Talking Tax

For tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, the corporate tax rate under §11(b) was amended to remove the graduated rates in favor of a flat 21%. Additionally, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, §55(a) was amended, repealing the corporate alternative minimum tax. This led to questions regarding the applicable tax rates for a corporation whose tax year began before January 1, 201...

House and Senate committees held several tax-focused events this week ahead of the April 17 tax filing deadline. Top Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs officials testified before lawmakers about the status of the 2018 IRS filing season and the process for reviewing and releasing tax regulations. OIRA and Treasury announced a deal that wo...

Lisa Zarlenga of Steptoe & Johnson, LLP, joins Talking Tax with host Andrea L. Ben-Yosef to discuss what tax advisors need to know about cryptocurreny. She discusses what cryptocurrency investors need to do as they file their returns, ICOs and airdrops and how they are taxed, and the impact of tax reform on cryptocurrency issues.

New guidance on a tax law change limiting interest deductibility tells taxpayers that the IRS is making progress in helping businesses deal with the change, but some of the more challenging issues have yet to be broached. Tony Nitti, a tax partner at WithumSmith+Brown PC in Aspen, Colo., joins Talking Tax host Allyson Versprille to discuss the guidance—Notice 2018-28—and what it means for business...

It's not every day the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to take on a tax case. The Supreme Court on March 21 decided a major tax case dealing with the obstruction of an IRS investigation when it ruled in Marinello v. United States that the Internal Revenue Service can only convict a taxpayer on obstruction charges when it can prove the taxpayer was aware of a pending tax-related proceeding, such as an in...

The House plans to vote this week on the omnibus spending bill that will likely include a tax change for agriculture cooperatives. In addition to the provision that rebalances the tax treatment of agriculture cooperatives and corporate grain buyers, some GOP lawmakers are also looking to include technical fixes to some drafting errors in the tax law. The negotiations were ongoing as of late March...

Professor Charlene Luke, University of Florida Research Foundation Professor at the Levin College of Law, joins Talking Tax host Andrea Ben-Yosef to discuss the federal tax implications of crowdfunding. Professor Luke describes the different types of crowdfunding, reviews current IRS guidance, discusses the tax provisions--including those in the 2017 tax act—that apply to crowdfunding, and ends wi...

The American Bar Association Section of Taxation meeting in San Diego this month was all about how IRS and Treasury officials view the new tax law. The tax reform bill becoming law is only the first step: the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department will be providing guidance on the statute's provisions for years to come. During the meeting, Bloomberg Tax reporters spoke with government of...

The new tax law lowers the corporate tax rate to 21 percent—a change that some lawmakers have suggested could prompt pass-through entities to convert to C corporations. Michael D'Addio, a principal in the New Haven, Conn., office of Marcum LLP who specializes in federal and state taxation, joins Talking Tax host Allyson Versprille to discuss the possibility of a mass conversion as a result of the...

Congress now has a host of smaller tax issues to contend with after passing legislation overhauling many aspects of the Internal Revenue Code. The Republican-led House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees are looking at ways to make corrections to, and address issues omitted from, the new tax law (Pub. L. No. 115-97). Tax writers will consider overhauling the Internal Revenue Service, stre...

The new tax law made extensive changes to the U.S. tax code, setting up a massive need for stakeholders to understand the law's complexities and possibly rethink their tax plans. Bloomberg Tax reporters Sony Kassam and Laura Davison and news editor Colleen Murphy spoke with a group of tax practitioners, members of the Bloomberg Tax advisory board, about the tax act's (Pub. L. No. 115-97) effects o...

Gary D. Sprague of Baker McKenzie joins Talking Tax with host Dolores Gregory for a discussion of the EU’s efforts to tax the “digital economy.” Gary is a regular contributor to the TM International Journal. In a recent column, he raised concerns about an EU proposal to adopt special rules for taxing companies that engage in business online – one creating a ‘digital’ permanent establishment and th...

The Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department are gearing up to implement the new tax law, a significant undertaking that will be their focus for 2018. At the same time, lawmakers will likely face the need to change some parts of the law as drafting errors and unintended consequences emerge. Republicans in Congress have already said they plan a technical corrections bill to clean up aspects...

Jim Calvin, of Deloitte LLP, joins Talking Tax with host Andrea L. Ben-Yosef to discuss bitcoin and how to view it from a tax perspective. Calvin explains how bitcoin works; addresses the most common questions he gets from clients about issues such as classification, wash sale and short sale rules, and how to determine which bitcoin has been sold; and discusses the new futures market in bitcoin fr...

The GOP's final tax bill includes significant changes in international tax policy. Jon Traub, managing principal for tax policy at Deloitte Tax LLP, and Chris Trump, a principal at Deloitte Tax who specializes in international taxation, join Talking Tax host Allyson Versprille to discuss the changes and how they will impact multinational companies. Traub is a former House Ways and Means Committee...

Lawmakers will need to hash out final details on the individual side of the tax code if they want to meet their end-of-the-year deadline to pass tax reform legislation. Ernst & Young LLP's U.S. tax reform leader Justin Shafer co-hosts an episode of Talking Tax with Bloomberg Tax reporter Allyson Versprille. They are joined in discussing the individual aspects of the House and Senate tax bills by D...

Congress is getting closer to enacting major tax legislation by the end of the year, but first the House and the Senate will have to reconcile key differences in their bills—a task that could prove difficult. John Gimigliano, principal in charge of the Federal Legislative and Regulatory Services group in KPMG LLP's Washington National Tax practice, joins Talking Tax host Allyson Versprille to disc...

House and Senate lawmakers will begin to reconcile their tax plans this week with the hope of getting a bill to President Donald Trump before the end of the year. The House and Senate bills are now more closely aligned in how they approach deemed repatriation rates and deductions for state and local property taxes. But there are still some significant differences, including pass-through taxation a...

Employers often offer wellness programs to promote employee health and reduce medical costs. Alan Tawshunsky of the Tawshunsky Law Firm PLLC in Washington sits down with Talking Tax host Andrea Ben-Yosef, an acquisitions manager with Bloomberg Tax's Tax Management journals, to discuss how to navigate the complex interaction of rules from the IRS and EEOC on provisions of the Affordable Care Act, A...

Republicans in Congress will have to navigate through tricky procedural, political, and policy hurdles to push through tax reform by year's end. Reporter Laura Davison spoke with Talking Tax host Matthew Beddingfield on Nov. 21 about the GOP's chances for successfully passing the tax plan and what difficulties lie ahead.

Dave Camp, former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and now a senior policy adviser for PricewaterhouseCoopers, joins Talking Tax host Allyson Versprille to discuss how he sees the legislative process playing out for the GOP's tax plan. This episode of Talking Tax was recorded the morning of Nov. 15. Matters involving the Senate and House tax proposals are subject to change.

The Senate tax plan released Nov. 9 and amendments to the House bill (H.R. 1) bring new considerations for tax professionals as Republicans press forward with tax reform efforts. Bloomberg Tax reporter Allyson Versprille hosts this week’s Talking Tax alongside Justin Shafer, a partner and U.S. tax reform leader at Ernst & Young LLP, to discuss what practitioners should look for in the proposal, in...

Lisa Starczewski, of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, joins Talking Tax with host Andrea Ben-Yosef to give an overview of the new partnership audit rules and proposed regulations. Starczewski highlights some of the more important aspects of the new partnership audit rules and proposed regulations, points out where the regulations have added new concepts to the rules, alerts practitioners to issues...

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1) is here, and with it come several considerations for practitioners if the GOP tax reform effort is successful. Bloomberg Tax's Matthew Beddingfield hosts this week's Talking Tax alongside EY's U.S. Tax Reform Leader Justin Shafer, to discuss what practitioners should look out for in the new bill, including revenue considerations, international impact, and what's...

Congressional Republicans expect to release a tax bill Nov. 1, and House leaders say they want to hold a vote by Thanksgiving. Reporters Colleen Murphy, Kaustuv Basu, and Laura Davison spoke with Talking Tax host Matthew Beddingfield on Oct. 27 about the process once the GOP bill is released, and what the proposed legislation might include.