Surpluses and cuts; the CP80 mess; cost of “skin in the game;” and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.
Great challenges
- Tax Foundation (
https://taxfoundation.org/blog ): Favorite opening of the week: “One of the greatest challenges of lawmaking is recognizing when a beautiful theory must succumb to an ugly fact.” We live in a reality where complex tax policies that work well in theory can have a hard time when the rubber meets the road. - Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders (
http://ritakeller.com/blog/ ): You scrambled to hire enough qualified folks to help the firm through tax season. Now that you have them, will you be able to keep them? Sad to say, firm partners and managers don’t often communicate continually, with clarity, about a person’s job performance. - Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (
https://itep.org/category/blog/ ): Remember that “Star Trek” where they encountered something wondrous that was, in fact, dangerous? (Actually, they were all like that…) Consider the elixir of temporary revenue surpluses: Several state legislatures are continuing to push ahead this year with significant tax-cut packages that would dramatically reduce revenues — and leave states in a bad position for another unexpected economic shock. - TaxConnex (
https://www.taxconnex.com/blog- ): How it’s extremely better to check sales tax liability before a merger or acquisition. - Taxable Talk (
http://www.taxabletalk.com/ ): The IRS and FinCEN now allege that foreign online poker accounts are “casino” accounts that must be reported as foreign financial accounts. Problem is, most of these entities don’t broadcast their addresses. Some individuals sent email inquiries to one of these gambling sites and received politely worded responses (or not-so-politely worded) that said that the address was none of their business. - The Wandering Tax Pro (
http://wanderingtaxpro.blogspot.com/ ): Clients who’ve received the CP80 Notice telling them they have an outstanding credit for 2020 when they haven’t filed their 2020 return ask the blogger, “How can the IRS say I haven’t filed my return when they cashed my check?” Here’s the story as the blogger understands it; fellow tax pros are welcome to correct him if he’s wrong.
Stakes are high
- Tax Vox (
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/ ): Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, has proposed that all Americans pay at least some income tax “to have skin in the game,” adding that right now more than half of Americans pay no income tax. The Tax Policy Center estimates that achieving Scott’s goal could increase federal income taxes by more than $100 billion in 2022 alone — mostly on low- and moderate-income taxpayers. - Turbotax (
https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com ): Bet they don’t know the tax they’ll owe on gambling winnings. - HBK (
https://hbkcpa.com/insights/ ): A potentially favorable scenario for hemp and CBD businesses: an R&D tax credit for companies engaging in qualified activities. - Taxjar (
https://www.taxjar.com/resources/blog ): Down near the Big Uneasy, Louisiana is being sued for its overly complex sales tax system.
Take the next revamp
- CPA Growth Trends (
https://www.cpagrowthtrends.com/ ): Google Trends has shown increasing search popularity in the term “ESG,” peaking most recently at the end of January. What does ESG mean? What is governance in ESG? And how can marketing help an accounting firm reach governance goals? - Sovos (
https://sovos.com/blog/?region=united-states ): A look at upcoming events to help clients “revamp” their sales tax strategy. - National Association of Tax Professionals (
https://blog.natptax.com/ ): In this week’s “You Make the Call,” a couple e-filed a married-filing-jointly return on Feb. 9, 2022. Each spouse signed the return. If they later decide to file separate returns for 2021, how long do they have to make this change? - Wolters Kluwer (
https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/tax-accounting-us/industry-news ): Taxpayers whose student loans were discharged in 2021 generally won’t receive a payee statement to report the discharge. A look at how the IRS has directed lenders to not file a 1099-C or furnish payee statements. - Tax Warriors (
https://www.taxwarriors.com/blog ): A possible annuity workaround to the thorny tax problem of high-income rates and non-deductible fees of alternatives and other increasingly hot investments. - Boyum & Barenscheer (
https://www.myboyum.com/blog/ ): Congrats to new managing partner Charlie Metzig, 20+-year veteran of the firm.
