Highlights of some of our favorite tax-related blogs from the past week.
Crimes and misnomers
Our Taxing Times : As if preparers didn’t have a reputation with Mr. and Mrs. America already: A look at a scam wherein preparers tell taxpayers that the ACA shared responsibility payment goes to the preparer and not to the government.Due Diligence : In this week’s roundup: “NBC: Medicare Fraud is Epidemic’”; “HSBC Menace or Monster?”; “Sen. Paul Rand Re-Introduces FATCA Repeal”; “Mortgage Servicers and the Need for Whistleblowers”; and “Luxembourg: Tax Dodgers Unacceptable.”Mauled Again : Ready, set, point: “Who’s to Blame for Tax Fraud?” looks at any validity in Congress’ recent claims that software is the culprit, and whether our lawmakers and the IRS should in fact shoulder the responsibility.Tax, Society & Culture : An NYU symposium on the forever-hot transparency question: “Should Corporate Tax Returns be Public?”
By our handles
Tax Vox : In Chicago, it’s state aid for school pensions or risk exploding property taxes. In Maryland, it’s jack up property taxes to pay for schools. In Utah, it’s hike the gas tax or fall $11.3 billion short on transportation funding. A nation trying to tax itself into prosperity, said Churchill, “is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” Just sayin’.Tax Policy : Boo, hiss: How Massachusetts’ $90 million-odd might end up on the cutting-room floor if a Republican governor “and a diverse coalition” of incentive opponents win the day. A by-the-numbers breakdown of filmmaking’s good and bad history regarding Bay State coffers.Procedurally Taxing : Guest blogger and tax litigator Peter Lowy examines the recent Appeals decision in the 7th Circuit on Gyorgy v. Commissioner, a collection due process case that “tees up at least three important procedural issues.”
Tell’em where to go
H&R Block : Where to send clients regarding how to pay what they owe.Taxes at About.com : Where to send clients regarding how to get back what they’re owed.Roth & Co. : Time waits for no refund: How it’s now too late for taxpayers to claim money back from that 2011 federal return they just never filed.TaxMama : Mama helps out when a worker moves to a different state while working for the same company and the W-2 shows withholding for only the former state and the employer won’t correct the error.Burbank CPA Tax Musings : How harvesting gains, with a nod to a recent Wall Street Journal piece, may or may not always be a good tax idea.Tax Break: The TurboTax blog : Ah, collegiate memories. Football games. Strolls on the leafy quad. Snowball fights with dorm mates and the sweet kiss of spring telling you made it through another year and one step closer to real life. Part of that real life, these days: student loan debt. Ten ways that college students can make ends meet.
Matters of forms
Tax Maven : Shun not but embrace Form 3115, which a recent Rev. Proc. removed the need for in many situations.Bond Beebe’s It’s Taxing : A gander at the 2015 annual gift tax exclusion and other non-taxable gifts.
A Yelping hand
ClientWhys : Is the popular localized marketing site actually hiding your best reviews? Maybe, and here’s why.The Income Tax School : Your essential tax prep industry sites.
