Talking Tax

The Supreme Court is back in session, and is set to consider a tax case that could lead to more scrutiny of Treasury actions. CIC Services, LLC v. IRS is scheduled for arguments Dec. 1. The justices will consider whether a Civil War-era law prohibits courts from ruling on a reporting requirement at issue, before the plaintiff has actually been penalized. Kristin Hickman, a law professor at the University of Minnesota who specializes in tax and administrative law, says this case, along with a similar one on the court’s docket for this fall, could give the judicial branch a much more prominent role in taxation than it has ever had. (Hickman has written amicus briefs in support of CIC Services.) She speaks with host Jeff Leon for the latest episode of Talking Tax, our weekly tax podcast.

One of the main takeaways from The New York Times' bombshell report unveiling the President's tax returns is that the line between his business and personal filings is nearly nonexistent. However, Bloomberg News' Laura Davison says that's pretty common for people like Donald Trump who are in the real estate and development business and own their own closely held family business. On today's episode of Talking Tax, Laura speaks with host Amanda Iacone about Trump's taxes and about how professionals in the tax field are reacting to the newest revelation.

It seems no one is really happy with the IRS' rules governing the professional conduct of tax professionals: not the courts, not tax professionals, and not even the IRS itself. On today's episode of Talking Tax, host Jeff Leon speaks with two people who have special insight into the agency's efforts to rewrite its ethics rules: a tax practitioner who has been following this issue for years, and a tax advisory who fought back against an IRS ethics charge—and won.

On this episode of Talking Tax, we highlight a new project that examines the anxieties and uncertainties of tax professionals around the billions of dollars in coronavirus relief funding that Congress has allocated. Host Jeff Leon speaks with Bloomberg Industry Group deputy team leaders Colleen Murphy and Jay-Anne Casuga about the questions they received from subscribers and about what trends they were able to glean from these queries. Click here to read more from our multi-part series about navigating virus aid and minimizing risk.

On this episode of Talking Tax, we speak with former IRS Commissioner Mark Everson about some of the many tax credits that small businesses may not be aware they can claim. For example, Everson says businesses that are operating differently or making new products due to the coronavirus pandemic may be eligible to receive a research and development tax credit. Everson also weighs in on how his former agency is struggling to respond to the mountains of correspondence it has received since the pandemic started and also tells host Amanda Iacone that the IRS' struggles here have affected him personally.

On this week's episode of Talking Tax, we hear from public policy researcher Donnie Charleston with the group E Pluribus Unum about how the tax system in America provides white taxpayers with benefits people of color often don't or can't enjoy. Charleston speaks with Bloomberg Tax's Yuri Nagano about how the racial history of real estate in the U.S. is still causing great inequality today in the way property taxes are levied and collected.

Numerous tax-related provisions, including changes to the Paycheck Protection Program and the expansion of anti-layoff credits, could make their way into a larger pandemic relief bill being drafted in Congress right now. However, even though lots of these provisions enjoy bipartisan support, the broader legislative package is stalling as Democrats and the White House can't come to an agreement on its bottom line price tag. On this episode of our podcast, Talking Tax, host Amanda Iacone speaks with Bloomberg Tax congressional reporters, Colin Wilhelm and Kaustuv Basu, about which of these tax provisions will wind up in the final bill—if and when the two sides can reach an agreement.

The IRS doesn’t collect data on taxpayers’ racial or ethnic backgrounds, which advocates say makes it difficult to determine whether tax policies disproportionately hurt minorities. In this week’s episode of Talking Tax, host Amanda Iacone speaks with reporter Allyson Versprille about the push to allow the IRS to collect more detailed demographic data. Ally also talks about how recent pandemic relief laws have put an enormous amount on the agency’s plate at a time when it may be least able to handle that extra work.

The months of self-isolation and social distancing are beginning to weigh on all of us, and tax professionals are no different. On today's episode of Talking Tax, which originally aired on May 7, we hear from four different accountants about the new stresses they're facing and how they're managing to cope. Talking Tax host Amanda Iacone speaks with a nearly 40-year veteran of the industry, the owner of a husband-and-wife practice juggling her firm and her five kids, and more. We learn how work practices have been forced to change and about how the crisis has made it imperative that tax professionals shift their role from accountant to adviser. Producers: Amanda Iacone and David Schultz

Black people are hugely underrepresented in the accounting profession, with some estimates putting the share of CPAs who are African American at less than one percent. A long and ugly history of racist hiring practices at accounting firms has a lot to do with this, but so do current CPA license requirements, according to Theresa Hammond, professor at San Francisco State University’s College of Business. She says aspiring CPAs must take an additional two to three extra semesters of coursework after graduation, which can put people from low-income backgrounds, who may need to start earning income right away, at a disadvantage. On this episode of our podcast Talking Tax, host Amanda Iacone speaks with Hammond about her research into why the accounting field still struggles with diversity. She’s joined by Shannon Nash, chair of the National Society of Black CPAs, who talks about her efforts to reform the way CPA licenses are awarded and change the way the African American community views accounting as a professio

Apple scored a huge and definitive win last week in its lawsuit against the European Commission, effectively blocking the Commission's attempt to force the tech giant to pay tens of billions in taxes. But Bloomberg Tax's Isabel Gottlieb says this is just one battle in the broader war over how and where multinational companies should pay taxes. On this episode of Talking Tax, Isabel breaks down the lawsuit and talks about where it fits into the escalating global tax debate.

The IRS' delayed tax deadline came and went this week, but many taxpayers are far from stable as the coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of letting up. On this episode of Talking Tax, reporter Allyson Versprille talks about what practitioners are telling clients who, despite the three month delay, are still struggling to pay their taxes. And she discusses whether the IRS may take even further measures to provide these people with additional relief.

The U.K.'s financial regulator made big waves this week when it ordered the big four accounting firms to split up their auditing and consulting businesses. But Bloomberg Tax correspondent Michael Kapoor says, despite a string of auditing scandals, this move is not nearly as aggressive as it could be. Kapoor speaks with Talking Tax host Amanda Iacone about what this will mean for the big four firms and whether Parliament will make time in its already busy schedule to enact stronger accounting laws.

By now it's no secret that many states offer film and television productions huge tax breaks. But what you may not know is that those tax breaks can be bought and sold, and they've been ending up in the hands of some very wealthy businesses and individuals—including one person who is arguably the wealthiest, most famous woman on Earth. On this week's episode of Talking Tax, reporter Sam McQuillan explains to host Siri Bulusu why Hollywood studios are selling the tax credits they get from states, who's buying these credits, and whether there's any momentum among policy makers to address this show business tax scheme.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin created a stir earlier this month when he sent a letter to the OECD asking it to pause its years long effort to change the way multinational companies are taxed, which many saw as a prelude to the U.S. pulling out of these talks altogether. Not so, according to Pascal Saint-Amans. He’s the Director of the Center for Tax Policy and Administration at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He told Bloomberg Tax reporter Hamza Ali that the U.S. is still actively participating in these talks and he expects the countries will reach an initial agreement as soon as this fall. Saint-Amans spoke to Ali June 24 at the Tax Leadership Forum, a virtual event hosted by Bloomberg Tax.

Two years ago, the Supreme Court gave states the authority to collect sales tax from out-of-state online retailers with its historic Wayfair opinion. Now, with the pandemic blowing gaping holes in budgets across the country, states may be more eager than ever to flex their new authorities. On this week's episode of Talking Tax, host Amanda Iacone talks with two state correspondents, Michael J. Bologna and Tripp Baltz, about how Wayfair has changed state tax policies over the past two years. They also discuss how states that were reluctant to aggressively pursue sales taxes from online retailers may quickly shed that reluctance now that they are starving for tax revenue.

Congress has lowered the boom and allocated trillions of dollars to counteract the pandemic and its devastating economic fallout. It also made numerous tweaks to the tax code, all aimed at getting more money into people's wallets immediately. How's that working? Could Congress have been more effective by instead just dropping piles cash out of helicopters? That's the topic of a panel discussion on this week's episode of Talking Tax. Steven M. Rosenthal of the Urban Institute and Kyle Pomerleau of the American Enterprise Institute talk with moderator Colin Wilhelm, a Bloomberg Tax reporter, about the effectiveness of Congress' relief efforts and what it should do next.

The federal Paycheck Protection Program was rolled out in a hurry—and it showed. Its initial round of loans totaling nearly $350 billion, intended to keep businesses afloat during the pandemic crisis, was exhausted in less than two weeks. And many small business owners complained that it was as hard to spend their loan dollars in compliance with the law as it was to even get a loan in the first place. Since then, Congress has added more money to the program. And now it's changing the rules of who can get that money and how they can spend it. On this week's episode of Talking Tax, host Amanda Iacone talks with Capitol Hill reporter Kaustuv Basu about the revision of the PPP program that cleared Congress late Wednesday night. Kaustuv also explains why the next pandemic relief bill that Congress takes up may be one that makes your vacations tax deductible.

Trying to get a court injunction against an IRS rule that hasn't been used yet to take your taxes? You may be out of luck. A law dating back to the mid-1800s specifically forbids taxpayer lawsuits that challenge many Treasury Department actions that haven't been enforced yet. The idea behind the law is that, if litigation were to hinder the department's ability to collect revenue, the government could grind to a halt. This law is about to get a lot more scrutiny in the coming months now that the Supreme Court accepted a case for its next term that challenges its constitutionality. On this week's episode of Talking Tax, reporter Aysha Bagchi speaks with host Siri Bulusu about why the Supreme Court is taking up this case now and about what could happen if it rules against the Treasury Department.

This is not a great time to be in the future predicting business, but unfortunately that's what accountants at companies large and small are paid to do. On this week's episode of Talking Tax, host Amanda Iacone speaks with accounting consultant Esther Mills about how to create estimates at a time when predicting what conditions will be like just a few months from now seems laughable. Mills talks about what accountants can do to be honest and accurate while still providing investors with the information they need.