Highlights of some of our favorite tax-related blogs from the past week.
Sin out loud
Backtaxeshelp : There’s big money in big forbiddens: In “Most Popular Sin Taxes and Which States Are Using Them Most?” blogger Kent Livingston looks at how governments milk our vices. “Ever since Man has existed there has been sin.” Well, maybe not immediately but surely within the first few days – and especially nights. And note: “Lawmakers love to indulge in these vices just as much as the people who are addicted to them.”The Tax Times : A look at a recent Law 360 report that the IRS, apparently still learning that old habits (see above) die hard, erased a hard drive belonging to a former agency official after a litigation hold had been ordered on materials relating to a Freedom of Information Act request by Microsoft for documents on the agency's contract with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.
Loaded topics
Don’t Mess With Taxes : Running counter to the current trend of using taxes to discourage gun ownership (or at least make some cash on such ownership) this idea comes riding out of Arizona: a state tax credit to gun owners who take classes to learn how to handle their weapons.H&R Block : Taxes can occasion a special breed of ID theft. What to tell your client about the crime and about how to recover.John R. Dundon II EA : A look at the endless tinkering that’s going on with the Rocky Mountain State’s personal and corporate income tax regulations, notably for non-residents and part-year residents alike. John also speaks from the heart: “As a guy who has been in Colorado long enough to shamelessly call himself a local I could blabber on about each of these points …”Tax Vox : How the recent wicked blizzard of the East shook up the Hill finance meeting schedule, how Googling “big UK tax bill” turns up Google itself, and the governor of Utah’s ire with online sales tax cheats.
Professional developments
Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders : To female CPA firm staffers afraid of the “long-talked about stigma that when you want to start a family, you cannot work in public accounting”: Stick it out. “The accounting profession is becoming more and more flexible all the time.”The Income Tax School : Advice can be worth its weight in golden profits, especially for small companies and startups. A look at the benefits of advisory boards.
Just keep talking
Roth & Co. : Maybe your reminders to clients to bring all their paperwork come prep time would get better traction if you also reminded clients that getting all the paperwork together at once makes doing their return cheaper.TurboTax : Ah, the refund, that influx of cash for clients just as the snow begins to melt and the giddiness sets in. Now to use the influx wisely.Liberty Tax : And remember: Not everybody who walks into your office this time o’ year knows the difference between deductions and tax credits.IRS Problem Solver Blog : Handy-dandy breakdown of this season’s important dates, from opening day to closing pitch.TaxMama : Mama helps a reader “with a very common type of problem: Spouse A’s traditional IRA was rolled over to another company where Spouse B set up the account – without thinking to change the name to that of Spouse A. What now?”
