Annette Nellen

Nellen, Annette

Professor and Director of the MST Program
CPA, CGMA, Esq.
MST Program
Department of Accounting & Finance
Lucas College and Graduate School of Business
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0066

Email

Preferred: annette.nellen@sjsu.edu

Telephone

Preferred: (408) 924-3508 (use email to leave messages)

Office Hours

By Appointment Only

Office Location

  • BT 955 

Courses - (add'l info)

  • Bus 223A - Tax Research and Decision-making
  • Bus 223F - Tax Accounting Periods and Methods
  • Bus 223H - Tax Policy Capstone
  • Bus 225H - Taxation of Property Transactions
  • Bus 225K - Advanced Individual Taxation
  • Bus 227B - Ethics for Tax Practitioners
  • Bus 227D - Employment Taxation & the Modern Workforce
  • Bus 227E - Foundation for Understanding Taxation

Links

Links to additional websites maintained by Professor Nellen

Education

  • JD, Loyola Law School, 1987
  • MBA, Pepperdine University, 1981
  • BS (Accounting), CSU, Northridge, 1980

Licenses and Certificates

  • Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), 2013
  • Certified Public Accountant, California, 1987
  • Attorney, California, 1987

Bio

Annette Nellen, CPA, CGMA, Esq., is a professor in and director of San José State University's graduate tax program (MST), teaching courses in tax research, accounting methods, property transactions, high tech tax matters, employment tax, ethics, and tax policy.

Professor Nellen served on the AICPA Tax Executive Committee for over six years (chair from October 2016 to May 2019). She is a past chair of the AICPA Individual Taxation Technical Resource Panel. Professor Nellen was the lead author of the AICPA tax policy concept statement #1, Guiding Principles of Good Tax Policy: A Framework for Evaluating Tax Proposals (2001, updated 2017), still in use today. Professor Nellen is the recipient of the 2013 Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award given by the Tax Division of the AICPA, the highest award given by the accounting profession in the area of taxation. In fall 2013, Professor Nellen completed a three-year term on the Executive Committee of the Taxation Section of the California Bar and in 2024 will complete a 4-year term on the CLA Tax Section Executive Committee, and serve another year as an adviser. She was the first co-chair of the CA Bar Tax Section's Women in Tax Committee. Prof. Nellen is the recipient of the 2019 Benjamin F. Miller Award from the Taxation Section of the California Lawyers Association for achievement and contribution in the filed of state and local taxation law. She chairs the ABA Tax Section's Tax Policy & Simplification Committee and is a former chair of the ABA Tax Section’s Sales, Exchanges & Basis Committee.

In 2023, Professor Nellen was appointed to the IRS Advisory Council to a 3-year term and served as chair of IRSAC for 2024.

Professor Nellen is the author of Bloomberg BNA Tax Portfolio #533, Amortization of Intangibles. She is an editor for the four Southwestern Federal Taxation textbooks (Individual Income Tax; Corporations, Partnerships, Estates & Trusts; Comprehensive; and Essentials of Taxation). She is a regular columnist (Moving Forward?) for Tax Analysts’ State Tax Notes.

Professor Nellen was included in Accounting Today's 2024 list of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting; the only accounting/tax professor on the list.

Professor Nellen has testified before the House Ways & Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee, California Assembly Revenue & Taxation Committee, and tax reform commissions and committees on various aspects of federal and state tax reform. In 2000, Professor Nellen served on the academic panel that advised the Joint Committee on Taxation staff for the tax law simplification study submitted to Congress in 2001 (which included her proposal for EITC simplification). In 2015 she was appointed to the California Board of Equalization Executive Director’s Advisory Council (now the CDTFA Director's Advisory Council).

Professor Nellen maintains the 21st Century Taxation website and blog (www.21stcenturytaxation.com), as well as several websites on tax reform, state tax nexus, e-commerce taxation, worker classification, marijuana taxation and ethical issues, and virtual currency taxation.

Professor Nellen is a graduate of CSU Northridge (BS Accounting), Pepperdine (MBA), and Loyola Law School (JD). Prior to joining SJSU in 1990, Professor Nellen was with Ernst & Young and the IRS (revenue agent and lead instructor).

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