agents and government officials tasked with enforcing it. Unfortunately for taxpayers, that too often means difficulty getting help when they need it, and a high risk of fraud, identity theft, or otherwise compromised personal information.
A. Taxpayer Services in Decline
On average per year, the IRS is inundated with 100 million phone calls, 10 million written letters, and 5 million in-person visits to its Taxpayer Assistance Centers. [33] This is the task of the IRS, according to the Taxpayer Advocate's latest report to Congress, and the agency is simply incapable of keeping up with the workload thanks directly to tax complexity. The current state of the tax system means that many of those filers who ask for help will never receive it. That has very real implications for taxpayers' finances, as a slow-to-respond IRS means more preventable mistakes and therefore administrative backlogs; a greater demand for more readily available professional assistance; and more time spent trying to get in touch with the agency.
The problem has become so deplorable that the Taxpayer Advocate's 2014 report named the declining quality of service as the single "most serious problem" out of more than 20 others facing taxpayers. One of the clearest ways to demonstrate how increasingly difficult it is to get in touch with the IRS is by examining the "level of service" the agency achieved via its toll-free telephone assistance lines. This is a measure of how many taxpayers were able to get through to an employee and receive help before either giving up or being disconnected.
Table 4. IRS Telephone Level of Service
Fiscal Year Total Calls (millions) Level of Service (percent) Average Wait (minutes)
2009 104.2 70 8.8
2010 104.2 74 10.8
2011 112.7 70.1 13
2012 131 67.6 16.7
2013 128.3 60.5 17.6
Source: Government Accountability Office.[34]
2015 was a bad year for taxpayer services. Earlier the Taxpayer Advocate projected that the IRS would only be able to assist half of all callers. The results fell short of that. While the number of calls rose by 13 percent, the level of service – that is the percentage of taxpayers able to actually reach the IRS – fell by 40 percent. For those who stayed on the line until reaching a live employee, the average wait time to do so was over half an hour. NTUF's own President was among those who called the agency late in 2014 with a question about recordkeeping of employee expenses. He timed the wait on his phone at just less than 45 minutes, and received an incomplete answer to his question.
The scenario is arguably even worse when measured in terms of written correspondence. Taxpayers who are found to have inconsistencies or incongruities on their returns are given an opportunity to explain or offer documentation of their reasoning; the IRS records these as "adjustments inventory." The IRS has established guidelines with the goal that the issue is resolved within 45 days. When a response to the taxpayer is required, the IRS sets a target to respond within 30 days.
As of September 30, 2015, the IRS had 667,242 open correspondence cases. Any that are not responded to within the time limit are classified as "overage." According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the level of overage climbed from 40 percent in 2012 to over 49 percent in 2015.[35]
Historical data in Table 6 compiled last year by the Taxpayer Advocate (based on a slightly different methodology) shows how the percentage of correspondence not replied to within the designated time has skyrocketed.
Table 5. IRS Correspondence Overage
Fiscal Year Open Adjustments Inventory Overage (percentage)
2005 445,595 2
2012 1,028,539 48
Source: National Taxpayer Advocate 2014 Annual Report.
The numbers speak loudly and clearly: it is taking longer and longer for the IRS to respond to taxpayers facing problems with their returns in a timely manner. That means a vicious circle of longer administrative backlogs, delayed refunds and resolutions, and a larger workload for the IRS.
Going forward, the IRS has drafted a proposed "Future State Initiative" for taxpayer services.[36] The IRS seeks to shift communications with taxpayers away from phone calls and in-person visits and maximize use of online interactions. However, this plan topped the Taxpayer Advocate's 2015 list of the "most serious tax problems," noting that the IRS has not revealed comprehensive details regarding the plans nor solicited public comment.[37] The Advocate is concerned that the plan will further diminish services for certain taxpayers and drive up compliance costs.
In addition, the IRS is considering using its discretionary authority to increase existing user fees or establish new fees for certain services, but it is also attempting to hide the details of its plans from taxpayers. In the 2015 Annual Report to Congress, the Taxpayer Advocate redacted key portions of a memo evaluating the IRS's proposed new and increased user fees. Nina Olson commented on the unprecedented uncooperativeness of the IRS:
Indeed, as we obtained information from the IRS to produce this Annual Report to Congress, the IRS has asserted that numerous data points and documents we intended to include in the report are "official use only" and may not be made public. Never before has the IRS made this assertion in so many instances, and never before have we ultimately failed to come to agreement on some disputed items. To avoid the risk my staff or I could be subject to disciplinary action for unauthorized disclosure, we have been forced to redact portions of text in some sections, and we have omitted relevant information in others.
Furthermore, Ms. Olson stated in response to an NTUF inquiry, "Some of the user fees will very likely deter taxpayers from becoming compliant, simply by sending the clear message that you can't get relief unless you pay something. Most of them raise the question: What are the core functions of tax administration? If the IRS's job is to help taxpayers voluntarily comply with the laws, it seems to me it shouldn't be charging a fee when it's doing its core job."
It is unclear to what degree the IRS is serious about pursuing any of these user fee increases, but they would ultimately weaken compliance and increase the cost burdens on taxpayers.
B. Online Tools Convenient, but Identity Theft Presents a Growing Threat
In light of the frustrations they face in their in-person, written, and telephone interaction with the IRS, more taxpayers are turning to the resources on the IRS website to get help navigating the tax system. Online access has increased rapidly in recent years. However, technology often proves to be a double-edged sword. Along with a complicated tax filing process and the massive amount of personal information submitted electronically to the IRS comes a severe security threat.
Recent years have seen a major uptick in taxpayer identity theft. In some cases, non-citizens do this in order to obtain documents necessary to gain employment, but data is also stolen and used to file fraudulent tax returns to claim bogus refunds from the IRS. The latest IRS figures show that there were 2.4 million taxpayers impacted by identity theft in 2013.
A more recent and comprehensive accounting is unavailable, but the problem persists. In one major incident last year, criminals gained access to the tax information of over 700,000 people. Ironically, the thieves hacked into an IRS service designed to help the victims of identity theft. In a new benchmark study of corporate and government cybersecurity released just a few days before Tax Day in 2016, the IRS was given a grade of "F" for its network security due to expired certificates, weak ciphers, and open ports that could be vulnerable to hackers.[38]
The good news is the IRS was able to detect a number of these fraudulent filers. Through November of 2015 the agency rejected the processing of 4.8 million suspicious returns and stopped $10.9 billion in fraudulent refunds.[39] Sadly, the victims of identity theft often do not become aware that there is a problem until they learn from the IRS that someone has already filed under their name. The IRS has expanded its Identity Protection Specialized Unit but it is nevertheless overwhelmed with fraudulent returns. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reports that the average resolution time in 2013 for taxpayer identity theft cases was 278 days – nearly nine months, which is actually an improvement from 2012's 312-day waiting period.[40]
The GAO reported in April 2016 that according to IRS estimates, $25.6 billion in tax-related identity theft refund fraud was attempted in the 2014 filing year, involving 4.9 million returns. On the upside, 88 percent of that total – $22.54 billion – was detected, prevented, and recovered. However, that still means $3.1 billion in fraudulent refunds were issued, and when all is said and done the IRS has no way of knowing if more went undetected.[41]
The issue was front and center in last year's Taxpayer Advocate report which noted that the IRS takes an average of 312 days to resolve an identity theft case, even though cases referred to the Advocate directly can be straightened out in an average of 87 days. The Advocate noted:
"To its credit, the IRS has recognized identity theft as a major challenge and has devoted significant resources to addressing it. Yet the IRS still takes much too long to fully unwind the harm suffered by identity theft victims and issue refunds to the legitimate taxpayers. Moreover, the IRS has yet to implement an effective program for overseeing cases with multiple issues that require coordination among [20] different IRS units, and is allowing too many victims to fall between the cracks of IRS bureaucracy. Thus, victim assistance overall, as well as the IRS's specialized but decentralized approach, continues to be inadequate."[42]
NTU Foundation summarized more of the risks associated with Tax Code complexity in a September 2014 report, The Need for Tax Reform: Simplicity, Savings, and Security.[43]
"No taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant."
George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
Our first President's farewell reminder remains true, but the level of inconvenience and unpleasantness inherent in the current Tax Code is unacceptable. A sound tax system should be based on five basic principles: simplicity, transparency, predictability, responsiveness, and efficiency. The existing system fails on these points. Every tax season that passes in the United States without meaningful tax reform is one in which the entire system becomes closer to falling apart. Rising costs and risks associated with complexity have very real economic impacts that are felt by taxpayers on a daily basis. However, they are also felt by the millions of Americans – at home and abroad – who find themselves willing but unable to comply with the system and in turn are confronted with weeks, months, even years of financial and bureaucratic difficulties as a result. Congress and the Executive Branch must face and address the rising tide of Tax Code complexity not only for the country's fiscal future, but also its citizens' well-being. Americans deserve a better, simpler tax system.
Demian Brady is a Director of Research for the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF), the research and education affiliate of National Taxpayers Union (NTU).
[a] The IRS considers a U.S. "person" to include citizens, as well as certain nonresident individuals and estates and trusts if substantial decision-making authority is exercised by a U.S. court. See http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Classification-of-Taxpayers-for-U.S.-Tax-Purposes.
[1] Office of the National Taxpayer Advocate, "2014 Annual Report to Congress." Accessed at http://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/2014-Annual-Report/full-2014-annual-report-to-congress/.
[2] Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation – December 2015." Accessed April 9, 2016 at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf.
[3] Internal Revenue Service, "1040 Instructions: 2015." Accessed April 9, 2016 at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf.
[5] Office of the Federal Register, 79 FR 24498, https://federalregister.gov/a/2014-09819.
[6] Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, "Inventory of Currently Approved Information Collections." Accessed April 12, 2016 at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
[7] Internal Revenue Service, "In 2016, Some Tax Benefits Increase Slightly Due to Inflation Adjustments, Others Are Unchanged." October 21, 2015. Accessed April 2, 2016 at https://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/In-2016-Some-Tax-Benefits-Increase-Slightly-Due-to-Inflation-Adjustments, -Others-Are-Unchanged.
[8] Office of the National Taxpayer Advocate, "2012 Annual Report to Congress." Accessed at http://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/2012-Annual-Report/downloads/Most-Serious-Problems-Tax-Code-Complexity.pdf.
[9] Greenberg, Scott. "Federal Tax Laws and Regulations Are Now over 10 Million Words Long." Tax Foundation. Accessed April 10, 2016 at http://taxfoundation.org/blog/federal-tax-laws-and-regulations-are-now-over-10-million-words-long.
[10] "How Many Words Are There in the Harry Potter Book Series?" Word Counter Blog. Accessed April 10, 2016 at https://wordcounter.net/blog/2015/11/23/10922_how-many-words-harry-potter.html.
[11]Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. Accessed April 7, 2016 at http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title26/26tab_02.tpl.
[12] Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, "Inventory of Currently Approved Information Collections." Accessed April 12, 2016 at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
[13] Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, "Inventory of Currently Approved Information Collections: Government-Wide Totals for Active Information Collections." Accessed April 10, 2016 at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAReport?operation=11.
[14] Office of Management and Budget, "Federal Collection of Information." Accessed April 9, 2016 at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg_infocoll.
[15] Office of Management and Budget, "Information Collection Budget for Fiscal Year 2010." Accessed April 9, 2016 at https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/inforeg/icb/2011_icb.pdf.
[16] 26 U.S. Code § 403, Taxation of employee annuities. Accessed April 5, 2016 at https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/403.
[17] Braverman, Beth, "Here's When You Should Hire a Tax Pro," The Fiscal Times, March 21, 2016. http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/03/21/Here-s-When-You-Should-You-Hire-Tax-Pro.
[18] Office of the National Taxpayer Advocate, "2014 Annual Report to Congress." Accessed at http://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/2014-Annual-Report/full-2014-annual-report-to-congress/.
[19] IBISWorld, "Tax Preparation Services in the US: Market Research Report." Accessed April 8, 2016 at http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/default.aspx?indid=1399.
[20] A full list of the tax changes implemented in the PPACA is available at https://www.atr.org/full-list-ACA-tax-hikes-a6996.
[21] Internal Revenue Service, "Affordable Care Act Legal Guidance and Other Resources." http://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act/Affordable-Care-Act-of-2010-News-Releases-Multimedia-and-Legal-Guidance.
[22] Internal Revenue Service, "Health Care Tax Tip Archive." Accessed April 9, 2016 at https://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act/Individuals-and-Families/Health-Care-Tax-Tip-Archive.
[23] Internal Revenue Service, "Affordable Care Act Tax Provisions." Accessed April 9, 2016 at https://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act/Affordable-Care-Act-Tax-Provisions.
[24] Internal Revenue Service, "Questions and Answers on the Individual Shared Responsibility Provision." Accessed April 9, 2016 at https://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act/Individuals-and-Families/Questions-and-Answers-on-the-Individual-Shared-Responsibility-Provision.
[25] H&R Block, "Affordable Care Act Impact on Taxes Still Perplexes Majority." March 8, 2016. Accessed at http://newsroom.hrblock.com/affordable-care-act-impact-on-taxes-still-perplexes-majority/.
[26] H&R Block, "H&R Block: Taxpayers Following ACA Rules, Refunds Take a Hit." Accessed April 10, 2016 at http://newsroom.hrblock.com/hr-block-taxpayers-following-aca-rules-refunds-take-hit/.
[27] United States Treasury, "Resource Center: FATCA – Archive." Accessed April 11, 2016 at http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/treaties/pages/fatca-archive.aspx.
[28] Harjani, Ansuya, "Bulk of Americans abroad want to give up citizenship, "NC, October 27, 2014. Accessed at http://www.cnbc.com/id/102122343.
[29] "New Expatriate Record for 2015 – Nearly 4,300 Expatriations." International Tax Blog, February 5, 2016. Accessed at http://intltax.typepad.com/intltax_blog/2016/02/new-expatriate-record-2015-nearly-4300-expatriations.html.
[30] Internal Revenue Service, "Further Guidance on the Implementation of FATCA and Related Withholding Provisions." Accessed 3/31/2015 at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-14-33.pdf.
[31] KPMG, "Surveying the Market: Are You Ready for FATCA?" Accessed April 10, 2016 at http://www.kpmg.com/tr/en/issuesandinsights/articlespublications/pages/surveying-market-are-you-ready-for-fatca.aspx.
[33] Office of the National Taxpayer Advocate, "2015 Annual Report to Congress." Accessed at http://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/reports/2015-annual-report-to-congress.
[34] Government Accountability Office, "2014 Performance Highlights the Need to Better Manage Taxpayer Service and Future Risks." Accessed at http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/667563.pdf.
Government Accountability Office, "2015 Tax Filing Season: Deteriorating Taxpayer Service Underscores Need for
a Comprehensive Strategy and Process Efficiencies." December 2015. Accessed at http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/674248.pdf.
[35] Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, "Continued Inconsistent Use of Over-age Correspondence Lists Contributes to Taxpayer Burden and Unnecessary Interest Payments." February 17, 2016. Accessed at https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2016reports/201640023fr.pdf.
[36] Internal Revenue Service, "IRS Future State." Accessed on April 8, 2016 at https://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Future-State.
[37] Office of the National Taxpayer Advocate, "2015 Annual Report to Congress Most Serious Problems." Accessed at http://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/reports/2015-annual-report-to-congress/most-serious-problems.
[38] SecurityScorecard, "2016 U.S. Government Cybersecurity Report." April 2016. Accessed at http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/533449/SecurityScorecard_2016_Govt_Cybersecurity_Report.pdf?t=1460654088390.
[39] Internal Revenue Service, "IRS, States and Tax Industry Combat Identity Theft and Refund Fraud on Many Fronts." January 2016. Accessed at https://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS,-States-and-Tax-Industry-Combat-Identity-Theft-and-Refund-Fraud-on-Many-Fronts.
[41] Government Accountability Office, "Information Security: IRS Needs to Further Improve Controls over Taxpayer Data and Continue to Combat Identity Theft Refund Fraud." April 12, 2016. Accessed at http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/676493.pdf.
[42] IRS National Taxpayer Advocate, 2013 Annual Report to Congress, "Most Serious Problems: Identity Theft Victim Assistance," January 9, 2014. Accessed at http://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/2013-Annual-Report/id-theft/.
[43] Tasselmyer, Michael, The Need for Tax Reform: Simplicity, Savings, and Security, National Taxpayers Union Foundation. http://www.ntu.org/foundation/detail/ntuf-policy-paper-174-need-for-tax-reform-simplicity-savings-and-security-9-22-2014.


Courtyard continues to grow its UK presence with the opening of Courtyard by Marriott Oxford South. Inviting the modern traveller to work and play, the hotel features the latest Courtyard by Marriott design to ensure a refreshing and productive hotel experience. Design company Urban Reef imagined the stunning, futuristic, exterior of the property, and the interior design showcases artwork and murals inspired by the county of Oxfordshire.
Owned by EQ Hotels, the hotel is located within easy reach of Oxford city centre and its historic and cultural attractions, Bicester Village shopping outlet, and premium science and business hub Milton Park.
Combining two very distinct yet complementary buildings, The Shanghai EDITION is housed in one of the city's finest buildings; the former headquarters of Shanghai Power Company on Nanjing Road, along the tree-lined Huang Pu River port on the Bund. This Art Deco monument houses the public area of the hotel, comprising a magnificent lobby, Michelin starred Chef Jason Atherton's new restaurant, Shanghai Tavern, and a world class spa as well as multiple bars, night club, rooftop and meeting and event areas. As well as being updated and renovated, the heritage-protected historical building now flows into the state-of-the-art skyscraper development, designed to coexist and harmonise with the historical structure, while bringing it into the present day. This multi-dimensional space creates a synergy, designed for movement and flow. In the new tower, 145 rooms and suites, many with unrivalled views of the Bund, will be accompanied by an array of wining and dining spaces, including HIYA, a new Japanese restaurant by Jason Atherton on the 27th floor and Shanghai's stylish incarnation of Punch Room, the sophisticated cocktail lounge first made famous at The London EDITION and ROOF, a garden rooftop bar with 360 degree views of Shanghai.
Yet, it was essential that the hotel's spaces and interiors were infused with a contemporary, sophisticated design vernacular. In Schrager's signature style, The Shanghai EDITION possesses a dynamic fusion of old and new, embodied by the dual nature of the buildings' development. The striking Lobby and main entrance to The Shanghai EDITION features a centerpiece light custom designed by the French architectural and decorative designer Eric Schmitt. The glowing sphere, held delicately in the grasp of gently curved metal prongs, hangs elegantly like a piece of jewelry in the center of the lobby. The atmospherically designed space includes a programmable LED feature on the underside of a cantilevered canopy, which welcomes guests in from the cobblestone driveway. The 9.5 meter high Grey stone walls establish sense of grandeur and solidity in contrast with rich walnut fittings which provide a sense of intimacy and warmth. This dichotomy is a signature of the EDITION brand. In keeping with Ian Schrager's philosophy of the hotel lobby as 'a new kind of gathering place', the Lobby Bar, one of nine in The Shanghai EDITION is inset with a bespoke plaster relief artwork inspired by carvings typically observed on Shikumen (stone-gated) housing, which is unique to the fast-disappearing, traditional Shanghai urban typology.
On the 27th floor of the skyscraper sits Jason Atherton's HIYA a Japanese lzakaya-inspired restaurant, designed by Neri & Hu. Meaning 'Clouds in the Sky' HIYA is slick, sophisticated and glamorous, taking cues from Atherton's London restaurant, Sosharu, to become a nighttime destination for Shanghai's elite. Rising up the grand spiral staircase from the Shanghai incarnation of The London EDITION's award- winning Punch Room, a modern reincarnation of London's 19th-century private clubs, and on the Mezzanine is the ROOF. As guests enter the Roof they behold one of the most spectacular panoramic views of Pudong from the Bund. The main bar and high seating is enclosed within a wooden trellis intertwined with climbing ivy, where an open-air lounge area offers guests a comfortable and intimate setting for casual drinks with a view. From here, a range of EDITION's classic and innovative libations will be served, focusing on champagne and champagne-based cocktails.
The heritage building accessed through the hotel's Urban Lobby and through a separate public entrance plays host to multi-level experience for dining, drinking, dancing and amenities starting with Shanghai Tavern, Jason Atherton's all-day dining, brasserie style restaurant located on the first level. Drawing on Elliot Hazzard's period architecture and magnificent coffered ceiling, the design seeks to reference the layers of history behind the Shanghai Power Company Building; a communal space that has been interior designed for pocketed intimacy. One floor above hosts Canton Disco, a traditional Cantonese restaurant concept by the celebrated Black Sheep Group, with a contemporary update at its fore. The high energy atmosphere, addictive cuisine and unpretentious service paints a perfect picture of modern Shanghai throughout the main dining room as well as the five exclusive private rooms. The next level provides a dedicated multi-purpose space for meetings and events for up to 200 guests followed by the Club Room on level five – a gentleman's club-inspired lounge area that exudes a sense of warmth and exclusivity. The sophisticated Club Room features two indulgent lounge areas, with a nine-seat bar as well as a screening room and a KTV karaoke room.
The Spa at The Shanghai EDITION on level 6 reflects a sophisticated approach to beauty, wellness and wellbeing with an inspired blend of luxury and comfort. The Spa features a total of six treatment rooms and suites, manicure and pedicure services, sauna, an expansive relaxation area with fully equipped bar and a retail boutique. Showcasing the best wellness and beauty practices, The Spa delivers authentic Asian treatment inspired by western rituals featuring top-shelf products by Amala and Intraceuticals – designed exclusively for EDITION's well-travelled and elegant guests.
Level seven plays host to the brand new nightspot: Electric Circus, a fresh kind of club and VIP lounge for Shanghai. Conceived in the Studio 54 tradition, with its dramatic lighting, otherworldly interior and signature EDITION cocktail mixology, Electric Circus will play host to some of the world's top DJs and performers, destined to become an unmissable venue in the Shanghai nightlife scene. For discerning guests requiring the utmost in discretion, Electric Circus houses the city's ultimate private room with its own dual-access private entrances to maintain privacy.
On the rooftop, situated on the 8th level of the modern building, sits a fully landscaped Roof Garden, a perfect oasis, and one of few urban green spaces in Shanghai. Composed of a patchwork of brick and lawn terraces of differing heights, the roof garden mixes Chinese greenery with luscious, tropical horticulture. The richly planted rooftop features an under-the-stars movie theatre, a games area for lawn bowls and croquet, daybed seating, as well as the service of a full bar with, food and snacks on the roof.
The Shanghai EDITION distills the most central and desired services with precision, doing away with the obsolete, dated baggage of the prim, regulated hotel environment. This highly stylised hotel functions as a "home away from home," catering to the modern-day traveler by providing comfort and ease with refinement: now a signature that defines the EDITION brand.
It's important in our industry to know when to celebrate. This month has been all about recognising significant milestones in both hotel groups and technology.
In this month alone, we welcomed a new hotel brand, voco, while we also celebrated THE Park Hotels' 50th anniversary. From a tech point of view, we explored why there's a growing demand for wireless power in hotel design, while also exploring whether or not Alexa was welcome in the guestroom (the jury is still out, it seems).
Wrapping up the month, here are our top five stories of the week.
Intrigued to find out to what extent the power of interior design can lift a building, we checked in to review the one and only jewel of Scotland, Gleneagles… My first impressions to what I thought would be an overly stuffy and 'far too posh' hotel were immediately erased the moment I stepped foot in the building.
The countdown has started. With less than a month to go until the inaugural Meet Up North kicks off in Manchester's King Street Townhouse on July 18, Hotel Designs has announced the stellar line-up of designers, architects, hotels and suppliers who will be attending.
The Lodging Econometrics (LE) global construction pipeline trend report suggests that Marriot is leading the franchises in the global construction pipeline.
The construction pipeline that compiles statistics for every country and market in the world, states that the total pipeline stands at 12,714 projects/2,139,002 rooms, up seven per cent by projects year-over-year (YOY).
The leading five franchise companies in the global construction pipeline by project-count are: Marriott International with 2,381 projects/398,238 rooms, Hilton Worldwide with 2,180 projects/322,857 rooms, InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) with 1,600 projects/234,807 rooms, AccorHotels with 781 projects/140,396 rooms, and Choice Hotels with 629 projects/153,992 rooms. The leading brands for each of these companies are: Marriott's Fairfield Inn with 357 projects/38,826 rooms, Hilton's Hampton Inn & Suites with 599 projects/75,642 rooms, IHG's Holiday Inn Express with 709 projects/86,836 rooms, Accor's Ibis with 156 projects/22,361 rooms, and Choice's Comfort Suites with 126 projects/10,983 rooms.
According to the economics experts, there are currently 5,952 projects/1,115,288 rooms under construction, up eight per cent by projects YOY. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months, at 3,988 projects/584,433 rooms, are up six per cent while projects in early planning at 2,774 projects/439,281 rooms are up five per cent YOY.
Marriott International, Inc. has announced plans to debut the Westin brand in the United Kingdom. Owned by 4C Hotel Group and managed by RBH, The Westin London City is set to open in 2020 and will boast a prime riverfront location in the heart of the City of London. This hotel signing illustrates how the global demand for well-being continues to propel Westin's growth around the world, with recent openings in Australia and upcoming debuts in Malaysia and the Maldives.
Led by international architecture and interior design practice Dexter Moren Associates, the thoughtfully designed hotel is fluid and sculptural with a biophilic-focus, suggesting that a connection to nature enhances well-being. Upon arrival, guests enter into an atrium space that is at once open and airy, yet residential and intimate. The lobby leads into a riverside bar and restaurant, which opens onto the new public walkway affording spectacular views across the river towards Shakespeare's Globe and the South Bank.
The hotel's 220 guest rooms, including 29 suites and Presidential Suite, are designed to offer guests a nature-inspired respite in the centre of a bustling city, expertly balancing a calming palette of natural colours with contrasting tones, textures and materials. All rooms will feature Westin's signature services and amenities, such as the world-renowned Heavenly™ Bed and reviving Heavenly™ Bath experience.
Hot on the heels of Marriot's giant global expansion – which Hotel Designs revealed would expand their luxury footprint with 40 new hotels in 2018 – the group have revealed their latest project in Melbourne.
Marriott have been re-energising their Le Meridien offshoot with openings in China, US, Italy and South Korea, and the latest will be in Melbourne.
Le Meridien Melbourne will take over a property that previously served as the Melbourne Palace Theatre. The historic building will be given an extensive face-lift, but won't end up feeling all that modern, as the interior style will be mid-Century.
Global Brand Leader Brian Povinelli called the style "light-hearted yet sophisticated".
"We are delighted to re-introduce the brand – born in Paris during an era of glamorous travel – to global guests and locals alike", he said.
The hotel will open in 2020 in downtown Melbourne, in the heart of the city's creative district, surrounded by art galleries and boutique galleries, cafes, restaurants and shops.
Le Meridien Melbourne will have 235 rooms, two bars, a restaurant and a heated swimming pool.
One of the strings of the Marriott International Bow, there are almost 150 Le Meridien properties in 40 territories.
Editor's note: the images used in this article are from other Le Meridien properties.
Marriott have revealed ambitious plans to extend their luxury footprint in 2018 with a giant 40 hotel roll out.
Global Brand Officer Tina Edmunson has written a statement insisting Marriott's luxury expansion understands the "global shift in perception around luxury".
"We are uniquely positioned to provide personalised and truly differentiated experiences that resonate with this next generation jetsetter," she said.
There are eight distinct brands within the Marriott portfolio. They include The Ritz Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, St. Regis, W Hotels, The Luxury Collection, EDITION and JW Marriott.
If 40 new hotels sounds like steep growth, Marriot have some 200 hotels "in the development pipeline", across the 60 countries currently represented by Marriott, and further afield, having taken on an extra 25 countries.
Some of those countries include Iceland, Nepal, Cuba and The Philippines.
The hotel are keen to promote the work of travel intelligence platform Skift, whose research suggests authentic experiences are the bedrock of the modern day luxury seeker.
Autograph Collection Hotels has announced the grand opening of The Laylow following an extensive $60 million (£46.5 million) renovation. Bringing the brand's values of vision, design and craft to the island of Oahu, The Laylow joins a distinguished portfolio of more than 100 independent hotels around the world.
Perched above the revitalised Kuhio Avenue in the heart of Waikiki, the 251-room hotel blends mid-century modernism with its Hawaiian roots, melding the island's melting pot of cultures and the post-war architecture movement that shaped modern Honolulu.
The hotel's creative design was led by Fritz Mesenbrink and Jeremy Pelley, co-founders of Official Mfg of Portland, Oregon who drew upon works by mid-century visionaries to inspire the aesthetic of guestrooms, suites and public spaces while Hawaiian furnishings from the period have been reinterpreted to give the hotel a hint of whimsy and its distinct sense of place.
Upon arrival to The Laylow, guests rise above Kuhio Avenue to the open lobby level replete with simple, elegant mid-century furnishings and a stunning terracotta breezeblock wall, sculpted in graphic patterns reminiscent of Hawaiian tapa and open to the trade winds, preserving the flow of air and energy throughout the space. Furniture includes refurbished antiques and custom pieces inspired by mid-century modern classics, created with reclaimed woods and vintage style accents throughout the hotel. A hotel greeter with a tray of chilled local pineapple bites and oshibori, chilled towels, offers instant refreshment to weary travelers.
Each well-appointed guestroom and suite boasts bold, custom-created monstera leaf wallpaper, inspired by vintage bark cloth patterns, perfectly capturing and refreshing the motif of the time period. Surf nostalgia photography books, art tomes and an authentic ukulele line the shelves. The colour palette blends warm earth tones and textural neutrals for a calming ambiance, while pops of burnt orange, cobalt hues of the ocean and tropical pinks add bursts of eccentric flair.
Autograph Collection Hotels, part of Marriott International, has announced The Blackstone will join the brand's diverse and distinguished portfolio of more than 100 independent hotels around the world on June 7, 2017. A hallmark of hospitality and history in the Windy City, the hotel shares the brand's values of vision, design and craft and it's 'exactly like nothing else' mantra.
Following the hotel's large scale architectural restoration of $139 million (£107 million) in 2008, this multi-million dollar renovation led by Chicago-based firm The Gettys Group refreshes the original work of renowned Chicago architectural firm Marshall and Fox, highlighting the early twenty-first century grandeur and craftsmanship while incorporating state-of-the-art technology and modern amenities. A Chicago landmark on the city's Cultural Mile along Michigan Avenue, the hotel's refreshed interior design carries through to the hotel's 335 guestrooms and suites, which feature marble accents, plush bedding and dynamic textiles. Upgraded accommodations up the ante with unobstructed views of Grant Park and Lake Michigan spanning from Navy Pier to Soldier Field.
Living up to its distinction as the "Hotel of Presidents" for over 100 years, The Blackstone has hosted US presidents and foreign dignitaries, scandalous political and mob exchanges, a star-studded array of actors, and more than a dozen movie productions. In 1920, The hotel became known for the Smoked Filled Suite following the Republican Party leaders' secret meeting to nominate Warren G. Harding as their candidate for president.
Additionally, the hotel's Suite of Presidents saw the likes of President Dwight Eisenhower watching his nomination for president from the room in 1952, and President John F. Kennedy preparing for DC negotiations on the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. In turn, The Blackstone also became known as the location of Chicago gangster Al Capone's barbershop, nestled below street level in a "barbershop" lounge that still remains today.
The hotel honours these illustrious and notorious tales through "Back in the Day" Turn Down & Other Stories available in each room, encouraging guests to create their own history while staying at The Blackstone Hotel.


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Harrison Halewood – A Rising Star!
Written by admin on March 13, 2020
Harrison Halewood is young talented powerhouse that has been featured on HBO's upcoming show Karma, as well as several movies, television and stage acting gigs. He is a rising star, being multi talented as an actor, model, singer and songwriter! And he is only 15 years old,…that's right, only 15! Harrison writes his own material with a soulful voice beyond his years. Think of a cross between John Mayer, Jason Mraz and Adam Levine in the body of a high school student.
This young man never cease to impress me, as he effortlessly shows kindness, has a humble disposition, hard work ethics and compassion towards others. I notice that Harrison thinks of others first and is making a meaningful impact. Thanks can also be given to his AMAZING and SUPPORTIVE family. I am sure this is the first of many things to come for, Harrison Halewood.
Harrison will be on "The Celebrity Spot" with T-Huny and myself, Soko Nix. March 15, 2020 at 6pm EST 🇺🇸.
Take a listen to Harrison's song entitled "I Love You"!
Carol Ann Sewell On March 15, 2020 at 11:42 am
Love Harrison's voice and it's
Soulfulness! He is a rising Star
I expect even greater things from this "multitalented " young man! I'm a huge fan of Harrison's!
New Song!
Baecation with J. Holiday
Tiana Xiao's Destiny
Chris Will Love No More
The Gore Boyz Spend a Bag
Can't Get Past It with Einstein
Morning Madness
Morning Madness brings you family friendly music to listen to while you are getting the kids ready for school or driving to work. Wake up, Thank God for the Day, Refresh and Get Dressed!
Freestyle Sessions
Holy Lifestyle
Serious Drip Indie
Ronny Morris' Window View
Ashima Franklin's Comedy Tour

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Shang-Chi Post-Credits: Xialing Actress Addresses MCU Future (Exclusive)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has been a long time coming, and the titular hero is the first new mainstay hero of Phase 4 to get their own film. It seems that Marvel Studios has once again made the right call—reactions to the film across the board are off the charts, showcasing yet another win for the MCU.
What hasn't been in the spotlight nearly as much is Meng'er Zhang's Xialing, Shang-Chi's sister—who certainly proved her merit throughout the film. She even ran an underground fight rink that recruited both Wong and Abomination, a mighty feat at such a young age.
Zhang's character was also going through a similar personal journey as Shang-Chi. By the end of the film, both had inherited the Ten Rings from their father—Xialing's situation was just a little bit different.
Zhang Talks Shang-Chi's Sister's Post-Credits Scene
The Direct was able to sit down and talk with Meng'er Zhang, who portrays Xialing in the just-released Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
When the film ends, the last after-credits scene gives Xialing all of the attention, showcasing how she is now in control of her father's legacy; more namely, The Ten Rings.
How will Xialing differ from her father when it comes to controlling such a large-scale organization?
According to Zhang, she's "very excited," for Xialing's future, and the actor believes the character to be "like her father in many ways."
"I'm very excited for her… I think she is like her father in many ways. She loves power, and she's such a tough, strong woman."
Of course, one of the main things people want to know after the release of the movie is what didn't make it into the film? More particularly, is there anything noteworthy that got left on the cutting room floor?
Zhang holds strong in saying that "she really love[s] the final version of it," and that she "think[s] it's perfect."
"I just love everything that we did for this film, and I really love the final version of it… I think it's perfect. It punched me so hard, and I cry every time I watch it."
With Xialing in such a place of power and importance, it looks like she is set to be in a key role within the MCU going forward. But when it comes to the wider scope of it all, one has to wonder how she may interact with other corners of the MCU.
Would Xialing be the type that would ever be open to working with a group like the Avengers? Or is she very much focused on her own agenda, and doing things her way?
Meng'er Zhang wouldn't elaborate on the topic, simply saying that "anything's possible:"
"I don't know. I really want to know. But you know, anything's possible. This is the Marvel Universe."
Xialing, Leader of the Ten Rings
While Meng'er Zhang certainly held strong when it came to revealing anything new, it was interesting to see her comment that Xialing is very similar to her father—something which is evident in the film itself.
But what Zhang's reiteration may indicate is that the Ten Rings may not change all that much. Of course, some adjustments are all but guaranteed—after all, there will likely be a stubbornness to go against the specifics of how her father ran the organization through the years.
But with her similarity to her father Wenwu, don't be too surprised if Shang-Chi ends up butting heads with his sister in the future.
While it's not likely that Xialing will become a full-on bad guy by any means, she's bound to back some questionable ways of doing things when she's in control of an organization like that. After all, her previous ownership involved an illegal underground fight club, so the character's certainly not a goody-two-shoes.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is out now in theaters.


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S.League legend Grabovac returns to coach Warriors
(From left) New Warriors FC coach Mirko Grabovac with daughter Lucija, 16, wife Katarina and daughter Karla, 20. PHOTO: COURTESY OF MIRKO GRABOVAC
Grabovac, who renounced S'pore citizenship in 2008, targets trophy with ex-club
Sports Correspondent
"A club legend returns for the 2018 season", nine-time S.League champions Warriors FC teased on their Facebook page last month.
That "legend" is none other than their former striker Mirko Grabovac, who has 218 S.League goals, five Golden Boot titles and four championships to his name.
Ten years after renouncing his Singapore citizenship to return to his native Croatia, the 46-year-old former Lion will be at his old stomping ground as head coach from the middle of this month. He replaces Razif Onn, who will remain at the club as head of youth development.
Grabovac said: "I don't want to talk about my achievements as a player because I'm now a coach. Warriors are a big club, so we must work together to achieve something, maybe a trophy (Warriors last won the S.League title in 2014)."
Warriors general manager Paul Poh confirmed an initial one-year deal and said: "We felt we needed a European-style training programme and Mirko is now an experienced coach, so it's a good fit."
After representing the-then Yugoslavian Under-16 and U-18 teams, Grabovac played top-tier football in Croatia with NK Primorac 1929 in the 1990s.
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But, injuries and a fallout with an agent hindered his progress before he moved to Singapore for a fresh start.
He was an instant hit with the Warriors as he plundered 135 league goals from 1999 to 2003, winning the top-scorer award in his first four seasons and leading his club to the 2000 and 2002 league titles before making the switch to Tampines Rovers in 2004.
The hotshot was given Singapore citizenship in 2002, earning 12 caps but failing to score for the Lions.
Grabovac remained prolific at club level with the Stags, netting 83 league goals from 2004 to 2007, winning the S.League twice more in 2004 and 2005, when he also bagged his final Golden Boot.
In 2008, he joined Sengkang Punggol as player-coach, but struggled with the Beep Test at the age of 37 and opted to go back to Croatia to be with his parents, wife and two daughters.
In the decade that followed, Grabovac coached Croatian teams such as NK Imotski, NK Mosor and NK Junak Sinj before taking up the Warriors' offer. He will be joined by fitness coach Marko Skomrlj.
"I like attacking football but, to play that style, the team must have good technique and good fitness," said Grabovac.
FITNESS IS KEY
"Fitness is most important because if you are fit, you are not going to be easily injured and you make fewer mistakes on the pitch.
"Our young players are fit, but I don't want them to just run all over the place. I like intelligent players who know what to do in every moment.
"I know of the changes the S.League has made and it is not new to me. I worked with many young players in Croatia and it's good to give them a push."
Although he has been away for 10 years, Grabovac's presence was still felt in the local scene as he recommended several Balkan players to local clubs, including 61-goal Mislav Karoglan and S.League title-winning defender Marin Vidosevic to the Warriors, and 21-goal Miroslav Kristic to Balestier Khalsa.
He is on the lookout for a good foreign player to join Japanese defender Kento Fukuda who has been retained as one of two imports.
"It's not easy because it is mid-season in Croatia and we must see who is free. We must find a solution and bring in a good player who can score many goals," he said.
While he declined to dwell too much on his decision to renounce his Singapore citizenship, he said: "In life, sometimes you don't know why you make certain decisions. I can only say I am a family man and my family needed me with them.
"But I remember only the good things about Singapore.
"I was proud to play for the national team and I feel I still can contribute to Singapore football in some ways."
davidlee@sph.com.sg
Read articles by David Lee


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Iranian universities: Uprising of the chained elite
Iranic drones over the skies of Kyiv. What do they mean for the Iranian students who are protesting against the hated regime across the country? When it comes to assessing the prospects for the protest movement, Russia and China are playing an increasingly important role. The Iranian Ministry of Science has been relatively open to exchanges with the West in recent decades. The course was set anew with the arrival of President Ebrahim Raisi. The leading cadres in the ministry were replaced. Universities are now required to look to Russia and China. This seems to be the end of a collaboration in which Western universities benefited from the above-average Iranian students and the country from the expertise they brought back from the West – if they did come back. The emigration is great.
Since September 28, the students have known that they are not alone in their fight against the regime. On that day, 72 professors from the University of Tehran, most of them well-known scholars, published an open letter to the government in the newspaper "Etemad", in which they openly named the country's political and economic misery and demanded the freedom of all demonstrators. The letter spread like wildfire, and other universities followed suit and published similar appeals. Nevertheless, the students cannot rely on the fact that the universities are firmly at their side. The management positions are occupied by people loyal to the regime, as is the ministry.
Architectural competition: This is what the new building of the Hochschule für Gestaltung should look like
Tags: Iranprotest movementregimerevoltRuhollah KhomeinistudentsUniversity of Tehran
Padua's magic: Protected by the water
How do I explain it to my child? What Muslims do in Ramadan
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New coach at Schalke 04: Thomas Reis is undeterred
Exercise has many benefits even for people with advanced cancer
Karen Duve's new novel about the Austrian Empress: The Sisi Decade
COVID Boosters Can Help People With Lupus
How To Clean a Reverse osmosis System


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Running SonarQube as a Cluster is only possible with a Data Center Edition.
The Data Center Edition allows SonarQube to run in a clustered configuration to make it resilient to failures.
You need five servers dedicated to SonarQube. Servers can be VMs, it's not necessary to have physical machines.
Servers must be co-located (geographical redundancy is not supported).
You can find the operating system requirements for servers in the Requirements page.
The Data Center Edition supports PostgreSQL, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server. If your data is currently stored in MySQL you can use the SonarQube DB Copy Tool to move it.
You need a dedicated license to activate the DC Edition. If you don't have it yet, please contact the SonarSource Sales Team.
Don't start this journey alone; as a Data Center Edition customer SonarSource will assist with the setup and configuration of your cluster. Get in touch with SonarSource Support for help.
With this configuration, a node can be lost without impacting the service. More precisely, one application node and one search node can be lost without impacting users.
Here are the type of machines we used to perform our validation with a 200M Issues database. This could be used as a minimum recommendation to build your cluster.
It is expected that all application nodes are identical in term of hardware and software (same JVM build). Similarly, all search nodes should be identical to each other. But application and search nodes can differ. Generally, search nodes are configured with more CPU and RAM than application nodes.
Now you have 5 machines with the same SonarQube software it's time to start configuring them to specialize them. Some will become application nodes, some search nodes.
The full set of cluster parameters is listed here.
Once this configuration is done, take a break and a coffee, then you can Operate your Cluster.


text:
Appel Insurance Advisors
One Gateway Center Suite 915 • Newton, MA • 02458
Phone: 6173327900 • Fax: 6179042684
david@appeladvisors.com
Securities offered through Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. (RAA), member FINRA, SIPC,. RAA is separately owned and other entities and/or marketing names, products or services referenced here are independent of RAA.
We are registered to sell Securities in the following states:
Massachusetts.
Appel Advisors Privacy Policy — Privacy Policy
e ar icensed to sell Insurance Products in the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Caina, Vermont, Virgina, and Washington.
We are registered to sell Securities in the following states: Massachusetts.
One Gateway Ctr Ste 305 - Newton, MA 02458-2879 - 617-332-7900


text:
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$this->pageHint=t('Here you can add new Content Link for your Site');

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<?php $this->widget('cmswidgets.clink.ClinkCreateWidget',array()); ?>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Policy network for the game 2048 I'm trying to implement a policy network agent for the game 2048 according to Karpathy's RL tutorial. I know the algorithm will need to play some batch of games, remember the inputs and actions taken, normalize and mean center the ending scores. However, I got stuck at the design of the loss function. How to correctly encourage actions that lead to the better final scores and discourage those that lead to worse scores?
When using softmax at the output layer, I devised something along this:
loss = sum((action - net_output) * reward)
where action is in one hot format. However, this loss doesn't seem to do much, the network doesn't learn. My full code (without the game environment) in PyTorch is here.

A: For the policy network in your code, I think you want something like this:
loss = -(log(action_probability) * reward)
Where action_probability is your network's output for the action performed in that timestep.
For example, if your network outputted a 10% chance of taking that action, but it provided a reward of 10, your loss would be: -(log(0.1) * 10) which is equal to 10.
But, if your network already thought that was a good move and outputted a 90% chance of taking that action you would have -log(0.9) * 10) which is roughly equal to 0.45, affecting the network less.
It's worth noting that PyTorch's log function isn't numerically stable and you might be better off using logsoftmax in the final layer of your network.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Heartburn is a burning sensation that is felt in the chest and throat, which occurs when the acid from our stomach travels back into the esophagus. The person suffering from heartburn may also experience a sour and acidic taste in the mouth.
If you suffer from heartburn / acid reflux more than 2 times a week, this is known as Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD).
In their 3rd trimester of pregnancy, due to increased levels of hormones that "soften" the ligaments that normally keep the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) tight thereby causing the acid to flow up.
The larger uterus during pregnancy causes the organs in the abdomen to be pushed up against the diaphragm, resulting in acid reflux, as the physical integrity of the LES is affected.
The extra weight gained during pregnancy around the waist often presses on the abdomen and increases the pressure inside. This pressure may force food up into the esophagus.
2) Hiatus hernia condition, which pushes part of the stomach up through the diaphragmatic hiatus.
3) People who overeat, or consume spicy and oily food, as well as acidic food. Food that may aggravate acid reflux symptoms include peppermint, chocolate, tomatoes, onions, fatty foods, coffee, tea and citrus fruit juices.
4) People who consume alcohol in large amounts.
5) People who consume certain medications.
Wear loose and less restrictive clothes.
Elevate the head of your bed and sleep on your left side.
Looking for s simple solution?
2 of my friends used to suffer from regular heartburn problems after food. Both started consuming Lacto-Berry to take care of their digestive system health. But both reported that they found Lacto-Berry to significantly reduce their discomfort caused by heartburn, even after taking just 1 sachet after meals. I advised them to take 2 sachets as they have such condition, and consume it regularly. It's the best form of prevention.
Email me at askfuiping@gmail.com to buy Lacto-Berry. Click here to refer to Shuang Hor company's website for Product Description and Price.


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Bridget Venatta
Julia Lynn
On Sullivan's Island, a young family teams up with designer Cortney Bishop and architect and builder Oliver Dungo to conjure a fresh twist on the beach house with vistas for days
Suite Views: A piazza off the couple's bedroom overlooks the marsh, while the windows in their bath offer harbor views.
Scenic Living: Retractable doors in the kitchen and dining areas allow the adjacent rooms to function as one 800-square-foot indoor/outdoor living space.
Scenic Living: This front porch looks out on the view that first captured the owners' hearts.
Office Space: Navy bookshelves of Bishop's own design provide practical storage in the home office; a painting by an unknown artist inspired the nook's turquoise and orange palette.
Modern Romance: The homeowners' clean-lined aesthetic, seen in the geometric patterns of the iron stair rails, is tempered by pieces that exude Old-World charm, like this floral chaise lounge.
Windows to the Soul: Glass panels and porches galore bring the landscape indoors.
In the Swim: A wading pool graces one of four front porches; in the rear.
Party Time: A pool, jacuzzi, and cabana make the backyard party-ready.
A few years ago, on the west side of Sullivan's Island, a young family fell in love with a particularly gorgeous view—and it was more than just a passing romance. The longtime island dwellers were seriously smitten with a stretch of wetland first glimpsed from the front porch of a friend's house. On each return visit, they fell deeper for this singular slice of marsh and sky, with its earthy palette of greens, browns, and blues occasionally shot through with the neon hues of the sunrise. In the distance, they could see the Ben Sawyer Bridge ushering folks from the bustle of Mount Pleasant to a more relaxed place where the pace is slower and the beach is never far. "There's something about that bridge that makes time stop, even in the middle of a Monday," muses the wife and mother, who's also a marriage and family therapist. The couple was so besotted by the whole tableau that, along with their three-year-old son and newborn daughter, they eventually moved a matter of blocks to make its captivating beauty the backdrop of their everyday lives.
But alas, their path to domestic bliss was not without roadblocks. Though they were sold on the location, the structure that originally occupied the site was another story. "The house felt very '80s, with low ceilings and murals all over the walls, and it was set too far back in the lot," recalls the man of the house, a real-estate investor and mortgage broker. In its place, he dreamed of a clean-lined update on the traditional beach house, complete with plenty of floor-to-ceiling windows and roomy porches, all built at an elevation designed to capture the marsh from the best possible vantage point. "The lot is so wide that I knew the views could be almost panoramic," he adds. With this vision in mind, the couple called on architect and builder Oliver Dungo and interior designer
Cortney Bishop to help bring their ideas to life.
The partnership with Bishop was a no-brainer, as the duo first hired her back in 2008 to refresh their previous residence, a classic cottage nearby. "The process we took with the first home was so vital to this second project, because the clients had spent the time honing in on what they liked and refining their personal style," Bishop says. As a result, the couple already had a firm grasp on their desired aesthetic, which Bishop describes as "elegant and clean, with romantic, Old-World details." They used this knowledge to guide Dungo towards blueprinting a 4,500-square-foot house that's organic with a modern edge. And there is something decidedly contemporary about the space throughout, from the geometric patterns embedded in the entryway's iron staircase to the white marble accent walls and the use of sculptural light fixtures that feel like pieces of modern art. "I love how Oliver didn't use crown molding, and there aren't any shiplap walls—it feels newer and fresher than the typical Sullivan's home," the husband and father adds. But all that modernity is balanced by natural details such as wide-plank French oak floors and exposed wooden ceiling beams, which both work to maintain a sense of warmth.
The straight edges are further softened by the gorgeous natural landscape, as Dungo oriented the house at an angle that maximizes the northeast-facing view from most of its 11 rooms. "Because the house is twisted just so, even the back guest bedroom has a porch that captures the marsh," he continues. This bring-the-outside-in approach is perhaps most evident in the adjoined kitchen and dining room, where mirroring retractable glass doors can be flung open to create one 800-square-foot indoor/outdoor room. Here, the front porch flows seamlessly into the dining area, allowing for effortless alfresco meals whenever the mood strikes. And in the rear, the kitchen continues out onto another spacious porch outfitted with a wood-fired oven, all overlooking a pool, jacuzzi, and backyard cabana. The whole set-up is ideal for ocean-breeze-kissed entertaining. "We just had my son's birthday party here, and we opened the doors up and had a band playing on the back patio," the owner recalls. "There were some 75 people in here, and everything just flowed."
That sense of airiness is another thing that sets this domicile apart. "Most Sullivan's houses, you've got this bedroom here and that bedroom tucked over there, and the ceiling is sloped because of the gabled roof," says the husband. By comparison, this floor plan is refreshingly uncluttered. On the first level, the open layout makes room for wide, clear pathways. And on the second floor, the roof's more relaxed pitch allows for 10-foot ceilings, and the bedrooms are arranged in a logical row. "The rooms flow nicely, and it's just so efficient," he adds.
With the architectural bones established, Bishop began layering in the finishes. "Part of my design philosophy is less is more in terms of materials," she says. With that in mind, she curated a small group of high-quality accoutrements, which she put to work across multiple rooms to create a cohesive feel. The front and rear patios are crafted from the same European limestone, and the floors throughout the interior are made from French oak—with the exception of the first-floor jewel-box powder room, where patterned tile makes a bold statement underfoot. An expanse of Calcutta gold marble works as a striking accent wall in the living room, and slabs cut from the same quarry look equally stunning on the countertops in the kitchen and master bath. "We're not trying to jar you with crazy features," Bishop explains. "Using the same special materials throughout the house makes everything feel more serene and spacious."
Furnishings and accessories maintain the careful balance between Old-World romance and of-the-moment freshness. In the foyer, a feminine floral chaise lounge tempers a graphic gallery wall populated by black-and-white family photos and navy-and-white figures painted by area artist Lynne Hamontree. Glass chandeliers, crystal knobs, and an antique oriental rug bring vintage flair to the otherwise sleek master bath. Nods to the scenic setting are threaded throughout, from the green grasscloth wallpaper that wraps the master bedroom to the tobacco-stick fixture that lights up the three-year-old boy's bedroom. "It's bringing in the colors of the marsh landscape, the blues and greens and browns and creams," Bishop says. With this palette in place, the interiors complement, rather than compete with, the views. And in keeping with this approach, one of the most eye-catching pieces in the owners' art collection—an abstract painting by Tim Hussey—hangs in the foyer, one of few areas without any windows.
The homeowners couldn't be happier with the finished abode, which exudes a sort of understated, salt-soaked glamour. "I love the quintessential Sullivan's cottages, but I feel like we really captured this new wave, a fresh twist on the beach house," Bishop says. And of course, despite all the stunning architectural details and furnishings, the views are still the star of the show. "Every morning, I take a cup of coffee to the porch and watch the sun rise," says the lady of the house. "We've been here for a year now, and I'm not desensitized to this beauty. It's still the thing about this house that I love the most."
Art / Sullivan's Island / In the Kitchen / The Living Room / The Lot / style / Accessories / Beach house / House / alfresco / White / White f / Family / architectural / Design / Interior Design / artist / beauty / coffee / Kitchen / Ben Sawyer / Tim Hussey / Cortney Bishop / Home / Life / light fixtures / Greens / entryway / Everyday / Features / Floral / Modern / porch / Master Bedroom / materials / Neon / ONE / Oliver Dungo / Painting / Romance / SALT
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Relaxed Refinement
With help from Caribbean-influenced designer Allison Elebash, Kirk and Tara King turned an 1890s Sullivan's Island...
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Home, Made
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Gulidjan people occupied the region of Colac, living a semi-nomadic life for several thousands of years before Europeans settled.
Find out if you can order one of our nbnTM Broadband deals at your address in Colac today by clicking the button below. The nbnTM is due to pass approximately 7800 homes in the area by the time it is completed.
nbnTM Broadband allows significantly faster and more reliable access to the internet than ever before. As the nbnTM rolls out around Colac, Tangerine Telecom is ready and able to connect your home.


Take a look around on a sunny summer day. You'll see people swimming, working in the yard, boating, and even sunbathing. maybe you're one of them. It's great to get outside when the weather is nice, but it's important to protect your skin from the sun.
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