In the blogs: Just plain fun

Taxes versus budgets; meaning of gross taxable income; new blog in town; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Just plain fun

• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (https://itep.org/category/blog/): Even as many state lawmakers cite rising prices as a major reason to cut taxes, less-noticed data offer a reminder that rising costs have the potential to strain government budgets.
• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): In Collins v. United States, the court affirmed the district court’s holding that Collins was liable for the willful FBAR penalty. To paraphrase “The Producers,” incredibly willful.
• CPA Growth Trends (https://www.cpagrowthtrends.com/): Accounting marketers aren’t going to start interviewing tax manager candidates (“though that could be fun…”) but many have taken a larger role in some HR functions at their firms. 
• Taxjar (https://www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): A recent Q&A on the hot tax questions about nonfungible tokens, virtual events and the metaverse.
• Gordon Law (https://gordonlawltd.com/blog/): The troubles sure aren’t virtual: The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Binance — world’s largest crypto exchange — held a certain security during an initial coin offering.
• Sovos (https://sovos.com/blog/?region=united-states): Wherever audits come from, they never seem to run out. How to help international clients prepare for a VAT audit.
• The Wandering Tax Pro (http://wanderingtaxpro.blogspot.com/): Teaser central: Every few years the blogger reposts his advice for those starting out in the tax prep business. The advice involves a song lyric and two advertising slogans.
• EideBailly (https://www.eidebailly.com/taxblog): All the news that fits about CP14 letters, warnings about IRS impersonators and the agency’s claiming a perfect score on prosecuting pandemic fraud.

A few twists

• Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): What does happen tax-wise to somebody who finds $36,000 in a free chair off Craigslist?
• Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): What is “gross taxable income” for federal purposes? Don’t be so quick to think it’s anything….
• HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): Retailers making sales in Colorado face a new administrative challenge “in a state well-known for its administrative challenges:” The state will begin imposing a $0.27 fee on every retail delivery made by motor vehicle to a destination in Colorado. 
• Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): As of July 1, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act reinstated long dormant excise taxes earmarked to fund the Hazardous Substance Superfund Trust…with a few twists. If you’ve got a client who’s a manufacturer/distributor, producer or importer using a select group of chemicals in their products, it’s likely that this tax will have significant impacts.

Time goes by

• Current Federal Tax Developments (https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/): If you or your clients have any doubts that the IRS had a fetish for form, here’s a case of the agency denying a taxpayer’s request to file a 3115 for an overall accounting method change from cash to accrual it had made without asking for permission years earlier.
• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/blog/en/north-america.html): It’s been four years since Wayfair opened the floodgates for taxing online sellers, and the waves show no sign of subsiding.
• Sikich (https://www.sikich.com/insights/): How states are finally catching on when it comes to incentives for remote workers.
• Procedurally Taxing (https://procedurallytaxing.com): This update on the CIC Services litigation relates how after a federal district court granted CIC’s motion for summary judgment and vacated the IRS notice, the government filed a motion for reconsideration. The court granted the motion and last week issued a revised order that retracted its mandate that the IRS return the non-party documents.
• Wolters Kluwer (https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/tax-accounting-us/industry-news): A look at four new quality management standards from the AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board and Accounting and Review Services Committee, aiming to reflect such new realities in practice as emphasis on risk assessment, changes in technology and the growing use of external service providers.

New to us

• Peisner Johnson (https://peisnerjohnson.com/blog/): These Dallas-based specialists on state and local tax have a blog addressing plenty of issues. Latest topics include states’ compliance incentives for timely filing of sales tax returns and how technology has changed sales tax. Welcome.