Tax amnesty programs; protecting your practice; unidentified tax payments; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.
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A Tale Of Two Cities
Global Taxes : A London-based family with a Manhattan condominium held through a limited liability company may soon receive a New York City bill that is not merely a property-tax issue. Beginning July 1, New York Tax Law Article 30-C imposes a surcharge on covered New York City residences that do not serve as a primary residence.Massey and Company : An inherited IRA is an account opened after an IRA owner dies so a beneficiary can receive inherited IRA assets. It may hold assets from a traditional IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), 403(b) or similar retirement account. Beneficiaries cannot make new contributions to inherited IRAs, but the funds can keep tax deferred growth, or potentially tax-free growth for inherited Roth IRAs, until withdrawals are taken.AICPA & CIMA : In an increasingly digital tax environment, the risk of data security is on the rise. According to IRS insights shared during the April session of the Washington Tax Brief, breaches affecting tax professionals are not only increasing — they're accelerating year over year. For CPAs, tax practitioners and firm leaders, the takeaway is clear: a basic security setup is no longer enough. Cybersecurity not just an IT concern, but a critical part of protecting your practice, your clients and your reputation.Sagenext : Your client hands you a signed Form 8879 and a folder of bank statements. Somewhere on your network, that data sits alongside dozens of other clients' SSNs, EINs and balance sheets. If your firm has never formally mapped where all of that lives — or tested what happens if ransomware encrypts it at 2 a.m. — you have a material risk problem, not just an IT problem. This blog offers a checklist built around AICPA guidance and practical advice from several firm-focused security resources. Work through it section by section, and where you find gaps, fix them before the next busy season.
All bets are off
Mauled Again : Pennsylvania imposes a tax on slot machines equal to 34% of gross terminal revenue and a local share assessment. Businesses operating so-called skill devices have not been paying the tax because they claim that the devices are not gambling devices. The dispute between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the operators reached the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and the court concluded that the skill devices are slot machines, subject to the tax (and also subject to criminal law provisions applicable to slot machines).Avalara : At least four states will run tax amnesty programs in 2026, for a variety of tax types. If a client's business has outstanding tax liabilities and meets eligibility standards, mark these tax amnesty events on their calendar and consider whether it would be in their best interest to participate.CBIZ : Small businesses have an important and time-sensitive opportunity to fix how they treated domestic research and experimentation costs on prior-year tax returns. Last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act allows small businesses to deduct their previously capitalizable domestic R&E expenses for years 2022-2024 by filing amended tax returns for those years.Don't Mess With Taxes : An IRS watchdog found the agency recently received billions in unidentified tax payments. The IRS is working on modernizing its operations, which will go a long way in more effectively resolving unaccounted-for amounts. Taxpayers can help, too, by taking advantage of the IRS's various electronic transaction options. Collecting taxes obviously is the agency's main job, but once it gets those tax dollars, it then needs to make sure it properly accounts for the money.
Progressive tax system
Tax Foundation : While the U.S. Tax Code is often believed to be insufficiently progressive, the data continues to show otherwise. A new study from the Fraser Institute, a Libertarian Canadian think tank, ranks the progressivity of tax systems in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Economies and finds the U.S. has the most progressive tax system of the 33 countries studied.Tax Pro Center : July is the month for stars & stripes, but it's also a sweet spot of the tax year, the lull between the spring filing crunch and extension season. For tax professionals who want to differentiate their practice, mid-summer isn't downtime; it's a great time to deepen client relationships, bring about planning opportunities and lay the groundwork for a smoother fourth quarter. Clients are often more relaxed and reachable this time of year, which makes the summer ideal for meaningful conversations that go far beyond compliance.Abrigo : The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2026 issued a final 1071 rule that extends the Section 1071 compliance date for all covered financial institutions to Jan. 1, 2028. The new rule for collecting data on small-business loan activities replaces a 2023 rule framework and its tiered implementation deadlines.
Top enforcement priority
Gordon Law : The Employee Retention Credit provided critical financial relief to businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, but for many employers, the story didn't end when the checks arrived. The IRS has made it clear that ERC claims are a top enforcement priority, and audits, repayment demands and disputes are becoming increasingly common. If your clients' claimed the ERC, understanding how to prepare for a possible audit and knowing where things can go wrong can minimize risk and make the path to their ERC refund as smooth as possible.Armanino : If a company gets its tax returns in by the due date, every time, that's great. But filing on time is only one part of a successful tax strategy. When tax planning is reactive or separate from broader business decisions, corporations miss out on opportunities to improve cash flow, support growth and strengthen enterprise value. These common misconceptions can lead to costly inefficiencies and unintended risk exposure across the business.Current Federal Tax Developments : For tax professionals representing clients in joint and several liability disputes, the United States Tax Court's bench opinion in Sleiman v. Commissioner offers critical guidance on two of the most complex areas of I.R.C. Sec. 6015: nominal business ownership and the application of the domestic abuse exception to the "reason to know" standard. This case highlights how de novo judicial review can successfully look past corporate paperwork and nominal listings to identify the true economic and behavioral realities of a marital household.
