Talking Tax

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 also talks about about how the schools' tax exempt statues makes these types of deals with gambling companies tricky to hash out.

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 international negotiations are flailing and what could happens as a result if they collapse altogether.

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 Board. Tom explains how the IAASB developed its new auditing standards and how it tried to harmonize them as much as possible with its U.S. counterpart.

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 University of Minnesota who specializes in tax and administrative law, says this case, along with a similar one on the court’s docket for this fall, could give the judicial branch a much more prominent role in taxation than it has ever had. (Hickman has written amicus briefs in support of CIC Services.)She speaks with host Jeff Leon for the latest episode of Talking Tax, our weekly tax podcast.

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 of Talking Tax, Laura speaks with host Amanda Iacone about Trump's taxes and about how professionals in the tax field are reacting to the newest revelation.

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 tax advisory who fought back against an IRS ethics charge—and won.

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 were able to glean from these queries.Click here to read more from our multi-part series about navigating virus aid and minimizing risk.

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 former agency is struggling to respond to the mountains of correspondence it has received since the pandemic started and also tells host Amanda Iacone that the IRS' struggles here have affected him personally.

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 way property taxes are levied and collected.

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 its bottom line price tag.On this episode of our podcast, Talking Tax, host Amanda Iacone speaks with Bloomberg Tax congressional reporters, Colin Wilhelm and Kaustuv Basu, about which of these tax provisions will wind up in the final bill—if and when the two sides can reach an agreement.