Pfizer Heads for Fight With U.S. on Tax-Saving Allergan Deal [WSJ]
A deal is expected in the next week or so, despite Treasury's new rules to discourage inversions.
Are Successful CEOs Just Lucky? [HBR]
Probably! This is a fun read, filled with incredible bits of information, including: "It shouldn’t take a careful empirical study to convince you that CEOs don’t get where they are on the basis of ability alone. If that were true, the C-suite would not be so dominated by white men." But then there's this: "It’s safe to say that CEOs are, overall, a talented bunch, but that’s not what separates them from other professionals, nor is it the main reason their firms succeed or fail. Certainly it doesn’t come close to explaining why they’re so well paid."
Americans: Pay Your Taxes—Or Lose Your Passport [WSJ]
Under a new law taking effect in January, the State Department will not issue new passports to, and will rescind passports of, anyone with an outstanding tax debt of $50,000 or more. While it sounds like a pretty reasonable law, it could put expatriates at risk if IRS correspondence (done by snail mail) doesn't reach them:
“Americans abroad need their passports for many routine activities of daily life, such as banking, registering in a hotel, or registering a child for school, and mistakes could be disastrous,” said Charles Bruce, an American lawyer with Bonnard Lawson in Lausanne, Switzerland, who advises American Citizens Abroad, an expatriate group.
Mr. Bruce noted that a report issued in September by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or Tigta, a watchdog agency, found that the IRS sent 855,000 notices to U.S. citizens abroad in 2014. According to the report, “IRS data systems aren’t designed to accommodate the different styles of international addresses, which can cause notices to be undeliverable.”
Narcissism in Public Accounting Firms [Open Items]
You can read the study that OP refers to here. The abstract notes that "there are differences between accounting students and accounting professionals for certain traits and gender."
In other news:
- Vanguard pays some Texas taxes.
- Square went public.
- Living and Dying on Airbnb
- Checking accounts are dangerous.
- The Bible Written In New York City Blog Voice
