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Mitt Romney Is Pleased with PwC’s Tax Services

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

In an interview with ABC News yesterday, Willard shared a few new tidbits about his life as a taxpayer: 1) He's not sure if he's ever payed less than a 13.9 effective tax rate 2) he's had the distinct pleasure of being audited by the IRS and 3) the crack squad in PwC's Boston* office is doing a bang-up job making sure he's 100% in compliance:

“From time to time I’ve been audited as it happens, I think, to other citizens as well, and the accounting firm which prepares my taxes has done a very thorough and complete job pay taxes as legally due,” Romney added. “I don’t pay more than are legally due.”
And if somehow PwC* had WMR paying more than his legal obligation we all know that he'd promptly fire them with a smile on his face but perhaps, more importantly, he'd be completely unqualified for the job that he's currently applying for:
“I don't pay more than are legally due and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due I don't think I'd be qualified to become president. I'd think people would want me to follow the law and pay only what the tax code requires,” he added.
Hear that, PwC Mitt Romney team? This whole thing is basically thanks to your blood, sweat and tears. Hopefully nothing got overlooked.
 

*Unfortunately, Mittens doesn't name drop and since only officially know that P. Dubs did his tax return for 2010, we have to assume they've doing him the honor for a while. Of course we'd actually know who has been keeping him in compliance all these years if someone would just release more tax returns, MITT.

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The Miami Heat Bail Out Tim Hardaway

They aren’t exactly the U.S. Treasury and don’t foresee any populist outrage but Miami Heat Limited Partnership did Tim a fave and bought his 7,500 square foot manse for $1.985 million, according to Tax Watchdog Robert Snell:

The Miami Heat, one of the NBA’s hottest teams, bailed out former star Tim Hardaway, whose namesake son plays for the University of Michigan basketball team, by buying his Miami mansion and clearing up a $120,000 federal tax debt.

Hardaway, 44, ran into tax trouble in June despite being paid more than $46.6 million during his NBA career. The IRS filed a tax lien against his property and the bill listed his 7,542-square-foot mansion in suburban Miami.

For whatever reason, Tim is still crashing there but the Heat are trying to flip the pad for $2.5 mil, so if you’re in the market for 5bed/5.5bath with a full basketball court, make them an offer.

Anyone Desperate for Free Tax Prep Help Should Make a Reservation at Andaz Wall Street ASAP

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KPMG, Ernst & Young Sneak on to U.S. News Tax Firm Ranking

You may or may not be aware that U.S. News & World Report is the shot caller when it comes to ranking law schools (much to the chagrin of some) and now (to even more chagrin) the magazine is delving into extensive law firm rankings and the Big 4 will enjoy a little bit of perceived prestige that comes along with these rankings.

Christ. We’re barely into rankings/list season and they’ve already chalked up working moms and consulting rankings and U.S. News is now throwing around its weight with this new list.

Granted, virtually no accounting firms will even get a whiff of this list but something tells us that because U.S. News has decided to dive head first into ranking law firms by practice are the Big 4 will be jockeying to make the tax list, even though it is a sliver of a much larger and broader ranking that they won’t be included on at all.

Excuse us while we choke down the vomit that we caught making it’s way out.


Why the hell not?!? U.S. News figured that the world couldn’t do without it’s rankings-for-hire in one more area for the legal field but this time the Big 4 will enjoy a bit of a ride on this wave.

Right. The list. The two of Big Four of course, make their way on the ranking for tax firms: Ernst & Young falls into the coveted Tier 1 (includes 36 firms) and KPMG drops on Tier 2 (47 firms). There were a total out of 119 firms across three tiers.

Admittedly, this is an opportunity for both KPMG and E&Y to boast their tax practice prowess over Deloitte and PwC who don’t appear on the list at all. That being said, Deloitte and PwC enjoy higher spots on the consulting rankings so they’re probably not overly concerned although no one turns down a notch on the bedpost if they can get it.

What this new ranking ultimately will be is one more marketing tool for the firms to use on the impressionable recruits and experienced hires who want to work in top notch – TOP NOTCH! – tax practice. Be it lawyers or CPAs, the firms will tout this ranking to their tax professionals (if not firm-wide) to throw around ONE. MORE. LIST. to impress the trousers off the masses but now people will be saying, “Oh, this is a U.S. News ranking.”

So for the Big 4 to be included in this “prestigious” ranking is a little bit, as Elie Mystal states, like “Christmas morning – if only Santa were a jolly red prestige whore.”

U.S. News Tax Firm Rankings [TaxProf Blog]
Best Law Firms [U.S. News & World Report]
U.S. News Launches First Official Law Firm Rankings [ATL]