In the blogs: What a circus

Statehouse skirmishes: the Gold Card; how returns get prepared; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

What a circus

• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/blog/en/north-america.html): Ohio axes its long-time August sales tax holiday on school supplies. Let 'em learn about corralling property taxes the hard way.
• Taxjar (https://www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): A full roundup of this year's sales tax holidays.
• Eide Bailly (https://www.eidebailly.com/taxblog): Favorite opening of the week: "For tax professionals who missed the Barnum & Bailey show over the holidays, I bring good news: There is still ample time to catch the annual financial statement Audit Circus, which features equally grotesque and unfathomable exhibitions."
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): The proposed Washington income tax would yield a top rate exceeding 18%.
• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): States are drafting fiscal year FY27 budgets in a far tougher economic environment than just a few years ago. After a post-pandemic revenue surge, growth has slowed sharply and federal policy changes — especially OBBBA and tariffs — are reshaping state revenue baselines. For many states, the biggest question is whether, and how, to conform to OBBBA's tax changes or offset its Medicaid and SNAP cuts.
• ITEP (https://itep.org/category/blog/) Definitely for the clowns on tiny bikes in statehouses: Arizona's governor outlined her goal to get the legislature to conform to tax updates from the federal tax bill (changes that could cost the state hundreds of millions); Florida's governor proposed a foolhardy goal of eliminating property taxes for homesteads; and Idaho hopes to "right-size" spending (a.k.a. impose deeper cuts to public services) after years of regressive income tax cuts.
• National Association of Tax Professionals (https://www.natptax.com/news-insights/): Starting March 1, FinCEN will begin enforcing a new federal reporting regime aimed at one thing: making it harder to hide dirty money in U.S. housing. If you work with clients who buy homes through LLCs or trusts, this rule belongs on your 2026 compliance radar. What's changing?
• Global Taxes (https://www.globaltaxes.com/blog.php): Is Trump's Gold Card worth it for wannabe rich immigrants?
• Dean Dorton (https://deandorton.com/insights/): High-profile fraud cases tied to federal funding continue to surface, not because rules are unclear, but because oversight too often prioritizes compliance over insight. The Uniform Guidance establishes clear expectations, yet fraud persists when monitoring becomes a checklist exercise rather than a risk-focused discipline. 
• Mauled Again ( http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): How U.S. individual taxpayers prepare their income tax returns.

Triple threats

• Meyers Brothers Kalicka: (https://www.mbkcpa.com/insights): Tax Tip: If a business doesn't have a buy-sell agreement in place, how heirs may face significant challenges when the owner dies.
• Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): How to remind them that January is the best time to fix the tax mistakes they don't even know they're making.
• Armanino (https://www.armanino.com/articles/): Why public-tech CFOs often tank with SEC compliance, and other matters after an IPO.
•  Vertex (https://www.vertexinc.com/resources/resource-library/filter/field_asset_type/blog?page=0): Why tax and finance needs a triple threat approach this year.
• Virginia – US Tax Talk (https://us-tax.org/about-this-us-tax-blog/): The proposed "Exclusive Citizenship Act" is framed as an effort to eliminate dual citizenship; its structure raises serious and likely unintended risks in many areas, potentially including harsh exit taxes for those losing U.S. citizenship and transfer taxes imposed on U.S. persons receiving gifts or bequests from certain expatriates. Now there's one more. 
• CLA (https://www.claconnect.com/en/resources?pageNum=0): Should clients issue 1099-NECS for freight services?
• Wiss (https://wiss.com/insights/read/): Technology companies face a paradox. They build sophisticated products with advanced engineering, yet often run financial operations with manual processes that haven't changed fundamentally in decades. How to handle this disconnect, especially using AI.
• TaxConnex (https://www.taxconnex.com/blog-): In-house versus outsourced: Which is the better sales tax compliance solution for your client?

All you want to know

• The Tax Times (https://www.thetaxtimes.com): Part 2 of all you want to know about Form 706A.
• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): How the OBBBA added both good and bad for gamblers in the Tax Code, and a potential way around the latter.
• Current Federal Tax Developments (https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/): The OBBBA also represents a significant shift in the federal tax treatment of capital expenditures. For tax practitioners, the primary vehicle for understanding the administrative implementation of these changes is Notice 2026-11, which provides interim guidance on the additional first-year depreciation deduction under Internal Revenue Code Section 168(k). 
• Withum (https://www.withum.com/resources/): Latest updates for Texas, Tennessee and California.
• The Sales Tax People (https://sales.tax/expert-articles/): Sales tax in Florida, making the most of sales tax exceptions, and understanding the limits of sales tax automation.
• Boyum & Barenscheer (https://www.myboyum.com/blog/): What clients need to do now to be ready for an audit this year.
• Taxing Subjects (https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog): What to remind them about bank products.