Talking Tax

State sales taxes are now a fact of life for online buyers and sellers, since the US Supreme Court's 2018 Wayfair decision created a framework for remote-sales tax collection. It might look simple to customers, but for remote sellers and sales platforms—especially small businesses—the massive patchwork of state and local sales tax regimes can be daunting.

How much of an "undue burden" on interstate commerce is the patchwork, and should Congress intervene to reduce the inconsistencies across sales tax regimes without stepping on state sovereignty? Some, including the US Government Accountability Office, have suggested it.

This episode of Talking Tax explores the complicated requirements businesses have to deal with and the steps roughly half the states have taken to simplify their sales tax codes and streamline their processes.

Bloomberg Tax senior reporter Michael J. Bologna speaks with Craig Johnson, executive director of the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board, which administers a 24-state compact that strives for state sales tax harmony, and Diane Yetter, a self-described "sales tax nerd" and founder of the Sales Tax Institute, which educates and advises businesses. They were among witnesses at a Senate Finance Committee hearing last year on Wayfair impacts.

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Tax transparency is on the rise, and companies are figuring out how to adapt.

Large multinationals will soon have to publicly report their tax information in the EU. The pressure for more information isn't just coming from governments. Investors, too, are pushing for greater disclosure of companies' tax arrangements.

Companies have long worried that reporting their tax information could set them up for a reputational hit. But now, with public reporting requirements on the horizon, some are choosing to put the information out themselves ahead of the mandate.

KPMG's Anu Varadharajan sat down with Bloomberg Tax's Isabel Gottlieb to talk about why the tax transparency measures worry companies, and what they're doing to prepare for the requirements.

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Though never popular with neighboring state officials, New York's tax on the income of out-of-state residents working for Empire state companies is being scrutinized more closely. A post-pandemic shift to remote work — as a choice by either the employee or employer — has meant that many former commuters rarely if ever set foot in a New York workplace.

There are winners and losers in the current situation and billions of dollars at stake. Officials in both New Jersey and Connecticut have recently revived efforts to keep their resident's income taxes within their own borders regardless of where the person works.

New York isn't expected to relinquish these revenues without a fight. The state got roughly 17% of its income tax revenue from non-residents in fiscal 2020.

On this episode of Talking Tax, our weekly podcast, podcast producer David Schultz talks with Andrew Silverman, a tax policy analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, about the particular dynamics of the tri-state region. Silverman also examines why the US Supreme Court opted not to weigh in on a similar challenge by New Hampshire to end a Massachusetts commuter tax in 2016, how remote work impacts what's called the "convenience-of-the-employer" rule, and why this disagreement between a number of states will be up to the high court resolve.

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The $80 billion in new funding the IRS will get over the next decade offers a chance "to bring US tax administration into the 21st century," according to National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins.

Collins leads the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent office within the agency that provides taxpayer assistance. She's written multiple blog posts about modernization efforts and sent a report to Congress discussing her vision for a revamped, paperless tax enforcement agency.

On this episode of Talking Tax, Collins speaks with Bloomberg Tax reporter Aysha Bagchi about key recommendations for how the agency can improve taxpayer services using the additional funding authorized by the Biden administration's sweeping tax-and-climate bill.

Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

The IRS and Treasury pushed back the effective date for brokers forced to report client transactions to the IRS, giving the cryptocurrency industry some relief as they wait for more guidance.

There are still a lot of unknowns about how to report and what exactly is required—answers the industry anticipates in new guidance.

On this episode of our Talking Tax podcast, Bloomberg Tax reporter Erin Slowey speaks with Deloitte's Jonathan Cutler, a senior manager, and Rob Massey, global and US tax blockchain and digital assets leader, about the crypto reporting landscape here in the US.

Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

All eyes are on the IRS in 2023, as the cash-strapped agency is finally getting an $80 billion infusion, with potential big implications for the tax world.

Bolstered by the additional multiyear funding in the Inflation Reduction Act, the agency plans to upgrade its outdated systems, staff up, and take bolder steps toward enforcement, aiming largely at big companies and high-wealth taxpayers.

Bloomberg Tax reporter Jeff Leon talks about the prospects with Niles Elber, a tax professional at Caplin & Drysdale who has been following the developments closely. The IRS has a tall order, Elber says. He talks about how the agency might deploy the funds, and the biggest areas of need, from hiring to enforcement.

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Congress was busy on tax policy in 2022, and that means the IRS will have work to do this year. The agency has issued some guidance clarifying the Inflation Reduction Act's tax provisions, but it has lots more that needs to get out in the coming weeks and months.

On this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, we hear about the big-ticket items the IRS needs to get out the door from three Bloomberg Tax reporters: Erin Slowey, Lauren Vella, and Naomi Jagoda. We also discuss the IRS's plans to spend the nearly $80 billion in federal funding Congress granted—funds that could make this year's filing season go more smoothly.

Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.

For this episode of our weekly podcast, Talking Tax, we're revisiting interviews with some of the biggest tax policy makers in the news this year.

The OECD's two-pillar plan to reshape the global tax framework, the Inflation Reduction Act, and getting the court system back to a sense of normalcy amid the pandemic were among the biggest tax stories this year.

Kathleen Kerrigan, the new chief judge of the US Tax Court, talks about pushing for more electronic filing of petitions and other challenges. Richard Jones, chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, talks about the new work on his plate as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act.

And Pascal Saint-Amans, chief of the OECD's Centre for Tax Policy and Administration until late this year, talks about his decade-plus work revamping global tax rules and some of the organization's under-the-radar initiatives. Saint-Amans is now a partner at Brunswick Group and a professor at Lausanne University.

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Most state tax stories are about legislation, regulation, and litigation. Too often lost in the headlines are the people who develop and manage state tax policies, and their motivations for pursuing careers in tax advocacy and tax administration.

On this episode of Talking Tax, we talk with Alan Lindquist, a special assistant attorney general with the Illinois Department of Revenue. Lindquist has had an unusual career, representing taxpayers as a partner at Chicago-based Winston & Strawn LLP for 30 years. He surprised many of his peers in 2018, when he retired from the legal giant and began using his extensive background in complex tax litigation as an advocate for the revenue department.

He spoke with Bloomberg Tax’s Michael Bologna about his career choices, the balance of power in tax litigation, the hot topics in state taxes, and the challenges revenue agencies face. Lindquist also offered some advice to recent law school graduates—and near-retirees, too—by encouraging them to consider public service work.

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Starting with Ronald Reagan in 1981, every Republican president at some point has made tax cuts a centerpiece of his economic agenda, often with scant evidence that these policies have produced economic benefits that touch all Americans.

Delving into some of the more notable moments in this history offers a roadmap to this inequality.

How did a tax designed to discourage multigenerational inherited wealth come to be known as the "death tax?" Why are qualified dividends—which most taxpayers see as a single line on their 1040s—an outsized benefit for high income individuals? How did generous incentives help to reshore income held abroad?

On this episode of Talking Tax, James B. Steele, a two-time Pulitzer Prize journalist who has covered economic inequality for decades, sat down with Bloomberg Law editor Bernie Kohn to talk about his story co-written for the Center for Public Integrity and Bloomberg Tax showing how US tax policies have consistently fueled inequality.

This podcast is a partnership between the Center for Public Integrity, a newsroom that investigates inequality, and Bloomberg Tax.

Do you have feedback on this episode of Talking Tax? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.