Talking Tax

The economic fallout from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic will shape the world of taxes at the international, federal, and state levels in the coming year. That's according to three tax attorneys we spoke to about what to expect in 2021.For this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, reporter Jeff Leon talks to these attorneys about how jurisdictions across the globe will respond to the continuing economic downturn and how a new presidential administration in the U.S. will—or will not—make things different in 2021.

Who says taxes are boring? Today on a holiday edition of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, we bring you a few of the more humorous tax disputes of this year.Bloomberg Tax reporter Hamza Ali joins us to talk about a man who saved on his tax bill by mathematically proving he was a terrible gambler, a juice cleanse that may or may not be medicinal, and an extraordinarily costly instance of a postal delay.

Despite historic and decisive victories at the Supreme Court, same-sex couples are still not fully equal with different-sex couples in the eyes of the U.S. tax code.That’s the conclusion of University of Pittsburgh law professor Anthony Infanti, who specializes in the intersection of tax policy and gender and sexuality. Infanti speaks with Bloomberg’s Yuri Nagano on our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, about all of the tax benefits that same-sex couples still can’t take advantage of and about just how gendered the language of the tax code really is.

Teslas and other electric vehicles may be helping to solve the problem of climate change—but they’re also creating a new problem for state and federal transportation budgets. That’s because these budgets are funded largely from revenue generated by taxes on gasoline.States are trying to figure out how to fund new roads or maintain existing ones if gas-fueled cars are getting phased out. Sahas Katta, the CEO of an automobile tech startup who is working with several states on developing new ways to tax vehicle use, spoke to Bloomberg Tax correspondent Michael Bologna for the latest episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax.

The Supreme Court this week heard its biggest tax case of this term and, based on how the oral argument went, the IRS could be headed for a significant loss.On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, host Jeffrey Leon talks to Bloomberg Tax reporter Aysha Bagchi, who is covering the case, CIC Services v. IRS. She says some of the justices made comments suggesting they were inclined to rule against the IRS and thereby limit its ability to avoid judicial review of a reporting requirement before a taxpayer has violated the requirement and been given a penalty. Some argue that could make it a lot harder for the IRS to go after tax shelters, while others say it would help ensure that such requirements are legally valid.

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” to impress clients and misrepresent their inclusiveness to potential employees. So what are law firms doing to fix their lack of diversity?Hosts Adam Allington and Lisa Helem, along with reporters Ayanna Alexander, Ruiqi Chen, and Meghan Tribe, interviewed lawyers across the industry, from corporate general counsels to top Am Law 200 lawyers to current law students, each sharing their experience navigating the legal space as a person of color. We try to answer what law firms are doing to recruit more diverse classes of lawyers, and how they are addressing barriers to entry for Black lawyers.

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 this problem.

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. A team of reporters from Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax look into the so-called “virus exclusion” clauses, that insurers quietly inserted into many of their business policies, and how those clauses are now creating strife between insurers and businesses.We hear from several small business owners across the country about the shock they felt when their pandemic claims were denied, in some cases within hours after filing. We also hear from regulators and lawmakers about whether they will force insurers to retroactively honor these claims, a possibility that insurers view as an existential threat to their entire industry.--With assistance from Lydia Beyoud, Evan Weinberger and, David Hood

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 would try to do on taxes and whether it can succeed. Colin also talks about the shortlist of potential nominees to head the Treasury Department and why it's likely we'll see the U.S.'s first female Treasury Secretary next year.

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, about why the push to overhaul the British auditing industry is stalling and about what this means for the industry's handful of big firms.