In the blogs: Big surprises

Taxes, relief and partisanship; more than a nickel; a new pair; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Big surprises

• Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): Unemployment benefits, taxes and the shock therein.
• Eide Bailly (https://www.eidebailly.com/taxblog): Understatement of the Week: “The death of Justice Ginsberg is setting up a very contentious period in Washington.” This contention only stands to ensnare the next pandemic-related relief even tighter in partisan fights.
• Bloomberg Tax (https://pro.bloombergtax.com/news-insights/): Everything Partisan Is New Again Dept.: The recent stopgap government funding bill came out lacking support from the White House or Senate Republicans — raising the risk of a federal shutdown at the end of the month.
• Don’t Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): States’ revenue situations weren't as bad as many had feared given the tax issues created by the pandemic: The Tax Foundation finds that total state tax collections were about 5.5 percent ($59 billion) lower in FY 2020 than in FY 2019. Corporate income taxes spearhead the fall.
• Rubin on Tax (http://rubinontax.floridatax.com/) Applicable federal rates for October.
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog: How should wealth and work be treated in the Tax Code? This presidential campaign, not surprisingly, spotlights two targets for taxes — labor versus riches. But while “taxing wealth like work” trips off the tongue as an campaign tagline, “it glosses over the fact that the current tax treatment of capital income is the product of difficult trade-offs related to neutrality, economic efficiency, administrability, and the way we tax C corporations in the U.S.”
• AICPA (https://blog.aicpa.org/): “The learning journey and speed of change” tries to address a stark stat: Nearly half the accountants responding to a recent survey said they’re unsure that they’ve adapted well to biz challenges from COVID-19.
• Tax Girl (https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/): A family shooting, a bag of cash and a tax problem, complete with bloody footprints.

Different strokes

• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/us/en/blog.html): This year has slaughtered business owners across almost all industries. But is your client’s business doomed? Consider the ecommerce option.
• Solutions For CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/): A recent article examines how, when it comes to firms automating tax documents, one size does not fit all.
• Sagenext (https://www.thesagenext.com/blog): How is cloud accounting revolutionizing the CPA practice?
• Tax Pro Center (https://proconnect.intuit.com/taxprocenter/): Drilling into the modern model of the accounting firm process.
• Turbotax (https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com: What to remind them about taxes and charitable donations.
• Taxing Subjects (https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog): Some 9 million letters are being sent later this month in a special mailing to people who haven’t had a need to file a tax return but may qualify for an Economic Impact Payment.
• Procedurally Taxing (https://procedurallytaxing.com): How the IRS seems touchy about the Tax Court taking letters, notices of deficiency with handwritten notes, and other documents and treating these documents as petitions.
• Wolters Kluwer (http://news.cchgroup.com/): Maryland has amended its Opportunity Zone enhancement program by limiting the enhanced benefits to certain tax years and enacting certain minimum wage requirements, among other measures.
• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): In United States v. Toth, the court again grants a government motion that a defendant was liable for the FBAR civil willful penalty.

That’s just six

• Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): The media made juicy headlines out of a Jersey homeowner who nearly lost her house because she owed 6 cents in back taxes. But did the stories tell the whole story? (“The woman had enough money to pay the six cents...”)
• National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): On the one hand there’s exceptional tax education, on the other there’s six feet of distance. The NATP is moving next month’s annual Tax Forum event online.
• The Income Tax School (http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/): With the presence of a pandemic, it may be a long time until you have another in-person meeting with clients. Almost six tips for conducting virtual meetings (our favorite was “the mute button,” which we wish we’d had in more than a few real-world conference rooms through the years).

New to us

• Strategic Advisor (https://strategicadvisor.liveplan.com/): We welcome this blog, which provides content, tips and best practice for accountants, CPAs and bookkeepers who offer strategic advice to small-business clients. Latest topics include a strategic advisor engagement’s first meeting and cash versus profits.
• Palm Beach Accounting and Financial Services (https://www.pbafs.com/blog): This firm started more than a decade ago to help small businesses “embrace the new wave of accounting technology, with a particular emphasis on QuickBooks software.” Recent topics of its blog — and welcome, by the way — include “Discussing Financial Milestones as a Parent” and “3 Questions to Ask Before You Downsize” (we like to think they mean businesses…).