Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services
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Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services
The information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference to the definitive proxy statement for Simon’s 2017 annual meeting of stockholders to be filed with the SEC pursuant to Regulation 14A.
The Audit Committee of Simon's Board of Directors pre-approves all audit and permissible non-audit services to be provided by Ernst & Young LLP, or Ernst & Young, Simon’s and the Operating Partnership’s independent registered public accounting firm, prior to commencement of services. The Audit Committee has delegated to the Chairman of the Audit Committee the authority to pre-approve specific services up to specified individual and aggregate fee amounts. These pre-approval decisions are presented to the full Audit Committee at the next scheduled meeting after such approvals are made. We have incurred fees as shown below for services from Ernst & Young as Simon’s and the Operating Partnership’s independent registered public accounting firm. Ernst & Young has advised us that it has billed or will bill these indicated amounts for the following categories of services for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively:
| 2016 | 2015 | |||||
| Audit Fees (1) | $ | 4,008,000 | $ | 4,072,000 | ||
| Audit Related Fees (2) | 4,809,000 | 4,336,000 | ||||
| Tax Fees (3) | 381,000 | 448,000 | ||||
| All Other Fees | — | — |
(1)Audit Fees include fees for the audits of the financial statements and the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting for Simon and the Operating Partnership and services associated with the related SEC registration statements, periodic reports, and other documents issued in connection with securities offerings.
(2)Audit‑Related Fees include audits of individual or portfolios of properties and schedules of recoverable common area maintenance costs to comply with lender, joint venture partner or tenant requirements and accounting consultation and due diligence services. Our share of these Audit-Related Fees is approximately 59% and 57% for the years ended 2016 and 2015, respectively.
(3)Tax Fees include fees for international and other tax consulting services and tax return compliance services associated with the tax returns for certain joint ventures as well as other miscellaneous tax compliance services. Our share of these Tax Fees is approximately 81% and 89% for 2016 and 2015, respectively.
Part IV
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