In the Blogs: Stock Up on Advil

Highlights of some of our favorite tax-related blogs from the past week.

And the winner is …

  • Tax Break: The TurboTax blog: Neat infographic (if you still have time to glance) on five last-minute tax tips. One in four Americans wait to the last minute to file. Expect them all in your office any second.
  • TaxMama: Mama comforts a lady whose husband went to an assisted living facility and wants to know if the nursing portion of his assisted living monthly fee is deductible.
  • The Income Tax School: As the season fades to a fond memory and the Advil kicks in, look ahead to building your practice with this list of guidelines, starting with your mission statement (such as, “Stock Up On Advil”).

 
Devils in the details

  • Roth & Co.: Our favorite opening of the week: “Things went badly for a California man yesterday who tried to tell the Tax Court how things work in the real world.” The unsuccessful argument hinged on $5,309 claimed in vehicle expenses for a real estate sales business with what a judge deemed a shortfall in evidence.
  • Taxable Talk: Ante up: A look at a recent Las Vegas Review Journal article reporting how online poker players must now pay taxes. Blogger notes that proposed legislation legalizing and regulating online poker in states other than Nevada explicitly requires reporting wins and losses to state tax agencies.
  • Rubin on Tax: The merry mix-ups that occur to co-executors of an estate when the late great, conveniently for himself but so much so for others, failed to file for a number of years. Hint: Distribute not until the dust settles with the IRS.
  • Mauled Again: If you supported the bill? If you didn’t support the bill? “Is Changing One’s Mind on Taxes a Foolish Joke?” examines how the chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party criticized the state’s Republican governor for signing legislation funding transportation infrastructure repairs and improvements by, among other things, increasing fuel taxes and vehicle-related fees. Turns out the governor, in signing a proposal backed by many Democrats, reneged on a chestnut pledge to not raise taxes.
  • John R. Dundon II EA blog: What’s in a name? According to Reg. Sec. 1.408A-5, a client contributing to one type of IRA may be able to treat the contribution, for tax purposes, as if they made it to a different type of IRA. Particularly handy, the blogger notes, for recharacterizing a Roth back to a traditional IRA.

 
The big pictures

  • Tax Vox: Tired of big corporations getting all the breaks? You’re not alone, says blogger Howard Gleckman, who examines a recent paper by Eric Toder of the Tax Policy Center and Alan Viard of the American Enterprise Institute. The duo advocate “major surgery” for corporate tax reforms now in Congress and propose either building a tax based on a broad international agreement on how to allocate corporate income among countries or replacing the corporate income tax entirely with a direct tax on shareholders.
  • Solutions For CPA Firm Leaders: Blogger Rita Keller revisits an early self-eval she did and reflects on how women in the profession of accounting – and the profession itself – have changed in the past three decades.
  • Don’t Mess With Taxes: Amid the chill and warmth of spring comes this reminder that energy-efficient home improvement tax breaks might soon boomerang.
  • Tax Policy: No Time Like the Future Dept.: The Senate Finance Committee greenlights a tax extenders package that includes two-year extensions on more than 50 provisions totaling $85.3 billion. The deal encompasses provisions covering individuals and businesses, with many breaks targeting the renewable energy industry.
  • Procedurally Taxing: A look at a novel case of claiming that tax liability should be removed due to reliance on counsel, with a firm nod toward the presiding judge deciding the case, the famed Marvin Garbis.
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