In the blogs: Promises, promises

Remembering this season; retention pointers; IRS Mind; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Promises promises

• Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): AT&T, upstate New York, Florida and 150 positions: Why tax breaks for creating jobs should not be based on promises of future employee retention and hiring but on actual compliance with job creation.
• Tax Vox (http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): The season looms (or loons), and the Trump administration says the IRS will be able to process returns as usual even though the service staggers under the partial shutdown. Another look at how and whether the IRS deliver on the promise to taxpayers. (Hint: It may depend on whether you need actual help from the agency…)
• Don’t Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): Speaking of promises from the service, here’s a look at the coming penalty break for under-payers.
• Tax Girl (http://blogs.forbes.com/kellyphillipserb): Can the 2019 refund chart actually help you and your client guess when money will arrive?
• Intuit Proconnect (http://taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com/): Finally the IRS (despite the deprivations of a partial shutdown) has issued final regulations and three related pieces of guidance on the new qualified business income deduction (a.k.a. the Sec. 199A deduction).
• Boyum Barenscheer (https://myboyum.com/blog/): Will this be remembered as the worst tax season in history — or, somehow, as the best?

Sinking in

• John R. Dundon II EA (https://www.johnrdundon.com): Unless your client’s business is registered as a corporation, they may be subject to excess business loss limitations. “Let that sink in for a while” as you ponder the 461 where negatives become positives.
• The Income Tax School (http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/): Retention is a major part of your client landscape — after all, better the devil you’ve done a 1040 for — and here are four strategies, starting with finding reasons to stay in touch (beyond the fees you want to make).

Across the land

• Bloomberg BNA (https://www.bna.com/news/#!topic=tax&type=blogpost&page=1): Putting the “Re-” in “Reform” Dept.: No sooner has the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act hardened into the law of the land than Colorado’s governor introduces plans to propose state tax reform, gearing to asking “the largest, most influential corporations to start paying their fair share so that individuals, families and small businesses can pay less.”
• Taxjar (http://blog.taxjar.com/): Economic nexus laws in Texas.
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): Our favorite opening of the week: “Every state has its traditions, and in Washington you can mark the dawn of a new year by the inevitable attempt to tax capital gains — and the insistence that, despite appearances, it’s not a tax on income…”

In judgment

• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): A reminder of the key differences between civil fraud penalties.
• Procedurally Taxing (http://procedurallytaxing.com): Contributor Carl Smith writes about a case headed for a decision in the Supreme Court that might have tax implications — implications complicated by prior Supreme Court case law in the tax area regarding the requirement for a refund claim. Something to watch if you’re interested in jurisdictional issues or if you have a case in which the client has failed to file a claim or faces a variance argument.
• Rubin on Tax (http://rubinontax.floridatax.com): The high court is also to decide whether a state can tax a trust solely based on residence of a beneficiary.

New to us

• IRS Mind (https://www.irsmind.com/): CPA and former IRS compliance enforcement pro Jim Buttonow offers his take on what’s going on at the service. Welcome to Jim, who this week also examines the IRS waiving some estimated tax penalties for 2018, including some of the figures and previous percentages to avoid penalties.