Talking Tax

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) will retake the helm at the Senate Finance Committee next Congress, succeeding current Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who’s retiring. Under Grassley’s leadership—he led the committee twice before in the early and mid-2000s—the committee is expected to focus on trade, tax policy, healthcare, and oversight issues.

In the first episode of The Over/Under, Bloomberg Tax’s Ryan Prete explains the history of outlawed sports betting in America and the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent reversal of the ban.

Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are terms that are in the news. Tax practitioners should be aware that the IRS is using these methods to mine for information, and that could impact whether and how their clients are audited.

Congress will look very different when it gavels in next year with a new House Democratic Majority and an expanded Republican Senate. On this special post-election episode of “Suspending the Rules”—brought to you by Talking Tax— reporters and legislative analysts break down the implications of a divided Congress for a variety of key issues. In this episode:

Opportunity zones and opportunity funds were created by the 2017 tax act to encourage business investment in low-income communities. They have attracted a lot of interest because of the tax incentives, including exclusion and deferral of capital gains. IRS released proposed regulations on October 19 that gave practitioners some answers.

Intel subsidiary Altera Corp.'s cost-sharing structure—and that of other Silicon Valley companies—lies in the hands of one appellate court judge: Susan Graber. The judge's questioning during recent oral argument in the company’s dispute with the IRS could signal a victory for the government, but all agree Altera probably wouldn’t take that lying down. Will the company find itself at war again over whether it’s going to be forced to include stock compensation in its U.S. taxable income? And what about the controversy sparked over handling opinions by judges who die or otherwise become unavailable before the court is done with a case? In this week’s special edition of Talking Tax, Bloomberg Tax reporter Sony Kassam and legal editor Carolina Vargas get reactions to this second go-round in the Ninth Circuit and take a look at what's ahead.

Several lawmakers on tax-writing committees in both chambers of Congress are facing tough races in the November midterm elections. The outcome of those races will dictate the tax agenda through the end of the year and into 2019.

Intel subsidiary Altera Corp. and the Internal Revenue Service will meet again this month in the 9th Circuit in a case watched by Facebook, Google, and others. A loss for the computer chip-maker could be detrimental to Silicon Valley. A central question in the case turns on the complicated question of allocating costs. But is the case anything more than procedural foofaraw? And was it appropriate for the court to withdraw a previous opinion and replace a deceased judge five months after his death? In this week’s special edition of Talking Tax, Bloomberg Tax reporter Sony Kassam and legal editor Carolina Vargas get the answers to these questions and more.

The House will turn its attention to the tax cut 2.0 package this week, with a floor vote possible during the latter half of the week. The House is also eyeing a vote on a budget bill that will fund the Internal Revenue Service through Dec. 7. And a Ways and Means subcommittee hearing on Sept. 26 will focus on how the IRS uses online tools to protect taxpayers. Bloomberg Tax’s Kaustuv Basu talked to Amanda Iacone about upcoming tax action on Capitol Hill.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) wants the House to vote by the end of the month on a second round of tax cuts known as Tax 2.0. The package would make some of the temporary provisions in the 2017 tax law permanent and create new retirement and innovation tax incentives. But GOP leaders could face resistance from some members in their party opposed to making the cap on state and local tax deductions permanent. During this episode of Hill Roundtable, Bloomberg Tax’s Allyson Versprille and Kaustuv Basu talk to Amanda Iacone about Tax 2.0 and more.