Dangerous procedural traps; justification for change; unexpected tax exposure; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.
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Global tax gods
Don't Mess With Taxes : The global tax gods apparently got together and decided to make the financial lives of some wealthy celebrities easier. Donald Trump and Shakira both got good tax news from, respectively, the IRS and a Spanish court. The IRS will end pending tax investigations against Trump. Shakira is no longer considered a global tax evader. The popular singer also is getting back more than 55 million euros ($64 million) in tax fines that a court ruled were wrongly imposed by Spain's tax authority.ITEP : In 2025, Amazon received $17.5 billion in tax subsidies by paying just 1.4% of its U.S. income in federal corporate income taxes rather than the official 21% that is the ostensible tax rate for corporations. This $17.5 billion in tax savings for Amazon was about 10% of the $180 billion in federal income tax subsidies for all publicly traded corporations in 2025 that provide enough information in their annual financial reports to make such a determination.Armanino : Chances are with family offices that are run or supported by a senior finance or operations leader, the reporting process did not begin with a strategic plan or a clearly defined enterprise applications roadmap. It evolved over time. A spreadsheet here, a manual step added to solve a short-term issue there. After a while that patchwork became the way things are done, with untracked inputs and informal handoffs becoming the norm across teams and systems. On the surface, it works. But as entities multiply and expectations for accuracy and timeliness increase, the process becomes harder to sustain. That is where ROI becomes useful.
Windfall profits taxes
Tax Foundation : Military action around the Strait of Hormuz has increased global oil prices. In response, policymakers around the world have put forward proposals targeting oil and gas producers who are seeing profits increase in the short run from the spike in prices. The proposals run into three problems: There already is a tax that captures windfall profits; a temporary policy can still change investment decisions; and so-called windfall profits taxes often continue past the supposed emergency.CLA : Higher education institutions and nonprofits continue to invest heavily in enterprise platforms to connect and support academic delivery, enrollment operations, compliance requirements and institutional planning. Yet even after a successful go-live, many institutions find the operational value they anticipated is slower to emerge. This experience is common and often reflects operational complexity rather than shortcomings in the system itself.Canopy : Updating the messaging and identity following a fundamental shift in what a firm is can be more difficult than building a brand from scratch. This blog discusses how to leverage the reputation that a company has already built (and acquired) while repositioning the firm for its new path forward.TaxConnex : Drop shipment transactions have become increasingly common as ecommerce businesses look for ways to reduce inventory costs, improve fulfillment speed and scale operations. But while the operational model may be efficient, the sales tax implications behind drop shipments are anything but simple. Following the expansion of economic nexus rules after the South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. decision, many businesses are discovering that drop shipment arrangements can create unexpected tax exposure and margin erosion if not properly managed.
Counteracting inflation
Yeo and Yeo : For the 12 months ending in April 2026, the U.S. inflation rate was 3.8%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices for business' products, materials and other operating costs may have risen faster in recent months than anticipated, making planning and forecasting challenging. How can businesses counteract inflation? They can start by making prudent cost-cutting decisions and acting swiftly when they spot opportunities.Sovos : Most companies treat use tax as a problem they'll get to eventually. "Phase 2" of the transformation plan. Meanwhile, auditors, who have gotten meaningfully smarter through technology, know exactly where to look. Manufacturers can find themselves a frequent target. When a seller takes a properly completed exemption certificate from a manufacturer, they are largely off the hook. The manufacturer never is.Wiss : High earners receive tax returns. High-net-worth individuals receive tax consequences. The distinction matters because the decisions that produce those consequences, involving business structures, estate planning transactions and retirement income timing, are made throughout the year, often without full visibility into how they interact.Boyum & Barenscheer : The Minnesota Legislature passed a tax bill on May 18, which the governor is expected to sign shortly. This blog discusses what is in the bill, including the extension of the state's pass-through entity tax. The PTE tax had been helping Minnesota pass-throughs for a number of years before it expired on December 31, 2025. This bill will extend the PTE for the 2026 and 2027 tax years. So it's only a two-year extension, but definitely a win for PTE clients.
Curiosity, not just compliance
Tax Pro Center : At tax time, companies often reconnect with clients through their numbers before reconnecting with them through conversation. A year goes by. Then the forms start arriving: W-2s. 1099s. Business income. Retirement distributions. On paper, those forms tell what happened financially, but they can also tell how the client's year actually went. This is the moment where good tax prep requires curiosity, not just compliance.Withum : The R&D tax credit under IRC Sec. 41 is a statutory tax incentive, not a discretionary benefit, designed to reward companies for investing in innovation in the U.S. While the opportunity can be significant, the credit is highly technical and documentation-driven.Current Federal Tax Developments : On May 19, 2026, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6506, the Taxpayer Due Process Enhancement Act. For tax practitioners who represent clients in collection due process proceedings, this legislation is a welcome and highly necessary development. The bill was drafted as a direct congressional override of the Supreme Court's controversial June 2025 decision in Commissioner v. Zuch, which severely curtailed the jurisdiction of the U.S. Tax Court and created dangerous procedural traps for taxpayers fighting IRS collection actions.
