In the blogs: Sense of fulfillment

Too many letters; IRS funding, finally; pruning; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Sense of fulfillment

• Procedurally Taxing (https://procedurallytaxing.com): Over several decades, correspondence examinations became the IRS go-to for auditing some four out of five individual targeted taxpayers. Originally designed for “less complex” matters, correspondence exams are now used for complex issues including the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, self-employed income and charitable deductions. Does this constitute an erosion of taxpayers’ rights?
• Current Federal Tax Developments (https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/): A look at Sherwin Community Painters, Inc. v. Commissioner, in which a corporation was denied a deduction for amounts paid for the boyfriend of the owners’ daughter to take a course in coding. Ah to be young and in love and itemized.
• Tax Warriors (https://www.taxwarriors.com/blog): Pre-nups for Gen-Zers.
• HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): Have biz clients asked you about the Employee Retention Credit, meals or retirement plans? You might not want to wait for them to.
• Taxjar (https://www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): So where did we leave all those Amazon fulfillment centers?
• AICPA Insights (https://www.aicpa.org/blog): For fighting cyberattacks, get CPAs involved in TPAs PDQ.
• TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): A recent article examines whether congressional committees “enjoy” unrestricted authority to demand a president’s tax returns.

Fun with funding

• The Tax Times (https://www.thetaxtimes.com): The IRS has its raise of sorts, but is it enough?
• Don’t Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): And the service got it with bipartisan support, to boot.
• Taxing Subjects (https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog): Bot-Comm Dept.: The IRS is turning to cutting-edge stuff to get taxpayers’ simplest questions answered.
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): A look at Iowa’s recently enacted, “sweeping” tax reform.
• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (https://itep.org/category/blog/): How Sen. Rick Scott’s proposal that all Americans “pay some income tax,” seemingly and initially innocuous to some, would wipe out many of the benefits of the CTC and EITC and undo a lot of the progress of the year-old ARPA.
• Eide Bailly (https://www.eidebailly.com/taxblog): All the news that fits on retirement developments, including the need for speedier payouts and how new IRS rules might spell trouble for some workers’ plans.
• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): Words to live by: “Willfulness, therefore, must mean something more than mere negligence.” A look at United States v. Schik, in which the court denied the government’s motion for summary judgment for the FBAR willful penalty.
• Sovos (https://sovos.com/blog/?region=united-states): The European Parliament is now recommending mandatory e-invoicing and additional digital measures to harmonize VAT requirements across the EU.
• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/blog/en/north-america.html): VAT for any client is just a click away. Alex Baulf, Avalara senior director of global indirect tax, discusses this “period of unprecedented change” for indirect tax in terms of new legislation, rules and VAT regimes in countries and regions that didn’t previously have them.
• TaxConnex (https://www.taxconnex.com/blog-): What do affected clients really know about economic nexus for sales taxes — and what’s ahead for changes?
• Henry+Horne (https://www.hhcpa.com/blogs/): The IRS and the Prince estate have come to an undisclosed settlement for the federal estate taxes.

Never quit you

• Bloomberg Tax and Accounting (https://pro.bloombergtax.com/news-insights/): Enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion requires listening — and understanding that meritocracy remains a myth.
• Canopy (https://www.canopytax.com/blog): Beyond the boilerplate categories (“…Build Trust…”), these three client service must-haves for firms contain useful tidbits too often forgotten this time in a season.
• Tax Pro Center (https://proconnect.intuit.com/taxprocenter/): When you can’t get to your hedge shears, here are “5 Winning Tactics to Quitting Bad Clients.”