Talking Tax

The cannabis industry is booming, but a provision in the federal tax code is holding it back, two attorneys in the industry said.The provision, Section 280E, doesn’t allow for tax deductions or credits stemming from trafficking in controlled substances, such as cannabis. The provision means some cannabis businesses owe more money to the IRS than they bring in, and is a frequent subject of litigation.The issue is increasingly coming into focus as states have moved to legalize marijuana. Last month, New York became at least the 15th state to allow adults to use cannabis. Progress at the federal level is still politically complicated. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said he plans to pursue comprehensive marijuana legislation, although President Joe Biden has yet to endorse full legalization.On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, host Jeff Leon speaks with Iran Hopkins and Jonathan Robbins, two attorneys with the firm Akerman, about why the tax code provision exists and about whether the cannabis industry can flourish if it remains.

President Joe Biden this week unveiled his plan to pay for sweeping infrastructure investments by raising taxes on corporations.The proposals include raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, imposing a 21% global minimum tax on U.S. companies, and giving the IRS more resources to crack down on tax evasion.In this week’s episode of Talking Tax, reporters Allyson Versprille and Colin Wilhelm speak to Austan Goolsbee, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama, and DJ Gribbin, former special assistant to President Donald Trump for infrastructure.Goolsbee and Gribbin discuss the impact of Biden’s proposed tax hikes on U.S. competitiveness and challenges the administration will face getting the plan through Congress.

Once again, we are in the middle of a protracted tax filing season. And for yet another year, tax execs closed the books virtually.This week on our podcast Talking Tax, we hear how the season is going for corporate filers. Host Amanda Iacone speaks with Rema Serafi, national managing partner for tax at KPMG, about how tax directors are coping with having to close the books while their teams are working remotely. She also talks about some of the compliance challenges just around the corner.

The IRS announced this week that it would push back the deadline for some individuals to file and pay their taxes, a move that comes as the agency and taxpayers are grappling with changes in the new pandemic aid law.In this week’s episode of Talking Tax, reporter Amanda Iacone speaks with Scott Berger, a tax principal at the firm Kaufman Rossin, about how the delayed deadline may affect his clients.Berger also talks about how the IRS’ delay of this season’s deadline comes despite the agency still not having resolved all of the issues from the last filing season. The agency also extended last year’s filing season, as the Covid-19 pandemic began.

We are in the heart of tax filing season in the U.S. and, so far, it appears to be going much better than last year. That, however, is an extraordinarily low bar, given that last year's season ran up against the outset of a global pandemic.On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, we launch a two-part series looking at how tax season is going and whether any of the problems from last year still linger. Next week, we will be looking at corporate and business filers. But today the focus is on individuals.Bloomberg Tax's Allyson Versprille speaks with Aisha Servaty, an attorney and director of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid's Low Income Taxpayer Clinic. Servaty says many of the problems from last year's filing season haven't been resolved and talks about what state and federal officials could do to fix them.

A $1.9 trillion stimulus package that includes a third round of direct cash payments to American households will likely wind up on President Joe Biden's desk within the next few weeks.The direct payments are politically popular, but will they become a regular tool in U.S. fiscal policy, even after the pandemic? And if so, is that a good thing? Even among liberal-leaning economists, there is no consensus here.On our weekly podcast Talking Tax, reporter Colin Wilhelm spoke with Claudia Sahm, a senior fellow at the Jain Family Institute, and Marc Goldwein, senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. One is glad to see a new round of payments, while the other thinks they are a mistake. 

Retail investors had the opportunity to make a lot of money thanks to recent spikes for GameStop, AMC, and other stocks. New traders who cashed out big gains in 2020 could face complications this tax season.Many novice traders used the online trading app Robinhood. The company missed a Feb. 16 deadline to send those clients tax documents needed for this filing season.For this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, we speak to Andy Phillips with H&R Block about what you should do if you are short in terms of tax documentation. Phillips tells Bloomberg Tax reporter David Hood that there are ways to avoid penalties from the IRS even if your broker is running behind.

The U.S. has fallen behind other countries’ efforts to police the use of sales-suppression software known as tax zappers.That’s according to Richard Ainsworth, a tax law specialist and adjunct professor at New York University Law School and Boston University School of Law.When a retailer plugs a tax zapper into a register, the technology can essentially make certain transactions disappear. Businesses can then underreport their sales in the hopes of lowering their sales tax bill.On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, we hear from Ainsworth about the widespread use of tax zappers. He tells Bloomberg Tax staff correspondent Michael Bologna about what other countries have done to crack down on zappers and the approaches some states are taking to do the same.

"In retrospect, I had no idea what I was getting myself into."Lafayette "Chip" Harter joined the Treasury Department in 2017 as deputy assistant secretary for international tax affairs. He quickly became the Trump administration's point person on negotiating with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is trying to broker an international agreement to rewrite decades of global tax rules.Having now left the government, Harter sat down with Bloomberg Tax reporter Isabel Gottlieb on the latest episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax. Harter discusses the current status of negotiations and previews how the Biden administration could influence the process.

President Joe Biden's campaign promises to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy got a big boost when Democrats swept the Georgia runoffs, giving them control of both the House and the Senate.One of Biden's major tax proposals, pitched as part of his "Made in America" plan to boost manufacturing, is to overhaul the 2017 tax law's international provisions. New Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is among those interested in reworking the tax code to make it less attractive for U.S.-based multinationals to do business overseas.Any of Biden's proposed tax code changes will run up against the same challenge: how to balance the desire to raise revenue with the need to boost the pandemic-ravaged economy. At the same time, the IRS is working to implement a slew of pandemic relief laws passed last year.The latest episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, rounds up highlights from a Feb. 4 Bloomberg Tax event. First, Wyden speaks with editor Sony Kassam about his priorities now that he has the Finance Committee gavel. Next, reporter David Hood questions tax executives at IBM Corp. and PPG Industries Inc. about their pandemic concerns. Finally, reporter Allyson Versprille sits down with Sunita Lough, IRS deputy commissioner for Services and Enforcement, to discuss the agency's pandemic-related challenges.