Highlights of some of our favorite tax-related blogs from the past week.
Your clients’ money
Musings of a Burbank CPA : Ongoing series on how clients can pick the winners in investments and check the losses before the red runs too deep.TurboTax Blog : Budget tips for wedding daze, from venue and reception to flowers, music, photography and, of course, the gown.TaxMama : Mama helps an IRA holder who contacted the account custodian at 3 o’clock on the last afternoon of the year to request an RMD and wound up with a transaction Jan. 1. Will the penalty apply and, if so, how to file for relief?
That time o’ year
Taxing Subjects : Happy Campers Dept.: A look at the IRS reminder to taxpayers that money spent on summer day camps can be eligible for a tax credit if the attending child or dependent qualifies under the rules in Pub. 503. A checklist for those who might be interested.The Wandering Tax Pro : Be warned: Blogger Robert Flach can’t go on no more and is “basically sick of looking at 2014 Form 1040s” and has “lost all interest and motivation to do GDEs.” That’s it for the summer, which is somehow here already.A Taxing Matter : Blogger Linda Beale’s thoughts on a recent “extraordinarily frank breakfast exchange” with presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., including “substantive” observations on meeting the needs of ordinary working Americans.
Key points
The Income Tax School : What to tell clients about how you can represent them before the IRS starting with a hypothetical client who receives a service notice (“Oh the horror!”) and just puts it on his kitchen counter to deal with later. Key points: “Procrastination is never the answer” and “The IRS is not always right.”Tax Vox : Blogger Renu Zaretsky looks at “Tax Increases: The Ugly, the Bad, and the Good?” in Kansas, Connecticut and Tennessee. One key point: If you must raise, raise early.Procedurally Taxing : Carl Smith discusses the recent decision in the Quality Software Systems Tax Court case involving “the recurring and problematic issue” of a defaulted OIC. Key point: How the courts (and the Tax Court in particular) continue to play a vital role in ensuring that the IRS balances its legitimate interests in collecting taxes with individual taxpayer rights.
Foreign affairs
Federal Tax Crimes : Blogger Jack Townsend looks at an article detailing German authorities’ recent raid on Deutsche Bank’s headquarters for “potential behavior that sounds familiar.” Ja.Tax Girl : King Felipe VI of Spain yanks the title of “Duchess of Palma de Mallorca” from his sister, Princess Cristina, who faces criminal charges of tax evasion. At least no American is likely to ever face that from the U.S. Tax Code.
Taxes and death
Roth & Co. : The devil’s in the details of the new law allowing a surviving spouse to inherit the deceased spouse’s unused estate tax exemption on an estate tax return.IRS Problem Solver Blog : Florida legislators’ last-minute wrangling to fix a budget, via a local news story.Due Diligence : In this week’s roundup, many questions: “FIFA Scandal Where Were the Accountants?”; “Does Fighting Medicare Fraud Hurt Patients?”; “Can a Court Sanction a Whistleblower?”; “Pope Helps IRS Crack Down on Tax Cheats”; “Two More Swiss Banks Settle”; “FBAR Penalties of 100%? Unfortunately, It’s True”; and “When Medicare Fraud Kills Patients.”Taxjar : Collecting and remitting sales tax in North Carolina, starting with who needs a permit.Rubin on Tax : “In one corner, we have Code § 368(a)(1)(F), which generally allows for a corporation to move from one jurisdiction to another without triggering gain or other immediate adverse income tax consequences In the other corner, we have Code § 367(d) which treats a transfer of intellectual property (IP) as a taxable disposition of the IP when it is transferred to a foreign corporation under Code Sections 351 or 361.” And there’s the bell to decide which policy prevails when IP is transferred to a foreign corporation when a U.S. corporation converts to a foreign corporation as an F reorganization.
