By Melanie Cohen
I’ve got a little confession: I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions. There’s a kind of societal pressure to publicly declare a goal at an arbitrarily defined date that can feel stifling, and I don’t subscribe to it. I think that if you want a fresh start, it can happen any time you want it to—not just when the ball drops at midnight on Jan. 1.
Then again, I’ve always been the intrinsically motivated type. When I set a goal, I almost always take a systematic, mathematical approach. During my 2005 goal to become a vegetarian, I set about limiting the types of meat I ate and the number of times I ate it per week, until that number eventually became zero. (I’m still a vegetarian all these years later.) And in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, I set a goal to run every single day. I ended up clocking in 366 days.
But I also think it’s just fine to be satisfied with where you are right now. This past year brought me into a job I’ve loved, in an industry I continue to find interesting and fun. There has long been a notion that one must always be compelled to do better, reach higher, go for more—but why worry about always doing more if you’re happy in stasis?
At Bloomberg Tax, we like to do a little of both. We want to keep the things that work well, but we also believe in exploring new possibilities. In the coming weeks, we’ll have a slate of voices contributing to our weekly newsletter. You’ll continue to get great commentary and insightful analysis on federal, state, and international tax issues—from January to December.
The Exchange… It’s where great ideas intersect.
—Melanie Cohen
When was the first recorded celebration in honor of the new year?
Answer at the bottom.
Disney’s Reedy Creek district—or something like it—will almost certainly be in place for the foreseeable future in Florida, either by court intervention or legislation. The question now is how much oversight the state will enjoy over this uniquely powerful and corporate-controlled district, says Shepard, Smith, Kohlmyer & Hand’s Jacob Schumer.
For cryptocurrency investors and their accountants, the FTX collapse has created challenges for reporting crypto taxes for 2022 and beyond, but these challenges should serve as lessons for a young industry in compliance and transparency, says Accointing by Glassnode’s David Canedo.
In recent years, music catalogs have turned into stable and accessible income-generating assets. Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP’s Beau Stapleton and Burak Ahmed look at the tax advantages that artists get from Section 1221(b)(3) of the tax code, which allows for capital gains treatment on the sale of self-made musical works.
The US government recently won a lawsuit over a research and development claim from construction company Cajun Industries in US v. Grigsby. Tax attorney Holland King looks into the case, which shows the importance of describing business components, ensuring research isn’t funded, reviewing contracts carefully, and fixing mistakes.
Singapore’s goods and services tax has been extended to imports of low-value goods. Shih Hui Lee, Samantha Tan, and Clinston Chiok of Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow, a member firm of Baker McKenzie in Singapore, provide an overview of this development and set out practical considerations that businesses should consider.
In the final article in their series on the digital transformation of taxation and trade in Africa, Anthony Assassa and Elie Sawaya focus on how artificial intelligence could revolutionize tax in Africa, explaining why AI has a strong potential for application to tax authorities, and what challenges must be met in the first instance. (See the rest of the series here, here, and here.)
State and local authorities recently have used decisions and enforcement to go beyond the language in tax statutes. In this edition of “A Closer Look,” Eversheds Sutherland’s Jeff Friedman and Liz Cha look at examples of these attempts to expand the tax base and the challenges faced by those who litigate such cases.
To curb global tax avoidance, evasion, and other illicit financial flows, governments must develop and deploy sophisticated technology tools. It is essential that they get buy-in from leading technologists in academia and the private sector, says Don Griswold.
At The Exchange, we welcome responses from our readers and encourage diversity and civil discussion. We are especially interested in responses that add to the conversation, or introduce a different point of view. If you have a response to one of our published Insights, we’d love to hear from you.
Venable LLP has promoted Matthew Carruth and Christopher Moran to counsel in Baltimore, the firm said.
Fiona Higgott has joined Thomson Snell & Passmore as a partner in its wills, estate, and tax planning division, the firm said.
Jeffrey Clippinger has been promoted from senior manager to principal at Brown Schultz Sheridan & Fritz, the firm said.
Hoge Fenton said it has appointed Julie Wann to shareholder status, one of three who were promoted to shareholder as of Jan. 1.
Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP has promoted Gem Nibungco and Mandy Li to partner in the tax practice, the accounting firm said.
Marijane Kantzabedia, Kelly Pollard, and Liel Shemtov have joined Miller Kaplan as partners, said the accounting firm.
Gray Reed & McGraw LLP has promoted Scott Bayer and Joshua Smeltzer to partner and Emily Radke to counsel in Texas, the law firm said.
Max Walker has joined Lawson Lundell as a tax partner in the Kelowna, British Columbia office, the law firm said.
Roy Gillig has joined Rimon PC as a tax partner in Boston, according to the firm.
Chamberlain Hrdlicka has added Otto Timm to the international tax and tax planning and business transactions practices as well as Pearson Wolk to the tax planning and business transaction practice in Houston, the firm said.
Dmitry Zdobnõh has joined Eversheds Sutherland Ots & Co as a partner in Estonia, according to the firm.
Benjamin Pique has joined Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP as a tax partner in Paris, the firm said.
Melanson PC has merged into Marcum LLP, effective Jan. 1, Marcum said.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board announced it has appointed Mai-Brother Fox and Kerri Tricarico to its Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee.
If you are changing jobs or being promoted, let us know. You can email your submission to TaxMoves@bloombergindustry.com for consideration.
Our Spotlight series highlights the careers and lives of tax professionals across the globe. This week’s Spotlight is on Julie Bradlow, a partner and head of the tax practice at DarrowEverett LLP in Charlotte, N.C.
It’s been another busy week in tax news from state capitals to Washington. Here are some stories you might have missed from our Bloomberg Tax news team.
*Note: Your Bloomberg Tax login will be required to access Tax News.
What’s on our Bloomberg Tax Insights wish list right now? For January, we’re looking for pieces that deal with planning for the year. What should tax professionals be doing to get ready for tax season? How should they be preparing for the SEC’s annual release of Form 10-K reports? What trends should practitioners and their clients be aware of in 2023? How should they be handling the slew of year-end IRS guidance? We’re looking for thoughtful takes that will get tax professionals talking.
Our Insights articles—about 1,000 words—are written by tax professionals offering expert analysis on current tax practice and policy issues, tax trends and topics, and tax and accounting firm practice and management. If you have an interesting, never-published article for publication, we’d love to hear about it. You can contact our Insights team at TaxInsights@bloombergindustry.com.
We talk about tax a lot. But there’s a lot more that you might hear us talking about if you popped into one of our Teams meetings. Here’s a quick look at what some of us are watching, reading, and listening to this week:
Watching:
Reading:
Listening:
Some 4,000 years ago, the Babylonians celebrated the new year with a festival called Akitu—though it was usually held in late March, not January.
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