In the Blogs: What to Do with Leftovers

Highlights of some of our favorite tax-related blogs from the past week.

First Time’s the Charm

Rubin on Tax: A look at the little-known IRS program to abate penalties for a taxpayer’s first time filing a return late, making a late payment or making a late tax deposit.

Musings of a Burbank CPA: Got a client whose idea of financial planning is doubling down on black 21? A refresher on IRS requirements for reporting gambling winnings and deducting gambling losses.

The Income Tax School: You likely also know about the IRS voluntary Annual Filing Season Program. The service claims 44,000 preparers participated this year. Still, some 400,000 didn’t. If you’re one of the latter, why to think twice about jumping in.

TurboTax Blog: Sun, surf and resumes: What’s deductible in a summer job search.

Bond Beebe’s It’s Taxing: A look at Maryland’s tax amnesty program.

Philadelphia Estate and Tax Attorney blog: The City of Brotherly Love recently put its money where its motto is, reducing the City Wage Tax rate effective July 1. A look at the new rates and what they mean for both businesses and workers.

What to do with leftovers

Tax Girl: Neither rain nor sleet nor gloom of prison: The IRS issued 101,407,000 federal refunds totaling $273.548 billion last season. Most of that money made its appointed rounds – except for that pocketed by one Brooklyn mailman.

IRS Problem Solver Blog: How one family that’s owns several Wisconsin restaurants is “in hot water with the IRS.” Today’s special: knowingly under-reporting sales and using the leftovers to build a reserve of money and silver.

Due Diligence: In this week’s roundup: “Holistic Cardiologist Indicted for Medicare Fraud”; “Nonprofit to Pay $20 Million in False Claims Act Case”; “Madoff Victim Sues IRS for Tax Refund”; and “FATCA Leaves No Land Untouched.”

Federal Tax Crimes: Yet another Swiss bank (Privatbank Von Graffenried AG) reaches resolution with the DOJ. The penalty: $287,700, and that ain’t cheese.

Key figures

Solutions For CPA Firm Leaders: The age-old question for all businesses, including your practice: What to pay and what’s the cost in the long run?

Tax Vox: A look at the Tax Policy Center’s revised microsimulation tax model, including the addition of excise taxes to the mix of federal taxes modeled. “New baseline tables covering 2011 to 2025 largely match previous estimates,” a note adds, “showing that Americans will pay an average of 19.8% of their income in federal taxes this year,” about half in individual income taxes and a third in payroll taxes.

Travelling

Taxable Talk: A comparison of the new state tax bills for the biggest recent relocating NBA free agents. Former L.A. Clipper DeAndre Jordan, for example, is taking a $28 million pay cut to head to the Dallas Mavericks and former Portland Trailblazer LaMarcus Aldridge just inked an $80 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs. The real buzzer-beater for both? Texas income taxes are a lot kinder than California’s or Oregon’s.

Taxjar: Just when you thought the Internet couldn’t possibly hit you with another new term, along come “Buyable Pins” from Pinterest and Shopify. Taking “Like” a monetary step further, the pins allow those merely browsing and repinning to actually buy products. Sounds great, but what are the sales tax implications? Might turn out to be a strong “DisLike.”

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