Voices

In the blogs: Apple pie and taxes

Your firm’s tomorrow; quantifying clients; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Apple pie and taxes

  • Tax Vox (http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org): Heartfelt optimism or time-tested political bushwa? The White House contends that tax relief for the accumulated foreign earnings of U.S.-based multinational corporations would eventually trickle down to hard-working Americans. Data (not to mention hard-working Americans’ experience) remains sketchy.
  • Bloomberg BNA (http://www.bna.com/news/#!topic=istax&type=isblogpost): Through this year the IRS is 0-3 in cases in Kentucky involving tax shelters. The agency’s notable goose egg reads like a slice of Americana: The Ervin family, three brothers who worked on the family farm and in coal mines while in school, went to college on wrestling scholarships and later sold their telecommunications business for a bundle at the height of the telecom boom.
  • Tax Girl (http://blogs.forbes.com/kellyphillipserb): It’s kind of in Americans’ nature to believe that a side job should, for some reason, mean cash free of taxes. And according to a recent survey, about a third of Millennials don’t declare what they make on side hustles.
  • John R. Dundon II EA (http://johnrdundon.com/): Remember when Mitt Romney said “Corporations are people, too”? He remains right, at least according to U.S. tax law. Where the concept falls short: relying on a reasonable expectation that corporations behave as moral agents of society, “just like the rest of us.”
  • Don’t Mess With Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): As the Trump administration’s tax plan prepares to take the stage, one area individuals and businesses are closely watching is whether the proposal will include changes to company-offered 401(k)s. Will they be Rothified?

Code one

  • Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): An examination of “the idiocy” of referring to the IRC as the “IRS Revenue Code” and the blogger’s ongoing effort to help people understand the difference.
  • Dinesen Tax Times (http://dinesentax.com/blog): Part five of “Revisiting a History of Marriage in the Tax Code” examines common law and the nine states that use “community property” law.
  • Tax Policy (http://taxfoundation.org/blog): Are state and local deductions in place to protect against double taxation? Why this deduction is really bad policy for about a dozen reasons.
  • Rubin on Tax (http://rubinontax.floridatax.com): A diagram to clarify “interrelated and unrelated concepts and implications that is difficult to both comprehend and apply” regarding Florida’s homestead status.

Can’t or won’t

  • Houston Tax Attorney (http://www.irstaxtrouble.com/category/tax-blog/): The IRS makes various demands on businesses undergoing employment tax audits or trying to deal with employment tax collection issues, not the least of which can be requiring that the taxpayer start complying with the employment tax laws. What if the taxpayer can’t or won’t? Enter United States v. Askins & Miller Orthopedics.
  • Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): Interesting court case name of the week: United States v. $31,000 in U.S. Currency, in which the Sixth Circuit rendered an important decision regarding limits to in rem forfeiture proceedings.
  • Due Diligence (http://www.mahanyertl.com/mahanyertl/): In this week’s collection: “Venezuelan Money Laundering and Bribery – New Whistleblower Opportunities”; “Allied Home Mortgage Ordered to Pay $268 Million”; and “Celebrity Fraud Schemes – Athletes and Celebrity Victims.”

Future shock?

  • Wolters Kluwer (http://news.cchgroup.com/): Chief Cook and Bottle Washer Dept.: Many firms today have a managing partner who functions more as a high-level firm administrator or firm manager than a leader. How resistance to letting go of management and administrative duties by managing partners results in less than effectiveness.
  • Sageworks (https://www.sageworks.com/blog/default.aspx): “Is Your Firm Future Ready?”: An infographic for now and later (much later, it will be out of date).
  • TaxProf (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): Law firms already elbowing one another for multinational clients will soon have to compete with PwC.

Client facing

  • Liberty Tax Blog (http://www.libertytax.com/tax-lounge): A seemingly new take for your clients who work for themselves: “There are a number of advantages to working for yourself, many of which play out in tax deductions at the end of the year.”
  • H&R Block (http://blogs.hrblock.com/): Our favorite opening of the week: “There are many factors you will look at when purchasing a new home including affordability, location, size and even what your favorite HGTV star’s opinion may be.” The other important things that will apply, starting with taxes.
  • TaxBuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): Road Warriors Dept.: An overview of the four best mileage-tracking apps.
  • Intuit Proconnect (http://taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com/): How your S corp clients can use an accountable plan to deduct home office expenses.
  • Focus (https://sgcpa.com/resources/focus-blog/): Charitable giving warms the heart and whittles the tax bill. Non-cash donations such as appreciated real estate can provide additional benefits — but there are tax pitfalls.

New to us

  • Boyum & Barenscheer (http://www.boybarcpa.com/blog): This Minnesota firm’s blog offers frequent client-facing tax tips and engaging editorial for both practitioners and the biz clients who love them. Most recent: “All customers aren’t created equal, and it’s in your strategic interest to know which customers are really strengthening your bottom line and by how much.” How to sort out the data. Welcome aboard.
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