In the blogs: No bots about it

5G and the cloud; EITC refund timeframe; EideBailly; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Place your bets

• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): The matter of the New York State legislature and online gambling ignites a favorite opening of the week: “There’s a quick way of doing many things that, in the long-run, doesn’t work so well…” Sometimes true in life, often true in taxes and unfailingly true for lawmakers trying to raise money.
• Boyum & Barenscheer (https://myboyum.com/blog/): To guard against natural disasters and other calamities, many companies buy business interruption insurance to cover revenues lost and expenses incurred while operations are limited or suspended. Buying coverage is one thing, making a claim and receiving the money quite another. How a CPA can help.
• Bloomberg Tax (https://pro.bloombergtax.com/news-insights/): Not Playin’ Around Dept.: Fortnite and Roblox players don’t need to report gaming currency on their 2019 tax returns as long as that money stays in the “game environment,” the IRS has said, even as the agency begins asking taxpayers to disclose if they had acquired or sold virtual currency.
• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): Democratic hopefuls have pledged to protect Social Security. Who and what would be protected? And from what threats? Must current law remain unchanged? A look, in this context, at what “protect” can and can’t mean.
• Tax Warrior Chronicles (https://www.taxwarriors.com/blog): Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been living in a whirlwind the past year, from welcoming their first child to transitioning from the royal family. Their plans to stop accepting funding from the U.K. Sovereign Grant and to move part-time to North America, most likely California, will occasion problems. One could be taxation.
• Liberty Tax (http://www.libertytax.com/tax-lounge): What to tell them about a return advance loan.

No bots about it

• Canopy (https://www.canopytax.com/blog): From cybercriminals to hurricanes, dozens of forces try to steal or destroy clients’ data. Your practice has to take countermeasures; here are four things you can do.
• TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): Algorithmic tax compliance robots have long implemented the tax law using systems that make centralized legal decisions without direct user control. These robots generally follow the government’s interpretation of the substantive tax law. But, this paper maintains, they appear to break other laws.
• Sagenext (https://www.thesagenext.com/blog): How will 5G affect cloud computing? Let’s start with what 5G is (though we already know how to spell it).

Hefty fees

• IRS Mind (https://www.irsmind.com/): Last month the IRS reported that refunds that included the Earned Income Tax Credit wouldn’t be sent until about early March; bushy-tailed filers would have to wait until they would receive a direct deposit of their expected refund. Turns out at least “Where’s my refund?” will have the info sooner.
• Solutions For CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/): A message for this new post-reform season: Turn frustration into fascination.
• Rubin on Tax (http://rubinontax.floridatax.com/): When “Proportionate Means Proportionate”: If a taxpayer contributes a conservation easement in land to a qualified organization, to obtain a deduction the contribution must be in perpetuity. The law does recognize that sometimes the easement must be unwound, and in that case a portion of the value of the property must be given to the qualified organization for conservation purposes. How much does the qualified organization receive?
• Turbotax (https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/): What to tell them about the new W-4.
• Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): A summary of the key changes reform wrought on R&D credits, starting with the reduction in the corporate income tax rate to a flat 21 percent.
• Taxjar (http://blog.taxjar.com/): March sales-tax due dates by state.
• Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): Favorite opening of the week: “Some of your clients are super-organized or you’re handling the write-up or accounting, so everything is ready in time. You definitely want to file early — and get paid your hefty fees.” But in this year of “many new and twisted issues and elections,” would it be better to extend the returns of almost all biz clients?

Past and future

• The Income Tax School (http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/): In honor of this month, a look at five historic African-Americans who paved the way for others to pursue careers in finance and accounting.
• Don’t Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): In honor of President’s Day just passed, a look at how some White House residents have influenced taxes.
• National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): Another look at the bill in the California legislature that would “significantly increase” obligations for state-registered preparers.
• Procedurally Taxing (https://procedurallytaxing.com): Another look at Jacobsen v. Commissioner, in which the Seventh Circuit has affirmed the Tax Court’s discretion to weigh actual knowledge more heavily than four positive factors for innocent spouse relief.

New to Us

• Tax News And Views (https://www.eidebailly.com/taxblog): EideBailly offers this collection on what's happening in the tax world, whether it's a new tax law tacked on to a spending bill, a new court case that reminds us of venerable tax lessons or a surprising approach by states to tax non-residents — “it's fair game.” Recent topics include a tech roundup, a proposed retail glitch bill and “Abe Lincoln’s Tax Refund Edition.” Welcome (and many thanks to Taxable Talk for steering us to the blog)!