Bloomberg Tax
Jan. 2, 2022, 3:00 PM

Week in Insights: Tax Resolutions in the New Year

Kelly Phillips Erb
Kelly Phillips Erb
Editor

I love the idea of resolutions in the new year. It’s like having a brand new notebook with pages just waiting to be filled.

That said, I have a confession: I’ve rarely made resolutions. I’ve worried about setting myself up for failure, and I am one of those folks who tends to dream big.

But if there’s anything that I’ve learned in 2021, it’s to not take anything for granted. So my plan for 2022? It’s to dream bigger. I have big plans for work and for home. I figure even if I don’t complete everything on my list, just taking those first steps forward is huge.

Revellers gather in Times Square on New Years Eve Jan. 1, 2007, in New York City.
Photographer: Spencer Platt via Getty Images

Do you have resolutions for the new year? Whatever is on your list, this is the year to make it happen. And, at Bloomberg Tax, we can help you with some of your resolutions.

Unfortunately, you’re on your own when it comes to making pies and decluttering. But if writing more is on your list, consider submitting an article to Insights—here’s how.

If you want to talk more about tax, consider being a guest on one of our podcasts or a source for one of our stories—just drop me an email and tell me about your area of focus.

Do you want to run a 5K? Keep an eye out for the announcement for our virtual 5K—you can run with us.

If networking more is high on your list, we’ve got you covered there, too. This week, we’ve created lists of some of the best tax professionals in social media.

And if you just want to commit to staying at the top of your professional game, we have you covered there, too. This week, as always, our experts have the latest federal, state, and international tax analysis to help you stay informed as we kick off the new year.

The Exchange… It’s where great ideas intersect.

—Kelly Phillips Erb

Quick Numbers Trivia

According to an annual Fidelity Financial Resolutions Study, what percentage of respondents felt they would be in a better financial position in 2022 compared to 2021?
Answer at the bottom.

Our Roundup

This week, our experts touched on a wide range of topics, from VAT to opportunity zones. For a look at what’s making news, here’s our roundup:

In the fifth and final part of a series from CMS, “Business Restructuring—How to Get Out Alive,” Armelle Abadie, Hélène Brin, Berardo Lanci, Etienne Cox, and Puck Wilmink consider how transfers of a going concern are treated for VAT purposes in Italy, the Netherlands, and France, and examine the cross-border implications of such transfers.

Nguyen Dinh Du and Do Vu Bao Khanh of Grant Thornton Vietnam discuss the transfer pricing issues that can be challenging for companies doing business in Vietnam and outline how taxpayers can ensure they are compliant with tax authority requirements.

Fireworks light up the London skyline and Big Ben just after midnight on Jan. 1, 2015 in London, England.
Photographer: Peter Macdiarmid via Getty Images

Robert Marchant of Crowe looks at some of the most common VAT errors made by U.K. businesses in 2021 and recommends specific and robust processes and controls to address these issues in 2022.

Qualified opportunity zones are still a hot topic. And as Libin Zhang of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP advises, for tax purposes, timing is everything.

Earlier this year, our Bloomberg Tax Insights and Commentary team asked what #taxpros needed to know—from tax tips to topics to watch out for—to start the #newyear off right. This week, we published some of the best submissions. Here’s a look:

Opinion & Commentary

The success or failure of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda could depend, writes Karl Smith, on a single senator from a mountainous state who has idiosyncratic views and is not especially popular in his own party. And it’s not who you think it is.

It’s no surprise that in 2021, Bloomberg Law Insights readers were acutely dialed into commentary about Covid-19 workplace vaccine mandates and criminal justice conversations accelerated by the murder of George Floyd. They were also interested in the future of cryptocurrency—a topic that produced the No. 1 most-read piece of the year.

Columnists & Contributors

A lot happened in the tax world in 2021. Sometimes, I wrote about it. And sometimes, my colleagues wrote about it. And other times, my fellow tax professionals wrote about it. But our goal—every time—was to make sure that we put good, timely information in the hands of our readers. Take A Look Back at Some Favorite Tax Stories in 2021.

Social media has long been an excellent resource for the tax community. A few years ago, I started making a list of folks on Twitter that I depended on for tax information and professional support. The annual list became popular—and it got long. When I joined Bloomberg Tax this year, one of the first things I was asked was whether I would keep the list. I knew I wanted to keep it going, but I also wanted to make it a bit different. Check out Tax Professionals to Follow on Social Media in 2022.

Fireworks light up the sky above Sydney Harbour during the midnight fireworks display during New Year’s Eve celebrations on Jan. 1st, 2020 in Sydney, Australia.
Photographer: Cameron Spencer via Getty Images

Listen In

As we wind down 2021, we’re revisiting some of our most popular and topical Talking Tax podcasts of the year. With another potentially messy filing season on the horizon in early 2022, take a look back at our two-part filing season special from March. In part one, Aisha Servaty, director of the Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, spoke with Bloomberg Tax’s Allyson Versprille about claiming pandemic relief payments, difficulties low-income taxpayers had in getting tax-filing assistance, and delays in processing paper returns. In part two, Scott Berger, a tax principal at Kaufman Rossin, broke down what the filing season extension meant for taxpayers with Bloomberg Tax’s Amanda Iacone.

On this recent episode of the Taxgirl podcast, I was joined by Bill Smith to talk about the IRS’s difficulties that have emerged since the pandemic and what we can expect in the future. Smith is the Managing Director of the CBIZ MHM’s National Tax Office in Washington, D.C. He has more than 40 years of experience in both the public and private sectors.

Get Caught Up

It’s been a busy week in tax news from state capitals to D.C. Here are some of the stories you might have missed from our Bloomberg Tax news team:

  • Multinationals now have final rules that tell them how to calculate their foreign tax credits.
  • A $625,000 check to the IRS was a payment rather than a deposit against IRS-assessed liabilities, and so the taxpayer can’t challenge the underlying liabilities at the U.S. Tax Court, the court ruled.
  • A Target subsidiary is suing Florida over a $10 million corporate income tax bill it says was calculated using the wrong apportionment method.
  • Bill de Blasio, who vowed to fix New York City’s dysfunctional property tax reform system eight years ago when campaigning to be the city’s chief executive, released recommendations in his final days in office that include creating a new tax class for small residential and condo owners.
  • UBS Group AG was sued by a couple who said the Swiss bank should not have disclosed the wife’s account information to the IRS because she was not a U.S. citizen.
  • A bank that closed the account of a U.S. citizen resident in the Netherlands was wrong to do so, a Dutch court ruled Wednesday in a case that has repercussions for other financial institutions in the country.

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Be Noticed

At Bloomberg Law, we’re proud of our continuing efforts to highlight the next generation of leaders in the legal profession.

We’re thrilled to announce our call for 2022 nominations for “They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40,” Bloomberg Law’s special report recognizing the accomplishments of sterling young lawyers nationwide.

Here are the nomination criteria and submission instructions.

Quick Numbers Answer

A whopping 72%. And six in 10 Americans feel optimistic about the future. That’s great news!

Be Social

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We also have a growing LinkedIn group where our authors, contributors, and readers can share tax-related stories and exchange ideas. We hope you’ll join the conversation!

What Did You Think?

Your feedback and suggestions are important to us, so don’t hesitate to reach out on social or email me directly at kerb@bloombergindustry.com.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kelly Phillips Erb in Washington at kerb@bloombergindustry.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jeff Harrington at jharrington@bloombergindustry.com