In the blogs: Declawed

Reform and job creation; Ohio takes bitcoin; getting everyone to agree; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Declawed

• Rubin on Tax (http://rubinontax.floridatax.com): Similar to concerns in 2012 about a reduction in the unified credit, the 2026 sunset of the $5 million increase in the unified credit basic exclusion amount for gift and estate taxes under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has created concerns about what happens to taxpayers who use all or part of the $5 million increase in the period after the 2026 sunset. But fa la la la la: “Holiday Gift From the IRS – No Clawback Worries.”
• Don’t Mess With Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): Why estate tax advisers were concerned: Given those two dramatically different dollar amounts ($5.5 million and $11 million, adjusted annually for inflation, per individual) potentially affected taxpayers wanted to know which number would apply in offsetting gift taxes: the amount allowed at the time of the gift or the amount in effect when the giver died?
• TaxMama (http://taxmama.com): TaxMama wants to help you avoid losing your passport if you owe the IRS too much money. Plus, IRS stakeholders test-drive the agency’s Paycheck Check-Up tool (and most learned they were going to owe come April 15…).
• Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): The IRS has released guidance on the taxation of “global intangible low-taxed income” (GILTI) reported by U.S. shareholders of corporations outside of the U.S. known as “controlled foreign corporations.” The recent guidance focuses on the calculation and distribution of the GILTI generated by assets held offshore in CFCs. Now for the real conversation: “If you’ve managed to swim through the alphabet soup to get this far, we’ll try to clear things up for you from here.”

Burden and bits

• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): How does a nation with what Americans would consider a staggering tax burden still remain internationally competitive? A look at Sweden.
• Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): A recent report that revealed what the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies promised to use tax-cut money to create jobs. Yet since the 2017 legislation was enacted, those companies have reduced net employment by roughly 140,000 jobs. What happens when the only concern is maximizing shareholder return and executive compensation.
• Tax Girl (http://blogs.forbes.com/kellyphillipserb): New Bit Player Dept.: Ohio becomes the first state to allow taxpayers to pay tax bills using cryptocurrency.

Rolling the RMD

• Procedurally Taxing (http://procedurallytaxing.com): Frequent guest blogger Carl Smith discusses an important recent decision holding that the time to file a refund suit is not a jurisdictional time frame. In the case, the facts allowed the taxpayer to successfully argue for an extended time period within which to file based on equitable tolling.
• Houston Tax Attorney (http://www.irstaxtrouble.com/category/tax-blog/): Early distributions from IRAs are subject to a 10 percent additional tax; the 10 percent additional tax does not apply if the distribution is taken when the IRA owner is disabled. Gillette v. Commissioner addresses whether medically induced compulsive gambling qualifies as a disability.
• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): Our favorite opening of the week: “Have I got a deal for you! I can take your assets and hide them from anyone and everyone!” How one Las Vegas businessman who helped clients make assets bulletproof by first making them invisible recently netted himself 22 months at Club Fed.
• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): A look at one of the blogger’s pet peeves in federal tax crimes practice: the difference between Sec. 7206(2) “Aiding and Assisting” and 18 USC Sec. 2(a) “Aiding and Abetting.”
• TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): In the newest issue of The Tax Lawyer: an examination of unclaimed property laws after the adoption of RUUPA; will tax regulations withstand the review of Justice Gorsuch?; and the Connecticut municipal property tax’s “roots and branches.”

Share and share alike

• Turbotax (https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com): As we enter the season of giving, if your client owns a business and wants to contribute something, it’s important to understand how the tax implications aren’t too different than an individual making a charitable donation.
• Solutions For CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/): The managing partner knows a lot and maybe even thinks he/she knows more than others. The partner group knows a lot and maybe even think they know exactly what needs to be done at the firm. The managers know a lot and maybe even think they are always right. The accounting team knows a lot and maybe even more than the partners. The admin team knows a lot and often has even more insight than anyone else. How can you get all these folks to share — and accept even some of — each other’s ideas?
• Liberty Tax (http://www.libertytax.com/tax-lounge): Short of the level of bunching and using some familiar details of deducting, what to remind them about making the most tax-wise of charitable donations.
• AG Tax (http://agtax.ca/tax-tips-and-articles): What’s involved in amending a Canadian return.