Voices

In the blogs: Stranger things

Potential for season’s delay; murder and taxes; home is where the fraud is; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Stranger things

  • H&R Block (http://blogs.hrblock.com/): What to remind them about offsetting capital gains.
  • Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): “The Five Strangest Things Clients Told Us This Tax Season” includes such timeless classics as “I don’t want to file the New York tax return, even though I’m getting a full tax credit on my California return”; “I sold things on the Internet, so I don’t owe state tax on it” and “I only had the foreign bank account for one week. I don’t want to file the FBAR.” And your bonus hit: “The 1099 never showed up. I don’t have to report the income, right?” Order yours today!
  • Dinesen Tax Times (http://dinesentax.com/blog): How clients need to account for charitable contributions through their business, from sole proprietorships to partnerships and S or C corps.

Reform school

  • Tax Girl (http://blogs.forbes.com/kellyphillipserb): The Senate is in the process of crafting a budget for the 2018 fiscal year — more than three weeks beyond the historical beginning of the new fiscal year. A look at whether this momentous accomplishment moves the GOP reform any closer to reality.
  • Don’t Mess With Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): Hurricanes, reform, who knows what else looms: Will tax season be delayed?
  • A Taxing Matter (http://ataxingmatter.blogs.com/tax/): The forked tongues speaking of no tax cuts for the upper class and a reform plan that has always favored the wealthy.
  • Backtaxeshelp (http://www.backtaxeshelp.com/tax-blog/): And how exactly will the poor victims get out of this year’s hurricane hammerings come filing time?
  • TurboTax (http://Blog.turbotax.intuit.com): Write-offs are always kind of interesting even if few clients ever actually use them. “Tax Write-Offs for Athletes” looks at the familiar items like dues and fees but also how the tax sitch differs greatly for pro athletes depending on where they live.

Master disaster

  • Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): Never Miss It ‘Til It’s Gone Dept: Honing your firm’s IT disaster recovery plan and business impact analysis with a careful look at what your IT does and how it does it — and what would happen if the IT system broke down.
  • TaxMama (http://taxmama.com): Get ready for next e-filing season by getting e-organized now.
  • Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/: The path to the next level for your firm can be a big step, at least for some honchos: Allow your managing partner and firm administrator to take full control over the day-to-day operations of your firm and develop a need-to-know policy.
  • Wolters Kluwer (http://news.cchgroup.com/): Who’s the person who greets and touches customers’ documents first, is the last person to assemble them and often talks with the customer about the finished product? Your firm’s administrator — and unsung hero — and an ever-evolving and increasingly critical job.

Complications

  • Rubin on Tax (http://rubinontax.floridatax.com): Favorite headline of the week: “Possession May Be Nine-Tenths of the Law – But Watch Out for the Other One-Tenth.” Seems Prudential Insurance Company of America issued a life insurance policy on the life of Russell. Russell’s wife, Sherry, was the beneficiary. The policy contained $332,000 of term life coverage and $332,000 of accidental death coverage. Russell died. Sherry made a claim. Prudential settled. Cue Sherry’s indictment for the murder of Russell. Then things got complicated.
  • Due Diligence (http://www.mahanyertl.com/mahanyertl/): Whistleblower lawyers are investigating the New York City home-healthcare business Heart to Heart Home Care, which operates in “an industry racked with fraud.” One example: One family member said Heart to Heart aides failed to show up 20 times over a 75-day period. (We know from our own experience that no-shows have been a part of home nursing for years in New York, if not decades.) Thing is, they would often bill for those days as if someone was present in the patient’s home.
  • Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): Slashed IRS budgets don’t just mean slower refunds. As TIGTA recently reported, since FY11 reductions in staffing and available funding for IRS Criminal Investigation activities have contributed to a decrease in the number and size of CI field offices throughout the country.
  • Procedurally Taxing (http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/): Schussel v. Commissioner provides another glimpse at the importance of Sec. 7459. Here as in earlier cases involving 7459, the court must determine whether its jurisdiction over transferee liability cases invokes the restriction on dismissal contained in that section.
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