Highlights of some of our favorite tax-related blogs from the past week.
How to lose money
Taxable Talk : Odds are that the two leading daily fantasy sports sites, DraftKings and FanDuel, are good ways to lose your money. The Nevada Gaming Control Board appears to agree and recently announced that the sites constitute gambling under state law. More states likely to follow.Due Diligence : In this week’s roundup: “Lab to Pay $258 Million to Settle Whistleblower Suits”; “Broker Steals From Disabled Client”; “Ebola Revisited”; Long Lunch Breaks Cost Boeing $18M”; “DBE Program Fraud and the False Claims Act”; and “Medical Waste Qui Tam Suit Settled – $27 Million.”Tax Policy : Give It a Whirl Anyway? Dept: A rebuttal to the recent New York Times piece claiming that hiking taxes on the 1% will not lead to “surprising” amounts of revenue.
Intruder alert
Tax Girl : The staggering number of people who’ve fallen for faux-IRS scammers over the past 20 years, and, according to TIGTA, how the hoodwinked legions continue to grow.Mauled Again : Seems the IRS has had bugaboos upgrading to the latest Microsoft operating systems and servers – leaving the door cracked for even further data breaches and malware invasions.Taxes at About.com : What to tell clients (and what they need to know) about your returns privacy policy.
Coasts are clear
Rubin on Tax : Plusses for the very well-heeled of offshore asset-protection trusts.Backtaxeshelp : Will Apple stew in its own hot water over Irish taxes?Federal Tax Crimes : Key points on a recent International Tax Enforcement conference, including the DOJ’s broadening efforts.
‘Dreaming impossible dreams’
Tax Vox : Blogger Renu Zaretsky looks at the fantasy lives of a possible House bipartisan transportation bill, Congress’ looming need to tackle the debt limit, whether Paul Ryan will seek the nod for House speaker and GOP presidential hopeful John Kasich’s tax plan.Roth & Co. : How one landlord, unlike just about every other lessor who must also hold a day job, qualified to claim big rental losses.
The more we’re different…
BNA blogs : “At a meeting of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Private Company Council in September, standard-setters said they’re finding the new consolidation rules (Topic 810) difficult to read and understand.” Imagine how the rest of us will feel.Tax Analysts : Did the Democrats offer much on tax reform in their first debate? Blogger Jeremy Scott contends that the evening was mostly a chance for “front-runner Hillary Clinton to reestablish her brand and fight off the narrative that she was a sinking ship,” along with the “usual talk of income inequality” from Sanders and “erratic strangeness” from Lincoln Chafee. Again, why should he be any different?John R. Dundon EA blog : Probably not too many bloggers would label the new IRS Audit Technique Guide for Entertainers “a riveting page turner.”The Income Tax School : True, they sometimes hog the coffee machine and wear weird stuff to work, but you know that you want to retain your best employees. How to do so, from the efficiency of your workplace to employment agreements and clear job descriptions.
Changes
TaxMama : How Mother Nature tinkered with what we all thought were set deadlines, such as October 15. The special provisions available to victims in the various disaster areas and a real prep story from one preparer with a client in South Carolina.Don’t Mess with Taxes : A look back at the life of Irwin Schiff, whom the IRS probably viewed the way Churchill viewed Gandhi. The celebrity tax protester, 87, died of lung cancer in a prison hospital on Oct. 16.Procedurally Taxing : M.O.R.E. LLC v. United States provides the view of a federal tax case with an interesting, nonchalant application of equitable tolling.
