Talking Tax

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will make his first appearance before the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee on March 14 to talk about the administration’s fiscal year 2020 budget. Mnuchin will also appear before the Senate Finance panel the same day.A Ways and Means subcommittee will discuss temporary tax breaks at a hearing March 12. And while the tax-writing committees stay busy, chatter continues about the request for President Donald Trump's tax return. Bloomberg Tax’s Kaustuv Basu and Allyson Versprille talked to host Amanda Iacone about tax policy in Congress.Host: Amanda Iacone.Producer: Nicholas Anzalotta-Kynoch. 

Congressional steering committees have tapped lawmakers to join the tax-writing panels in the House and Senate, and those new additions are starting to set priorities. Bloomberg Tax’s Lydia O’Neal and Kaustuv Basu join host Amanda Iacone to discuss the news in Congress while negotiations to end the partial government shutdown have stalled. New Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has announced his intent to look into what authority he has to access President Donald Trump’s tax returns, though it is unclear whether he wants to release them or counter efforts by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.). Neal’s committee added new members, including six members of the Progressive Caucus who could shift the panel’s agenda leftward. Host: Amanda Iacone. Producer: Nicholas Anzalotta-Kynoch.

In the third and final episode of The Over/Under, Richard Auxier of the Tax Policy Center gives Bloomberg Tax’s Ryan Prete a 2019 outlook. Next, Ryan discusses a newly released federal sports betting framework. Ryan then takes a look at betting totals from 2018 and gets a 2019 sports betting prediction from Ted Leonsis, owner of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals. Host: Ryan Prete. Producer: Nicholas Anzalotta-Kynoch.

Marc Bekerman joins Andrea L. Ben-Yosef in a two-part podcast about post-mortem estate planning. Marc is a solo practitioner in Long Island, New York, and an adjunct professor of law at New York Law School where he formerly served as the Associate Director of its Graduate Tax Program. Marc is also a member of the Estates Gifts and Trusts Advisory Board for Bloomberg BNA. It may be surprising to know that the death of a person does not end the ability to refine their estate plan. Marc discusses how estate planners can still take actions after a person’s death to maximize the benefit to the beneficiaries. Part 1 covers estate tax considerations, such as whether to elect alternate valuation of assets and where and when to deduct administration expenses. Part 2 will cover income tax planning opportunities.

Thousands of furloughed employees could soon be called back to join the Internal Revenue Service’s skeleton staff as the partial government shutdown enters its third week. The IRS is poised to release an updated contingency plan for the tax filing season, when more employees will be considered essential and allowed to work during a funding lapse. Bloomberg Tax’s Lydia O’Neal joins host Amanda Iacone to discuss the shutdown and the latest developments on Capitol Hill. Last week, the Senate Finance Committee added some new members, while House Democrats introduced legislation that would require presidential candidates to disclose 10 years of tax returns. In the coming days, watch out for a decision on who will fill open spots on the tax legislation-writing House Ways and Means Committee under new Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass). Host: Amanda Iacone. Producer: Nicholas Anzalotta-Kynoch.

The 115th Congress is coming to a close and many of the tax items lawmakers hoped to address during lame-duck are still on the table. Bloomberg Tax’s Allyson Versprille discusses the measures that may get picked up again by the new Congress beginning Jan. 3 and other priorities that could garner bipartisan support in a split Congress. Host: Amanda Iacone. Producer: Nicholas Anzalotta-Kynoch.

Kate Kraus joins Andrea L. Ben-Yosef to talk about the partnership audit regulations. Kate recently joined Allen Matkins as a tax partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office. There have been several rounds of proposed, temporary, and final regulations, with the most recent ones issued in August. Kate discusses some key issues to take into account under the new guidance, such as what happens if the partnership representative leaves, taking favorable adjustments into account, and other issues that tax practitioners are dealing with.

Software upgrades, bug fixes, and a global search for lease data were among the challenges United Parcel Service Inc. faced in preparing to adopt new accounting rules for leases. Beginning in January, public companies will have to report leased assets and liabilities on their balance sheet regardless of the length of the lease, under rules issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board in 2016. Susan Ward, chief accounting officer for UPS, sat down with Bloomberg Tax’s Amanda Iacone Dec. 11 at the American Institute of CPAs’ Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments in Washington to discuss implementation of the lease accounting standard. She also spoke about the use of robotics process automation in the accounting department, and why a historic change in the auditor’s report represents a “natural extension” of the company’s financial disclosures. Host: Amanda Iacone. Producer: Nicholas Anzalotta-Kynoch.

In the second episode of The Over/Under, Bloomberg Tax’s Ryan Prete heads into a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on sports betting and discusses how lawmakers felt about regulation thereafter. Ryan also sits down with Dustin Gouker, managing editor at Legal Sports Report, a sports betting-centric online news source, to talk about a sports book error that resulted in an $80,000 payoff. Later, Ryan talks with Richard Auxier of the Tax Policy Center about what states can do to slow Congressional intervention. Host: Ryan Prete. Producer: RJ Jewell and Nicholas Anzalotta-Kynoch.

The Center for Audit Quality is working on a quality indicator framework that could be used to compare accounting firms' performance. Setting quality metrics has long been discussed but until recently hadn't gained traction in the U.S. audit market. The center plans to issue its tool in early 2019. Cindy Fornelli, executive director of the Center for Audit Quality, spoke with Bloomberg Tax’s Amanda Iacone about why audit quality indicators are getting so much attention lately. She also discussed how camaraderie and diversity among the members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board could lead to better audit oversight, and the role U.S. regulators play in the ongoing audit debate in the UK.