Tariffs, Trump's Global Tax Snub Hit OECD Negotiations
The Trump administration's massive new tariff pronouncements, on top of its pullback from the OECD’s global tax deal, have cast doubt on the future of global tax policy efforts.
The two-pillar OECD-led agreement seeks to create a 15% global minimum tax for large multinational corporations and change the way the companies allocate their profits among countries.
While the US is still taking part in some negotiations, it has rejected key elements of the deal that it says infringe on US tax sovereignty. The administration has especially taken issue with the deal’s undertaxed profits rule, which countries can use to tax companies from other jurisdictions if they aren't paying the minimum tax there. And it has raised objections to countries' imposition of digital services taxes.
On Wednesday, President Trump announced a 90-day pause on higher reciprocal tariffs that hit many US trade partners earlier in the day, and raised duties on China to 125%.
The conflict could spark a reaction away from global tax policy negotiations and toward more bilateral, one-on-one dealings between countries as nations look to retaliate or cut a deal with the US.
On this episode of Talking Tax, reporter Caleb Harshberger talks with PwC global tax policy leader Will Morris and Michael Plowgian, a partner at KPMG and former deputy assistant secretary for international affairs at the Treasury Department. They discuss the current state of negotiations, the complexity of numerous moving parts, and prospects for the US's ongoing role vis à vis the European Union and other nations.
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30:31
What the Changing IRS Workforce Means for Taxpayers
The hard-charging effort led by billionaire Elon Musk to reshape the federal workforce at the IRS and other agencies might lead to lasting changes. But what it means for taxpayers still isn't fully realized.
Some efforts to buy out or fire employees have been postponed until after the filing season ends in April, and are facing legal action.
Ending taxpayer assistance center leases and reducing the number of taxpayer assistance staff who can answer phones will mean backsliding in improved service levels, former National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson warns.
On this episode of Talking Tax, Olson talks to Bloomberg Tax reporter Chris Cioffi about the potential for brain drain at the agency amid a wave of resignations and whether major upheaval might lead to an erosion in taxpayer trust. They also tackle the danger of taxpayer data privacy violations as Musk's Treasury Department team gains access to the department's payment systems.
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Millions of US companies are off the hook when it comes to disclosing their beneficial owners' identities to the federal government, after the Trump administration announced it wouldn't enforce penalties for domestic entities under the Corporate Transparency Act.
The Treasury Department's previous regulations had required about 30 million businesses operating in the US to disclose who directly or indirectly controlled them in reports to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. But in a pivot from the previous administration, the Treasury now says all US entities are exempt from reporting requirements.
The move was the latest twist in a wave of litigation against the law, which some companies argue oversteps Congress's authority to regulate interstate commerce. Following a nationwide injunction blocking the CTA's enforcement in December 2024, businesses across the country faced whiplash as the law and the previous version of its implementing regulations were successively enjoined past the original January 2025 compliance deadline. But now, facing a narrower scope of which companies are obliged to comply under new rules, appeals courts must now grapple with whether newly exempt domestic companies retain their standing to sue.
On this episode of Talking Tax, Bloomberg Tax audio producer David Schultz talks with Bloomberg Law reporter John Woolley about the year-long legal drama around the Corporate Transparency Act, how the Trump administration disrupted that litigation, and how the Treasury's policy changes could impact the fight against international financial crime.
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15:29
Tax Cuts, Credits Hang in Balance for NY Budget Talks
New York officials are in the final stage of the state’s budget process, following March 13 passage of the Assembly and Senate individual spending and revenue proposals for fiscal 2026. It's now up to a three-way negotiation between the Legislature's two chambers and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who has her own plans for a budget that’s likely to top $252 billion—including a host of tax changes that don’t completely align with what the Democratic-led lawmakers want.
As in recent years, lawmakers have proposed raising taxes on the highest-income earners and corporations, which Hochul has rejected in the past. There are divergent approaches to how much to expand the state’s child tax credit. And the Senate wants to tailor the governor's idea of sending New Yorkers sales tax rebates—a salve to inflation—to just seniors rather than all taxpayers. Other issues include an expansion of New York's film tax credit program to benefit more independent movies and whether the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's funding needs will disrupt the various tax proposals.
On this episode of Talking Tax, Bloomberg Tax state editor Benjamin Freed talks with New York correspondent Danielle Muoio Dunn and Bloomberg Government Albany correspondent Zach Williams about the budget process, the political stakes for Hochul ahead of her 2026 re-election campaign, and the odds that lawmakers wrap up the budget by their April 1 deadline—or at least the first night of Passover.
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17:45
Tariffs Shake Up Companies' Transfer Pricing Planning
Tax departments at multinational companies are scrambling to keep up with the Trump administration's tariff announcements as the updates pile in day to day and sudden shifts complicate transfer pricing calculations.
Tariffs raise companies' costs, and those can't always be passed on to consumers—meaning businesses have to choose where to allocate the costs in their supply chains. While the importing entity pays the tariffs, the company can adjust the transfer price to pass that cost to other, related entities.
That can present opportunities to reduce the impact of tariffs—but also may lead to risks of audits from tax and customs agencies.
And with so much unknown, it's become hard for companies to find tax certainty, said Summer Austin, partner at Baker McKenzie.
Austin and Baker McKenzie partner Jennifer Revis talked to Bloomberg Tax reporter Caleb Harshberger about what the tariffs mean for transfer pricing and how companies should respond.
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Talking Tax, from Bloomberg Tax, is a weekly discussion of the most pressing issues facing tax and accounting professionals. Each week the podcast features discussions with lawmakers, federal regulators, lawyers, and journalists. From the courts to Capitol Hill to the IRS, Talking Tax has it covered.
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