In the blogs: Getting serious

More bucks for the IRS; deductible haircuts; virtues of virtual learning; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Getting serious

• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): Yin and Yang Dept: “How Much More Money Could the IRS Collect If Congress Gave Them More Money?”
• TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): Turns out the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that modest investments in the IRS would generate $60 billion to $100 billion in additional revenue over a decade. “This is qualitatively correct. But quantitatively, the revenue potential is much more significant than the CBO report suggests…”
• IRS Mind (http://www.irsmind.com/blog/): The IRS is getting serious about takin’ a bite outta fraud. Witness the new Fraud Enforcement Office.
• Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): So what qualifications are needed to be a tax collector?
• Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): The 1040 will be available in Spanish for the 2020 season — one indication of an ongoing effort to improve accessibility of IRS services and information beyond English.
• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/us/en/blog.html): Despite strong online sales, COVID-19 continues to stress state and local budgets. Why to expect states to tighten enforcement of economic nexus and marketplace facilitator laws soon.
• AICPA (https://blog.aicpa.org/): You’ve got a logo and a website. Is your branding job done? Not exactly.
• Eide Bailly (https://www.eidebailly.com/taxblog): Where to see more viewpoints of President Trump’s tax payment (or not) history.
• The Wandering Tax Pro (http://wanderingtaxpro.blogspot.com/) So how deductible are haircuts, anyway?
• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): Unquestionably our favorite headline of the week: “The Dead Need Not Amend.”

On the road

• Wolters Kluwer (http://news.cchgroup.com/): Most states with a corporate income tax don’t conform to the net operating loss carryback periods added by the CARES Act.
• Rubin on Tax (http://rubinontax.floridatax.com): A summary of a recent Florida case (Demircan v. Mikhaylov) on the ability of a settlor and beneficiaries to modify an irrevocable trust.
• Taxjar (http://blog.taxjar.com/): Software as a Service is a model where software is hosted in one place but licensed by subscription for use by customers. This has tremendous subscription potential for your applicable clients — and big implications for sales tax.
• Boyum & Barenscheer (https://myboyum.com/blog/): A look at the new per-diem rates for business travel.
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): Ahead or Behind? Dept.: A look at recent changes in top personal income tax rates in Europe. In 2018, revenue from personal income taxes made up 23.9 percent of total tax revenue across OECD countries….

Pandemic changes

• Taxing Subjects (https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog): The American Institute of CPAs adds to the call for expanding the Paycheck Protection Program and extending the program’s lifespan.
• National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): Contactless payments speak for themselves these days and businesses — including your practice — must learn and understand the consumers’ new habits. How to make this work without touching.
• Sagenext (https://www.thesagenext.com/blog): Some of the best cloud-based accounting applications to manage today’s finances.
• Sikich (https://www.sikich.com/insights/): Clarifications and updates on the student and institution portions of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund programs include that purchases to ensure the physical safety of students on campus are allowable uses of a grantee’s institutional portion of its allocation under Sec. 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act.
• The Income Tax School (http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/): Students across the country (and in our own house) are dipping their toes into the virtual learning environment. Lack of hanging out in the dorm aside, why virtual learning may have more advantages than the classroom setting.