In the blogs: The peak

Stimulus troubles; insuring biz operations; watch those dependents; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

The peak

• Bloomberg Tax (https://pro.bloombergtax.com/news-insights/): The White House has ordered federal agencies to begin preparing to return workers to offices, telling them “to align their coronavirus reopening plans with those of the states and municipalities where they’re located.”
• Don’t Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): Another 5.245 million Americans filed for unemployment in the week ending April 11. These applications mean that coronavirus ramifications wiped out more than a decade of U.S. job growth. Have we passed the peak?
• Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/): Favorite opening of the week: “We are beginning to hear talk of moving our country, maybe state by state, back toward normal operations. Disregard the word normal because what we knew as normal will not return for a very long time and probably never. I bet you have heard the phrase ‘When the dust settles.’” Oh, please send us dust soon.

At this time

• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): Let’s say a client’s income was low enough in 2018 so they qualified for a Recovery Rebate/Economic Impact (a.k.a. stimulus) payment. They go to the recently vaunted “Get my Payment” app and see: “According to information that we have on file, we cannot determine your eligibility for a payment at this time.”
• IRS Mind (http://www.irsmind.com/blog/): The issue of worker status has been a conundrum for taxpayers, employers and the IRS for years. How COVID-19 stimulus programs shine an even brighter light on the problem.
• Turbotax (https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com): What to tell them about how coronavirus relief impacts a health savings account, starting with deadlines and details about the types of plans.
• Tax Policy Center (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): Our new and improved recession derives from two sources: demand and supply. On the demand side, consumers are purchasing fewer durable goods and spending much less on services such as all forms of transportation. On the supply side, there has been a massive decline in supply of goods and services as workers stay home and supply chains break. Stimulus so far has tackled one but ignored the other. How can future legislation better address supply and demand at the same time?
• Tax Warrior Chronicles (https://www.taxwarriors.com/blog): Should the funding reappear…a look at the PPP’s guidance for individuals with self-employment, among other, income.
• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/us/en/index.html): Lawmakers in Washington state are interested in establishing multiple sales tax holidays for small businesses in the coming year.
• Boyum & Barenscheer (https://myboyum.com/blog/): A globe’s worth of business operations have been hammered by COVID-19. Are they covered by business interruption insurance?
• Procedurally Taxing (https://procedurallytaxing.com): As the pandemic starts marauding through jails, the courts have granted compassionate release to high-profile tax felon Morris Zukerman.

Depends

• Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): Another episode of “Hot Bench” saw a plaintiff sue a defendant, her son, for reimbursement of $2,250 in accounting fees she paid a preparer to refile returns after double-dipping on the dependent question.
• Sagenext (https://www.thesagenext.com/blog): The now-forgotten disaster in Australia: bushfires, and what they did to business down under.
• Rubin on Tax (http://rubinontax.floridatax.com): The Florida Constitution provides ad valorem relief to surviving spouses of veterans who died from service-connected causes while on active duty. What happened in a 2013 case and its denial.

Substantial renovations

• The Wandering Tax Pro (http://wanderingtaxpro.blogspot.com/): In this year when April 15 has no meaning, one preparer explains why he always takes off before the normal deadline.
• Intuit Proconnect (https://proconnect.intuit.com/taxprocenter/): What to tell them about deductions for home improvements made for medical purposes; the Tax Code sets the bar high for medical deductions but the payoff can be worth it if the renovations are substantial.
• The Income Tax School (http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/): The deadline may be extended, but the advantages to filing ASAP should be communicated to clients.