A Message from Pacific Northwest License Tax and Fraud Association President:
Greetings PNLTFA members,
As you may recall, we had re-scheduled the PNLTFA Annual Conference, set for in May 2020 at the Olympia / Lacey Hampton Inn, and moved it to mid-October in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. This schedule change was based on several factors, including the Governor’s Proclamation, which shut down most industries except for those essential for continued operation, first responders or those engaged in support of COVID-19 relief or other operations. Because fraud and related training don’t fall into those categories, we opted to use our October training date and re-shape it into a two-day conference, hoping that the date would be well beyond the pandemic and we could safely re-group while we network, reconnect and learn new and interesting fraud fighting tips and brush up on core skills!
During that time, we continued to monitor the global situation with COVID-19, and realized time was not on our side, and the COVID-19 pandemic has not subsided nearly as quickly as any of us would like. The current restrictions for in-person attendance in Thurston County, for instance, would have only 50% capacity, and food catering options would prevent buffet-style options that we normally see in conferences, opting instead for boxed lunches, such as cold cut sandwiches or other similar options. In addition, the Governor has put in place a mandatory mask policy for all persons in public, including at training conferences, and including the speaker.
Adding these together, the PNLTFA Board did not feel this would contribute to a successful and enjoyable conference, and voted unanimously to push the conference to its normal month, to the second week of May 2021 (May 11th – 13th – we well release details at a later date). We will still be offering the “How to Testify” course at that conference unless forces beyond our control force us to change our training topic. If that happens, we will make that announcement immediately.
As a result, attendees who originally purchased tickets have two options:
You may, of course, opt for a full refund for the purchase price of your ticket, either through yourself or through your agency.
If you wish, we can apply the funds to the May 2021 conference, eliminating the need to register as an attendee again, or coordinate training funds for your staff.
You may also transfer the registration to another staff as well.
For any paid tickets that were fully paid for via credit card or an agency warrant sent to us, please let us know what you, your agency or your training unit would like us to do.
If you registered and indicated you need to pay via invoice, there’s nothing further you need to do – we will cancel any invoiced payments and you’ll simply need to re-register for the May Conference!
Also, we will also be looking to host our PNLTFA Winter 2021 Training, currently scheduled for January 19, 2021! We will, as always, be hosting a variety of topics, including two hours of ethics – look for an announcement for this training in the next few months!
In closing, I apologize for the inconvenience. I know many of you, like myself and the rest of the PNLTFA Board, were looking forward to this event! However, we could not host a successful training event in the current environment with the ever-changing dynamic of the pandemic and the need to support physical distancing and combat the spread of this disease.
I look forward to seeing you all in the new year – I will see you all in 2021!
Stay healthy and stay safe,
Nathan Kresse
PNLTFA President
