Talking Tax
344 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 days ago - ★★★★ - 96 ratingsTalking Tax, from Bloomberg Tax, is a weekly discussion of the most pressing issues facing tax and accounting professionals. Each week the podcast features discussions with lawmakers, federal regulators, lawyers, and journalists. From the courts to Capitol Hill to the IRS, Talking Tax has it covered.
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Episodes
Black CPAs Are a Rarity, and That's No Coincidence
July 31, 2020 19:45 - 27 minutesBlack 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 ...
Apple's Win in EU Is One Battle Amid Global Tax War
July 23, 2020 19:12 - 13 minutesApple 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.
Tax Day Delay Little Help to Still Hurting Taxpayers
July 16, 2020 17:46 - 15 minutesThe 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.
UK's Big Four Breakup Not Nearly as Tough as It Seems
July 09, 2020 21:37 - 19 minutesThe 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 ...
Filming on Location? It's Lights, Camera, Tax Breaks!
July 02, 2020 17:59 - 8 minutesBy 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 stat...
Pascal Saint-Amans on Progress With Global Tax Talks
June 25, 2020 16:13 - 21 minutesTreasury 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...
Pandemic Crash Puts E-Commerce in State Tax Crosshairs
June 18, 2020 23:21 - 12 minutesTwo 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. ...
Congress Unleashes Torrent of Cash, But Is It Working?
June 11, 2020 20:04 - 26 minutesCongress 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 Pomerlea...
Paycheck Program in Flux as Congress Tweaks Its Rules
June 04, 2020 18:29 - 13 minutesThe 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 ...
SCOTUS May Curb Treasury Civil War-Era Lawsuit Shield
May 28, 2020 20:48 - 11 minutesTrying 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 ...
Accountants Must Forecast the Future, Pandemic or Not
May 21, 2020 20:45 - 16 minutesThis 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 i...
How Pandemic Vacations Can Turn Into Tax Nightmares
May 14, 2020 20:46 - 8 minutesMany people are now working and living away from their usual homes or offices, either by choice or otherwise, as they wait out the spread of the coronavirus. In which jurisdiction do these people pay taxes? On this episode of Talking Tax, reporters Isabel Gottlieb and Siri Bulusu look at why this is a huge headache not just for taxpayers but also for their employers, who may have to start withholding in states they've never withheld in before. They also talk about the even more complicated ...
Virus Strains Professional, Personal Lives of Tax Pros
May 07, 2020 21:37 - 12 minutesThe 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, 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 c...
Huge Stimulus Now, Higher Taxes Later, EY Exec Says
April 30, 2020 17:40 - 5 minutesMany tax chiefs at international companies are struggling to figure out the implications of the trillions of dollars of stimulus funds countries have injected into their economies in recent months. But Kate Barton, the global vice chair of tax at EY, says they should also be looking out for the ensuing hangover: an inevitable series of tax hikes that will be needed to pay for all of this. Barton spoke with Talking Tax host Siri Bulusu about what firms' tax managers should be watching as the g...
Latest Pandemic Relief Bill Likely Won't Be the Last
April 23, 2020 20:19 - 13 minutesAnother day, another multi-billion dollar emergency spending bill clears Congress. On this episode of our podcast, Talking Tax, congressional reporter Colin Wilhelm talks about why the legislation passing today is more of a stopgap measure, and how a larger bill that could have significant impacts on the tax code is likely just over the horizon.
Tech Savvy Accounting Firms May Thrive After Pandemic
April 16, 2020 21:01 - 19 minutesSome accounting firms that delayed or deprioritized adopting new technology are now finding that their slow-and-steady strategy is no longer an option. The remote work necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic is forcing these firms to go digital—and fast. On today's episode of Talking Tax, host Amanda Iacone talks with Garrett Wagner, a CPA who also runs a consulting firm that helps accountants upgrade their tech. He says the firms that are behind in their remote work capabilities may need to...
Tax Day Delay Makes Accountants Rip Up Their Calendars
April 09, 2020 21:42 - 9 minutesMany tax professionals plan their entire years around this upcoming Wednesday, April 15—also known as Tax Day. But things will be different this year. The IRS has delayed the filing and payment deadlines for federal taxes by three months to give tax payers and tax preparers more time to deal with the fallout from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. And while this extra time was certainly welcomed, it does mean that this filing season will be unlike nearly any other most CPAS have experienced. O...
How to Report Earnings After an Unprecedented Quarter
April 02, 2020 20:21 - 18 minutesThis would normally be the time when most companies would be closing their books for the first quarter and getting ready to report their earnings. But now, with the coronavirus pandemic in full force, many companies are simply struggling to survive and operating with a skeleton crew. On this week's episode of our podcast, Talking Tax, we hear from Todd Castagno, a tax and accounting analyst for institutional investors at Morgan Stanley. He tells Talking Tax host Amanda Iacone about the challe...
Tax Code Is Weaponized in Feds' Fight Against Virus
March 26, 2020 18:03 - 13 minutesCongress and federal agencies are taking steps that, until recently, would have been unthinkable in an attempt to mitigate some of the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. On this episode of Talking Tax, we hear from reporter Allyson Versprille about whether the IRS is doing enough to make life easier for taxpayers—and for its own employees. And Bloomberg Tax's Colin Wilhelm talks about how Congress' $2 trillion spending package is essentially a "bridge loan for the American p...
How Congress Will Step in to Solve State Tax Chaos
March 19, 2020 18:35 - 7 minutesSmall businesses are still struggling to deal with the chaos that resulted from the Supreme Court's Wayfair decision less than two years ago. Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) is one of the people hoping to bring order from this chaos for small businesses. On this episode of our podcast, Talking Tax, we speak with Kim, the chairman of a House Small Business subcommittee that handles tax issues, about how the Wayfair decision is affecting businesses in his district and elsewhere, and about whether Congre...
Virus for CFOs Is Recession, 9/11, and War All-in-One
March 13, 2020 15:24 - 11 minutesThese are trying times for CFOs at companies both large and small. Ash Noah, a former CFO for a global logistics company, says it reminds him of the Great Recession, the 9/11 attacks, and the Gulf War all rolled into one. On this special coronavirus episode of our Talking Tax podcast, we hear from Noah, now a managing director at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, about what CFOs need to be doing now to respond to the pandemic and about what the federal gover...
New Retirement Law Giving Benefits Managers Headaches
March 12, 2020 18:16 - 10 minutesThe ink from the President’s signature was barely dry on last year’s SECURE Act before many of its provisions went into effect, forcing companies to change the way they manage their employees’ retirement accounts. Many of these companies are turning to people like Veena Murthy, a principal at the accounting firm Crowe, LLP, who helped craft the SECURE Act in her previous job as a counsel at Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation. Bloomberg Law’s Warren Rojas spoke with Murthy about some of...
Swiss Re Exec Says Keep Close Eye on OECD Tax Talks
March 05, 2020 18:34 - 13 minutesAndrea Grainger, head of transfer pricing operations at insurance and reinsurance giant Swiss Re, is closely watching ongoing OECD talks aimed at rewriting global corporate tax systems. She spoke with Bloomberg Tax reporter Isabel Gottlieb about how different parts of the plan would affect her industry—and why all companies should be paying attention.
IRS's Blessing Discusses IP, Real-Time Auditing Issues
February 20, 2020 21:51 - 22 minutesPeter Blessing, an associate chief counsel at the IRS, joins Bloomberg Tax senior reporter Allyson Versprille to talk about the agency's strategy for wrapping up implementation of the 2017 tax law. At Bloomberg Tax's 2020 Outlook on Tax event in Washington, Blessing discusses challenges resulting from companies wanting to bring intellectual property back to the U.S. He also addresses initial international issues arising from the IRS's real-time auditing program for some large corporations.
Treasury's Harter Talks International Tax Regulations
February 20, 2020 19:53 - 10 minutesL.G. "Chip" Harter is spearheading the Treasury Department's implementation of the international provisions of the 2017 tax law. He said the department aims to finish this by October. Harter spoke with Bloomberg Tax reporter Isabel Gottlieb at Bloomberg Tax's 2020 Outlook on Tax event in Washington. Harter spoke about a Senate inquiry into Treasury's rulemaking process and he also addresses what's next for U.S. negotiations on tax treaties after the Senate finally broke a decade-long treaty l...
Nobelist Romer Wants to Target Tech Giants With Taxes
February 13, 2020 15:10 - 14 minutesGoogle, Facebook, and other tech giants have too much market power and way too much information about all of us. That's the opinion of lots of political figures, as well as of Nobel economist Paul Romer. What makes Romer different is his preferred way of dealing with this problem: taxes. U.S. states would be the best place to start, Romer says. He speaks with Bloomberg Tax correspondent Michael Bologna on the latest episode of Talking Tax.
Introducing Downballot Counts
February 10, 2020 19:37 - 21 minutesThis week, we're sharing an episode of the newest weekly podcast from Bloomberg Industry Group, Downballot Counts. It's a podcast about the 2020 U.S. House and Senate elections and the fight to control Congress. The series is hosted by Bloomberg Government Senior Elections Reporter Greg Giroux and Elections Team Leader Kyle Trygstad. Subscribe to Downballot Counts wherever you get your podcasts.
Converting to a C Corporation: Things to Think About
February 06, 2020 20:36 - 12 minutesSome of the biggest investment funds—Ares Management Corp., KKR & Co. Inc., and others—converted from partnerships to C corporations after Congress slashed the corporate tax rate in the 2017 tax law. But conversions aren’t for everyone, not by a long shot. Jeremy Swan, managing principal at CohnReznick in New York, talks about the pros and cons, the questions that businesses should ask themselves, and the political uncertainties right now that signal the wisdom of a “wait and see” approach to...
Millionaires Group Eyes Corporate Tax Fairness, Too
January 29, 2020 20:23 - 12 minutesPatriotic Millionaires isn’t just about advocating higher taxes for the wealthy, as Chair Morris Pearl discussed in a recent Talking Tax episode. The group also thinks fairness requires multinational companies to pay tax in the countries where their sales revenue comes from, and they should disclose how much tax they pay in each country. In this episode, Pearl talks with host Amanda Iacone about these issues and why corporate political spending is a problem.
Patriotic Millionaires ‘Move Needle’ on Taxing Rich
January 23, 2020 20:44 - 19 minutesMorris Pearl is somewhat encouraged by all the talk about wealth taxes these days. The Patriotic Millionaires, which he chairs as a volunteer job, has “made a lot of progress in moving the needle” toward its argument for taxing the rich more and paying people more equitably. Pearl, who made his wealth initially at BlackRock Inc., talks with Bloomberg Tax’s Amanda Iacone about the wealth tax proposals, legislation to tax investment income at the same rate as earned income, the “ridiculous” car...
Congress Went to Court for Trump’s Tax Returns. Why?
January 16, 2020 20:10 - 22 minutesHouse committees, among others, have been trying to get President Donald Trump’s tax returns and other financial documents, and have turned to the courts to enforce the effort. Why doesn’t Congress use its own enforcement? Cornell law professor Josh Chafetz thinks the legislative branch has ceded too much power to the judicial branch. He points to the Nixon tapes effort in the 1970s as a significant turning point, when Congress went to courts for the first time in an information dispute with ...
The Tax Decade: How the 2010s Led to Where We Are Now
January 09, 2020 18:57 - 24 minutesTalking Tax embarks on the 2020s with a lively conversation about how tax policy evolved through the 2010s. Bloomberg Tax law analyst Mary Gillmarten, a veteran of government and private-practice work, reviews the decade’s major developments—especially how the U.S. and other countries started tackling globalization and the digitalized economy. And she has thoughts about implications for our future.
The OECD and Taxes for the Digital Economy: a Primer
December 19, 2019 19:39 - 13 minutesThe Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is going into 2020 with some of its most complex work ever: shepherding efforts for a global rewrite of corporate taxation systems in the digital economy. Host Siri Bulusu spoke with Bloomberg Tax reporter Isabel Gottlieb about issues the OECD is facing and implications for countries and companies.
Supreme Court Hears Case Over Divisive Tax Refund Rule
December 12, 2019 21:52 - 24 minutesU.S. Supreme Court justices turned their attention this term to a long-standing federal common law rule—the Bob Richards rule—that courts have used to determine who gets a tax refund in cases involving a parent company’s bankruptcy. Bloomberg Tax legal reporter Aysha Bagchi sits down with host Siri Bulusu to describe the controversy and walk through the lively Dec. 3 oral arguments in the case, Rodriguez v. FDIC.
U.S. Treasury Tax Policy: A Talk With David Kautter
November 21, 2019 16:17 - 21 minutesDavid Kautter, assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy, discussed international digital tax issues, regulations stemming from the 2017 tax law, and more in an exclusive interview at the Bloomberg Tax Leadership Forum Nov. 19. Background reading: The Treasury Department is planning to issue regulations restricting how hedge fund managers can claim a valuable tax break by early next year. IRS Office Carrying Out 2017 Tax Law No Longer Exists: Kautter
Technology Means Transformation for Audit Sector
November 14, 2019 20:10 - 21 minutesPatricia Cummings, chief risk officer and a managing partner at accounting and consulting firm Citrin Cooperman, discusses how technology is transforming the accounting and auditing environment. Artificial intelligence, data analytics, and blockchain are changing what aspiring auditors should know—as the industry looks for “critical, strategic thinkers.”
Religion and the Tax Code
November 07, 2019 18:48 - 13 minutesIn the U.S., religious practices have an unclear relationship to the tax code. Sam Brunson, a professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, has an idea to give some structure to the way policy makers deal with that relationship. Congress historically writes religious accommodations into the tax code on a case-by-case basis: A group of people appears with a specific tax problem, and lawmakers decide whether to write a fix. But what if there were a framework that would help them conside...
The View From a Global Tax Chief: EY’s Kate Barton
October 31, 2019 18:22 - 21 minutesKate Barton has been navigating unprecedented change in tax systems around the planet since becoming EY’s global vice chair for tax and legal services in early 2018. Trade wars and Brexit are roiling markets and expectations, and countries are scrambling for their share of corporate revenue while trying to transform their tax regimes for the digital-commerce age. The OECD aims for consensus by 2020 in its project on tax system modernization, but as Barton points out, “these are in fact guidel...
CECL: What You Need To Know About New Bank Accounting
October 24, 2019 19:40 - 17 minutesA new U.S. accounting standard is about to make a huge difference in what banks’ financial statements and earnings look like—and for some of them, what their future lending practices could be. The standard is known as CECL—for current expected credit losses. It’s considered accounting rulemakers’ chief response to the 2008 financial crisis. Starting in 2020 banks have to venture into new territory, factoring future economic developments into expectations for credit losses, and put aside loan ...
How Are States Taxing the Income Called GILTI?
October 17, 2019 17:22 - 18 minutesThe federal tax on a category of income called GILTI—global intangible low-taxed income—has state-level implications for multinational businesses. Congress created GILTI to stop companies from shifting profits abroad through intangible assets—royalties, patents, and the like. When a company’s total overseas income has been taxed abroad at less than a certain rate, the U.S. applies a tax. In the U.S., state governments often conform their own tax laws to the federal tax code. But with GILTI, s...
ESG Investment Boom Spotlights Corporate Disclosure
October 10, 2019 18:50 - 21 minutesIt’s a major theme for a burgeoning number of investors: concern for sustainability and social values as drivers of financial decisions. That means boom time for ESG investing—driven by examination of businesses’ environmental, social, and governance positions. Companies are disclosing more and more about their environmental footprints, how they treat their employees, how their leadership operates, and more. The information, which is beginning to appear in mainstream financial reports like 10...
India Tax Dispute Plays Out at International Court
October 03, 2019 19:02 - 8 minutesBusinesses are watching India closely as the Modi government cuts taxes and takes other steps to woo investors into the enormous market. One place to watch is the Hague, where a longstanding dispute between India and Cairn Energy is playing out. Cairn Energy is fighting a big tax bill—$1.6 billion plus interest and penalties—that India delivered retroactively for a 2006 internal restructuring transaction. The company took India to binding arbitration at the International Court of Justice, und...
What Are Micro-Captive Insurers?
September 26, 2019 20:23 - 10 minutesMicro-captive insurance companies play a useful role for relatively small businesses that need to insure risks they can't buy coverage for elsewhere. The businesses self-insure, setting up companies that are captive to their owners. Because Congress allowed micro-captive owners a tax advantage, some companies have abused the structures in ways that induced the Internal Revenue Service to put them on its list for extra-close scrutiny. The IRS has won a few big cases against micro-captives, and...
Weed Shops Have a Cash Problem. Can States Make It Easier?
September 19, 2019 20:39 - 18 minutesWads of cash. That’s how owners of recreational marijuana businesses haul in their taxes, because big banks are reluctant to work with the industry while marijuana is still illegal under federal law. U.S. states may pull in as much as $1.6 billion in taxes from recreational marijuana sales this year—that’s not including medical marijuana—so that’s a lot of wrinkled bills from the register. A number of states and cities have stepped up with ideas to make payment safer and more efficient. Nevad...
OECD’s Saint-Amans Talks Up Global Tax Deal Prospects
September 11, 2019 19:29 - 13 minutes“Relax a bit,” Pascal Saint-Amans advised countries that may fear losing a lot of revenue under a new global approach being developed to tax cross-border business—especially digital business. The OECD-led project toward agreement on a plan aims not to create big revenue winners or losers, Saint-Amans said in a Sept. 11 interview at the International Fiscal Association meeting in London. He’s the OECD’s top tax official, heading work on the plan that would give more taxing rights to countries ...
How Apple’s Hometown Tax Deal Grew to $70 Million
August 29, 2019 20:57 - 16 minutesMany states and cities offer tax breaks and other incentives to lure businesses and jobs—often raising questions about the actual benefit of the expensive measures. California communities have a unique version, one that Bloomberg Tax’s Laura Mahoney shed light on this year. In extensive data research and reporting, Mahoney uncovered Cupertino’s payment of nearly $70 million to Apple through the years. It started when the company was in trouble in 1997, and it continues with monthly payments t...
Buffalo Wings and Opinions: Judge Holmes Talks Tax
August 22, 2019 20:49 - 26 minutesU.S. Tax Court Judge Mark Holmes is one of those judges who can make a person glad to be reading a legal opinion. His judgments are often marked by wit, clarity, and pointed references to literature that illuminate a plaintiff’s plight or a point of law. He once explored Buffalo wings and other cuisine in a decision about a tax dispute involving “material participation.” In this episode, Holmes reveals that he will write an “interesting and very long opinion” in probably his biggest pending c...
Tax Extenders, Corrections on Capitol Hill’s Fall Menu
August 15, 2019 20:36 - 17 minutesSome complicated tax issues face Congress when lawmakers return after Labor Day. Extenders—those expired or about-to-expire temporary tax breaks for specific groups—remain in play big-time in both House and Senate. The House Ways and Means Committee has passed an extenders package, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) says he will make the issue a Finance Committee priority in September. Meanwhile, the outlook for passage of technical corrections to the 2017 tax law remains unclear. There’s the s...
$100M Donation Case Opens Window on Donor-Advised Funds
August 08, 2019 20:55 - 19 minutesThe National Philanthropic Trust calls donor-advised funds the most popular method of charitable giving—nearly a half-million accounts hold $110 billion in assets. Now a court fight between a wealthy family and a fund to which they donated stock may offer a look into how these funds work. Universities and community foundations run their own charitable funds, but big-name investment managers like JP Morgan, Vanguard, and Fidelity operate them, too. They often convert complex donations—art, sto...
Trump Could Dust Off Tax Rule for French Retaliation
August 01, 2019 20:28 - 12 minutesCountries around the world are talking about taxing the revenue of giant digital-business companies. In July, France became the first European country to enact a digital services tax—immediately drawing the ire of U.S. officials. The U.S., home of digital giants like Amazon.com Inc., wants France and other countries to wait for a global agreement on digital taxation, which could rewrite the rules that determine where and how multinationals in many industries are taxed. In the meantime, Washin...