Voices

In the blogs: Bozo time

Cyber-defenses; Tax Gap inaccuracy; a new retirement age; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Bozo time

  • Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): This blog's latest annual rundown of Bozo Tax Tips kicks off with a repeat for the 10th year in a row, one that bears repeating as ID theft keep mushrooming: when otherwise smart clients just continue and continue and continue to email tax information.
  • Boyum & Barenscheer (https://www.myboyum.com/blog/): A walk through the common red flags of bogus Employee Retention Credit preparers, including suspicious names of firms.
  • HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): Some of your best weapons against cyberattack, from gateways to ongoing auditing.
  • Surgent Income Tax School ( http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/): Turns out the government will help you defend the fort's firewalls: Everything you need to know about cybersecurity investment tax credits.
  • Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): This update on Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act, though penned last Saturday, is no April Fool's joke.
  • National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): A recent Tax Court decision should remind us that businesses claiming the R&D tax credit must carefully document activities. 
  • Tax Pro Center (http://proconnect.intuit.com/taxprocenter/): This year's IRS Dirty Dozen includes schemes aimed at wealthy taxpayers, specifically charitable remainder annuity trusts and monetized installment sales.

Seems only fair

  • Don't Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): The IRS  expects precision from taxpayers. Now, says a government watchdog, the tax agency must itself do a better job of collecting and calculating Tax Gap numbers.
  • Procedurally Taxing (https://procedurallytaxing.com): The upcoming 25th anniversary of the passage of IRS Restructuring and Reform Act was a focus of this blog's posts in March: A series highlighted a problem that exists for many taxpayers whose returns contain duplicate tax ID numbers; notable developments in equitable tolling litigation, time-barred APA claims and nominal refund claims; and we all learned "a thing or two about the benefits of being a Tax Court judge."
  • Eide Bailly (https://www.eidebailly.com/taxblog): A look at the recent IRS ruling that assets of an irrevocable trust not includible in the taxable estate of a taxpayer get no basis step-up at the taxpayer's death.
  • University of Illinois Tax School (https://taxschool.illinois.edu/blog/): This video could educate them on basics of deductibility of small-biz expenses.

From headlines

  • Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (https://itep.org/category/blog/): Congressional Republicans argue that federal spending has spawned such a severe budget deficit that we'll default on the national debt accumulated under previous Congresses of both parties if the president doesn't agree to spending cuts. "They know full well that such a debt default would spark an economic cataclysm, but the premise underlying their argument — that overspending by the federal government has caused the budget deficit — is wrong," according to a new report.
  • Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): Amid recent state-level doings, the Minnesota legislature is set to solidify state tax relief plans for residents next week and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has signed a bill approving a tax credit for the purchase of gun safes.
  • The Rosenberg Associates (https://rosenbergassoc.com/blog/): How one firm juggled a key number (to 85) when averting a staffing crunch (from April 1). 
  • Solutions For CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/): How glaring is the profession's "Vacancy" sign?
  • TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): The Canadian Tax Journal has published a special issue dedicated to the late Richard Bird of the University of Toronto.

Busy times

  • Turbotax (https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com): What to remind them about the infamous K-1.
  • Canopy (https://www.getcanopy.com/blog): Do you associate "bossy" with women leaders? The blogger's guess is that many people do. If so, time we changed that.
  • Wolters Kluwer (https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/tax-accounting-us/industry-news): A look at FASB's new ASU on "Investments — Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323): Accounting for Investments in Tax Credit Structures Using the Proportional Amortization Method," intended to improve the accounting and disclosures for investments in tax credit structures. 
  • Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): FASB has also issued an ASU focusing on leases, specifically common control arrangements. Entities must determine whether a common control arrangement is a lease based on "legally enforceable terms and conditions."
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