The future of contactless prep; reverse convenience; importance of the invoice; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.
Of significant interest
- The Tax Times (
https://www.thetaxtimes.com ): Crypto, FBARs, wealthy cheats, to name just a few: Flush with funding, the IRS says it's off and running. - National Taxpayer Advocate (
https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/taxnews-information/blogs-nta/ ): No more IRS pop-ins? Great, but just in case, here are a few tips and a link to a fact sheet to help you and clients know just who's ringing the doorbell. - TaxProf Blog (
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/ ): A group of academics who study and write about tax-exempts — including the latter's politically related activities — has responded to a request for information from the Ways and Means Committee regarding issues in connection with the advocacy activities of tax-exempt organizations. - Wolters Kluwer (
https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/tax-accounting-us/industry-news ): An IRS chief counsel memorandum "has generated significant interest and discussion" by asserting that many name, image and likeness collectives do not meet the definition of a tax-exempt. - Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (
https://itep.org/category/blog/ ): When examining tax policy through how much working (and poor) people are taxed compared to rich men north (and south) of Richmond, it's hard not to take Oliver Anthony's runaway hit as a jumping off point to amplify some important facts. - Taxing Subjects (
https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog ): Is contactless prep here to stay post-pandemic? Sure seems that way, and here's how to make it work. - Solutions For CPA Firm Leaders (
https://ritakeller.com/wordpress/ ): Our favorite opening the week: "Contrary to popular belief, there ARE dumb questions, and you should ask them anyway." (We're proud to say we've never hesitated, going all the way back to algebra class.) - Taxable Talk (
http://www.taxabletalk.com/ ): The saga continues of Mr. Smith, a victim of IRS "help" when the agency changed his EIN without telling him.
Affairs of states
- University of Illinois Tax School (
https://taxschool.illinois.edu/blog/) : Illinois entities that made late fourth-quarter estimated PTE tax payments received good news when the state announced abatement of penalties for some filers. - HBK (
https://hbkcpa.com/insights/ ): Ohio's commercial activities tax has recently seen some big changes that could benefit small businesses. - Marcum (
https://www.marcumllp.com/insights ): New Jersey has been critical of New York on the controversial "convenience of the employer" rule. Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy addressed the issue head-on this summer by inking a "reverse convenience rule" and a resident credit to employees who successfully challenge New York's rule. The Garden State's gone a step further by creating incentives for companies to reassign employees to a New Jersey location. - Tax Foundation (
https://taxfoundation.org/blog ): States have enacted semiconductor subsidies in the wake of CHIPS. Yet "policymakers at all levels of government should avoid the pitfalls of incentives. Instead, they should focus on creating a more efficient, neutral and structurally sound tax code to the benefit of all types of business investment."
Being their unsung hero
- Current Federal Tax Developments (
https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/ ): Ending a long wait for guidance on the revisions made to IRC Sec. 174 by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which took effect in 2022, the IRS has released Notice 2023-63 with guidance related to the newly required amortization of research and experimentation costs. - Boyum & Barenscheer (
https://www.myboyum.com/blog/ ): If any of your clients is asked to guarantee a loan to their corporation, here's how to make sure everybody knows all the tax implications. - National Association of Tax Professionals (
https://blog.natptax.com/ ): The week's "You Make the Call" looks at Barb and Ahna, who celebrated the completion of the adoption process for their first child in 2023. The child does not have special needs. Their qualified adoption expenses were $7,000. While organizing their paperwork, they discovered they had spent $5,000 on a prior unsuccessful domestic adoption two years ago but never claimed these 2021 expenses on any return. Would the $5,000 still be available to them as a current-year adoption credit? - Summing It Up (
http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up ): Hard as the accounting talent shortage has been on firms and some businesses, it hits nonprofits even harder. How to help these resource-starved clients. - Withum (
https://www.withum.com/resources/ ): What to remind them about K-1s. - Vertex (
https://www.vertexinc.com/resources/resource-library/filter/field_asset_type/blog?page=0 ): Of all the financial responsibilities that businesses manage, few are as critical as tax compliance. Enter the unsung hero: the invoice. - Meyers Brothers Kalicka (
https://www.mbkcpa.com/insights ): What to remind them about needing and hiring a bookkeeper. - Peisner Johnson (
https://peisnerjohnson.com/blog/ ): Everything your clients should know about sales tax exemption certificates. - Sovos (
https://sovos.com/blog/ ): Your software-as-a-service clients face one of the roughest roads for sales tax. Here's how to help them along it.
