Voices

In the blogs: Living the dream

Justifying advisory fees; state-level changes under the radar; plans and animals; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Bit players

  • TurboTax (http://Blog.turbotax.intuit.com): Top facts about the tax implications of trading virtual currency like Bitcoin, from wages to mining virtual currency. And of course, IRS penalties that are anything but virtual.
  • Rubin on Tax (http://rubinontax.floridatax.com): The IRS suspects that either intentionally or unintentionally, many taxpayers are not reporting their bitcoin gains. Enter a John Doe summons against Coinbase, a leading bitcoin firm, for information on its users. By the way, our bet is on “intentionally.”
  • Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): And on that subject, the IRS issued a summons to Coinbase, Coinbase didn’t respond, and the IRS filed to force Coinbase to comply. After the summons was narrowed to just individuals who bought, sold, sent, or received at least $20,000 worth of Bitcoin during specified years, Coinbase still refused to comply. Now a federal court’s involved.
  • AG Tax (http://agtax.ca/tax-tips-and-articles): A national tax agency, electronic communication and scammers. How this recipe isn’t confined to just the IRS but has also involved the Canada Revenue Agency.

Living the dream

  • Taxjar (http://blog.taxjar.com/): Whether your client is starting an e-commerce business or has one up and running, there are handy resources to help. Here are the five best online resources.
  • Sageworks (https://www.sageworks.com/blog/): Dream clients have complicated tax situations but not enough time to solve them. You help, sometimes cross-selling such add-ons as wealth management, and the clients recognize your value. Nevertheless, how do you justify your pricing?
  • The Income Tax School (http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/): IRS consumer tips for holiday shopping security.
  • Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/): Endless holiday season after endless holiday season, CPA firms struggle with what kind of Christmas card or holiday message to fire into the world. But how much does your firm live your holiday message?

In parts

  • Procedurally Taxing (http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/): Thanks to two TIGTA reports and one bankruptcy case, herein is launched the first of a three-part series on how the IRS levies on retirement accounts. First up: the power of the IRS to levy and the decisions it makes in issuing a levy to obtain either a stream of payments from a retirement account or the account itself.
  • Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): The first of two pieces examining business practices and other factors contributing to finding a company’s base for sales tax.

Plan ahead

  • Tax Girl (http://blogs.forbes.com/kellyphillipserb): Rates to deductions, comparing the House and Senate bills to current law.
  • Don’t Mess With Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): The property tax deduction was a point of debate — and relatively rare concession — in reform. But how valuable really is the $10K solution in the universe of all deduction changes?
  • H&R Block (http://blogs.hrblock.com/): Never mind earthquakes to the federal tax laws and rates — many states have enacted changes to their own new tax laws and rates, which often miss the national news.
  • Wolters Kluwer (http://news.cchgroup.com/): What happens when a taxpayer based in Arizona and that provided educational services over the Internet calculates its Indiana income tax but excludes receipts from its Indiana online students.
  • The Wandering Tax Pro (http://wanderingtaxpro.blogspot.com/): Blogger Robert Bloch has issued a new report about his take on what reform should have looked like: The Tax Code Must Be Destroyed! Tax Reform Proposals From a Tax Professional. Bloch provides his principles for reform and thoughts on how he would rewrite the U.S. Tax Code. The report is $2, with half the purchase price donated to a local animal shelter. There’s a nice touch any code could use.
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Tax tools Tax preparation Tax season Tax franchises Bitcoin E-Commerce IRS
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