Talking Tax

Despite decades of work to educate more Black lawyers, the percentage of Black associates and partners in firms across the U.S. remain very low, and well below those of other professional careers. Big Law firms across the board are ramping up social justice efforts as the nation engages in a renewed dialogue on race and equality. But some have accused firms of using minorities as “diversity props”...

Research from former IRS economist Kim Bloomquist made waves last year when he found that the agency's audits of low-wage Earned Income Tax Credit filers has been going up while audits of high-income earners have been going down. Bloomquist joins us on our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, to discuss why this has been happening and how—or even whether—the Biden administration will attempt to tackle thi...

Businesses all across the country have been shutdown for days, weeks, or even months at a time due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many assumed their insurance policies would help them defray some of their lost revenue. But those assumptions were, by and large, wrong. In this special audio documentary, “Business, Interrupted” we look at why insurers denied the claims of their shuttered policyholders....

President-elect Biden's plans to reshape tax policy, including the roll back of several provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, may be partially or fully thwarted if Republicans hold onto the Senate. That's according Colin Wilhelm, a Bloomberg Tax reporter who covers Capitol Hill. Colin joins host Amanda Iacone on our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, to talk about what a Biden administration w...

A series of auditing scandals in the U.K. made it seem like a fait accompli that we'd see major legislation forcing auditors to be more independent. But 2020's unending string of crises means Parliament has been unable to devote attention to this difficult issue. On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, host Amanda Iacone speak with Bloomberg Tax U.K. correspondent, Michael Kapoor, abou...

The NCAA used oppose the legalization of sports betting. But, now that it's lost that fight at the Supreme Court, the collegiate athletic association has decided to cash in on the trend. On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, host Jeff Leon talks with reporter Sam McQuillan about the NCAA's decision to allow colleges to enter into endorsement deals with sports betting companies. Sam a...

The 137 countries trying to forge a global approach to taxing multinational companies are behind schedule, hobbled by the pandemic and by disagreements about dozens of issues large and small. And the U.S., home of many corporate giants, has objections. On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, host Amanda Iacone talks with Bloomberg Tax reporter Isabel Gottlieb about why these internatio...

New rules for corporate auditors are on their way, but many of these auditing firms are worried that international standards for how firms assess their risk will diverge from those in the U.S., leaving them to cope with a patchwork quilt of do's and don'ts. On this episode of Talking Tax, host Amanda Iacone talks with Tom Seidenstein, chair of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Boa...

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 Uni...

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...

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...

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...

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 form...

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 w...

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...

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 rel...

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 own...

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 Bus...

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...

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 meas...

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...

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...

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 Organizatio...

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. Bol...

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...