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In the blogs: Everything everywhere

E-help with CP notices; low-cost compliance; still learning from Eisenhower; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Everything everywhere 

  • Don’t Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): You Like Me! You Really Like Me! Dept.: The big Oscar winner this year actually involves a tax audit.
  • Sovos (https://sovos.com/blog/?region=united-states): Nobody wants any kind of audit, but the sales tax variety can be especially thorny for your business clients. Best practices to avoid one include good communication and, frankly, preparing for the worst.
  • Procedurally Taxing (https://procedurallytaxing.com): In Wrzesinski v US, the Department of Justice caved in the case of a Polish American, lottery winnings from the old country, and failure to file 3520s.
  • Wolters Kluwer (https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/tax-accounting-us/industry-news): How the new IRS Document Upload Tool can make life easier (or at least speedier) for those who get CP-series notices.
  • Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (https://itep.org/category/blog/): A recent fact check itself fails a fact check, labeling “false” a legitimate description of taxes paid by billionaires. 
  • Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): A website poses “What Is Adjusted Gross Income?” followed by the assertion, “Everything You Need To Know” (such an assertion is rarely a good sign…). If that question was on a basic federal income tax exam and the student provided the answer found on the website, the student would earn a very low grade. Why?

Finding value

  • Canopy (https://www.getcanopy.com/blog): The top 10 influential women in accounting and tax. 
  • Surgent Income Tax School ( http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/): More than half of all CPAs are female yet women at finance and tax firms generally make 94% of the pay of their male counterparts’ salary — and a mere 21% of tax firm partners are female. No surprise that they often strike out on their own. Suggestions for success and best practices for women tax entrepreneurs. 
  • AICPA Insights (https://www.aicpa.org/blog): The future of business valuation — and of forensic and valuation services professionals — looks bright.
  • VonLehman CPA & Advisory (https://vlcpa.com/articles/): And here are five questions business clients should ask after they get that valuation.
  • HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has issued a greatly anticipated decision in Synthes v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which addressed interpretations of the state’s cost of performance statute for sourcing revenue. 
  • The Wandering Tax Pro (http://wanderingtaxpro.blogspot.com/): So Much Unfairness of the Tax Code Dept.: How taxpayers can wind up paying  federal income tax on net gambling losses.
  • TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): American Tax compliance hovers around 80%, costing the nation approximately half a trillion dollars annually in tax revenue. Standard deterrence theory (a.k.a. common sense?) argues that increasing the audit rate and imposing stiffer penalties would foster greater compliance. Since those look unlikely amid our current political headwinds, here’s a low-cost method that could yield greater compliance.
  • Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): A new Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report, “The IRS Has Not Adequately Prioritized Federal Civilian Employee Nonfilers,” discusses that category of non-filers and the Federal Employee/Retiree Delinquency Initiative started 30 years ago. The report criticizes the IRS for its low compliance enforcement and urges more focus on that program.
  • The Rosenberg Associates (https://rosenbergassoc.com/blog/): Historical events evaporate from memory and one wonders these days what Americans even know about World War II. In that vein, what can managing partners learn from the wartime decisions of Dwight Eisenhower?

Good advice

  • Turbotax (https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com): What to remind them about why refunds might be slimmer this year.
  • TaxMama (http://taxmama.com): A residential sale and a gain of a lot more than $250,000, and a withholding for the wrong state: Mama advises a couple of recent write-ins.
  • National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): This week’s “You Make the Call” looks at Nicholas, an ordained minister who during the year performed services as a chaplain for the U.S. military. He received a W-2 from this employment with wages reported in Box 1, as well as Social Security and Medicare wages and withholding reported in Boxes 3 through 6. Should Nicholas have received a W-2 with Social Security and Medicare withholding or should he be subject to self-employment tax under the general reporting rules for ministers?
  • Peisner Johnsonhttps://peisnerjohnson.com/blog/): What to know about sales tax in Florida, a state that entered the economic nexus fray relatively recently.
  • Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): Amazing that they don’t walk around with this knowledge, but here’s what to remind them about the value of a CPA to their business.