Highlights of some of our favorite tax-related blogs from the past week.
A-C-A and o-o-p-s
Tax Break: The TurboTax blog : What to tell clients about the Healthcare Marketplace if they have or haven’t yet filed. Oh, and a lot of tax forms about this matter are wrong (Accounting Today) (see below).Our Taxing Times : A look at some 800,000 taxpayers who enrolled and received a botched 1095-A. What the form should and shouldn’t say and what to do if a client’s form is wrong. We guess this time of year wasn’t complicated enough.H&R Block blog : To continue, what to tell clients who just plain missed the Marketplace/insurance deadline.Tax Vox : And this from a volunteer preparer in the trenches: “Sorting through all the necessary paperwork is hard to do, even for those of us whose day jobs are in tax policy.” Enough to make you sick.
Slights of hand
The Income Tax School : When you come right down to it, aren’t all those reports about rampant tax scams kind of funny? Who would fall for such malarkey? Easy: your clients, often without even knowing it. “Why You Should Be Communicating With Clients About Tax Fraud.”Tax Girl : So how does a seasoned security worker who “spent a lot of his professional life learning how to avoid a hack” log onto TurboTax and find that somebody already filed a return? The three or four hours on the phone with the prep software company included many (unnecessary) reminders about strong passwords but basically boiled down to one proper name: Anthem.Due Diligence : In this week’s roundup: “NY Resident Pleads to Unreported Account FBAR Charge”; “Unusual Medicare Fraud Cases Settles for $1.25 Million”; “Bulgaria Approves FATCA Pact”; “Doc Pleads Guilty to Unreported Leumi Account”; “Skilled Civil Litigation Attorneys Explain the Characteristics of a Malpractice Case”; “Patient Recruiter Scam Leads to Medicare Fraud Conviction”; “Unlicensed Medical Assistant Leads to Big Whistleblower Payday”; and “Mispent Homeless $ Leads to Healthcare Fraud Charges.”Mauled Again : Our favorite headline of the week: “The Parade of Tax Horribles Never Ends.” How the depreciation deduction swelled beyond justifiable use.
What’s in a name?
Tax Maven : If your business-owner client is selling, what’s in a good name? Plenty in the form of personal goodwill, “when an individual’s reputation, expertise or contacts contribute significantly to a company’s value and future income stream.” What to know and how to take advantage of it.Procedurally Taxing : How the Senate recently “marked up” supposedly non-controversial legislation to change several provisions of Tax Court operations. Bill JCX-19-15 (no bill number yet; no public disclosure, either) looks to clarify that the Court is not an agency, set up a procedure for judicial complaints and stipulate that the Court can again have judicial conferences.Tax, Society & Culture : Uber-type arrangements potentially open a Pandora’s cab door of tax and labor/employment reg avoidance. Are Uber drivers employees, independent contractors or neither? Of note: “That new economy firms are actually returning us to an old economy model, in which everyone is an artisan hunting for a daily paycheck.”Liberty Tax : If tax time brings good news for some, this must be it: Many job-hunting expenses are deductible.Burbank CPA Tax Musings : Remind them again: the plusses of direct deposit for clients’ refunds. The clincher: “Do you really want to trust the Post Office?”Don’t Mess With Taxes : And this year’s winner for Best Picture Oscar is ? Every one of the eight nominees, if you’re talking about tax breaks.
Service doings
John R. Dundon II blog : Step-by-step how-to in releasing a federal lien from the IRS. We also like when bloggers deftly pause before taking up a subject to explain themselves and give a nod to colleagues: “Fortunately I graduated from providing this service for hire preferring to refer all tax collection work to a handful of trusted friends and advisers consciously choosing (bless their hearts) to focus solely on Section 6325(a) Contact me directly for a referral to my A team!” Also a note to beware “Guido and Luigi” and offers too good to resist.Bond Beebe’s It’s Taxing : Applicable federal rates for March.Tax Policy : Puerto Rico recently introduced a bill to implement a value-added tax while eliminating or reducing several other taxes. Is this just testing the blue Caribbean waters before trying to debut a VAT in the U.S.?
