In the blogs: No sugarcoating

Bumps ahead; Airbnb risks; the case for the CTC; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

No sugarcoating

• National Taxpayer Advocate (https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/taxnews-information/blogs-nta/): Favorite opening of the week, in the wake of the Advocate’s recent report to Congress: “There is no way to sugarcoat the year 2021 in tax administration.”
• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): Do Not Save the Date Dept.: “Frozen Returns” looks at what merry mix-ups occur if your client happened to file for extension on exactly last May 17.
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): The “bumpy” season launches with twin major challenges awaiting taxpayers: a second year of navigating pandemic-related tax relief and IRS backlogs that are becoming mythic.
• Palm Beach Accounting and Financial Services (https://www.pbafs.com/blog): What else to remind them about what to keep in mind for this season especially.
• Tax Warriors (https://www.taxwarriors.com/blog): What to remind them about estimated payments, including a clear breakdown of safe harbor guidelines.
• Taxpro Center (https://proconnect.intuit.com/taxprocenter/): Before your attention gets completely diverted by all of the must-dos on your list, take some time to reassess where you are in your career, your practice and your life.
• TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): Martin Luther King Jr. is the only person to have ever been tried for perjury with regards to state income taxes in Alabama.
• John R. Dundon II EA (https://www.johnrdundon.com): Now that the Build Back Better “framework” has evidently been shelved, there’s no better time for estate tax and legacy plans.
• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/): Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants to use $1 billion in ARP funds to suspend the state’s gas tax for five months. The blogger contends that suspending the gas tax is a bad idea — and that “funding a gas tax suspension with federal funds intended to address a public health crisis, in the middle of the omicron wave, in one of the pandemic’s hardest-hit states, is…well, rather Florida.”

Squeezeworthy

• HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): Airbnb and VRBO provide property owners access to a worldwide market of tourists and other vacationers seeking short-term rentals and willing to pay top dollar for a luxury experience. Owners often go above and beyond for their guests with services not customarily included with longer-term rentals. Does the tax risk associated with these services leave property owners wondering whether the juice is worth the squeeze?
• Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/): In changing times and an evolving workplace, does a CPA firm always just need CPAs?
• CPA Growth Trends (https://www.cpagrowthtrends.com/): What high-growth firms want in a marketer these competitive days.
• Sikich (https://www.sikich.com/insights/): What construction clients should look for in enterprise resource planning, including how to save money and find the right partner.
• Taxjar (https://www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): How to handle sales tax and refunds.
• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): In United States v. Pursley, the court reversed a judgment of conviction on conspiracy and tax evasion counts because of a couple of statute of limitations goofs.

New ideas

• Turbotax (https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com): Whip this one on ’em: “Did you know you may be able to claim your couch potato friend as a dependent?”
• Sagenext (https://www.thesagenext.com/blog): The top emerging cybersecurity challenges include new words like “phish,” new uses of old words like “cloud” and a symbol we’re not sure we’ve seen before.
• Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/: An economics professor and his student argue for “biennial filing and collection of taxes,” in which Americans would pay taxes not once a year but once every two years. The blogger’s reaction: “They think Americans pay taxes once a year?”
• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (https://itep.org/category/blog/): In six months, the enhanced Child Tax Credit decreased the number of children living in poverty 40%. ITEP estimated that the lowest-income 20% of households with children would receive a 35% income boost from this policy alone in 2021. The “compelling data and moral case” for continuing the CTC expansion.
• National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): In this week’s “You Make the Call,” Jack and Diane attempted to make a rollover to a traditional IRA for $325,000 into a tax-free event. The IRS examined the return and determined it was a taxable event, resulting in $135,000 of assessed tax liability. The IRS collected the assessment through two levies in June 2013. Jack and Diane disagreed with the IRS’s characterization of their attempted rollover. On the last day to file a timely refund claim, their preparer, John, placed their claim in the regular mail using a U.S. postage stamp. A few months later John checked the status of the claim and the IRS indicated it had no record the claim was received. John then forwarded a copy of the original file for refund. The IRS denied the claim on the basis that this claim was not timely filed. Do Jack and Diane have recourse?
• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/blog/en/north-america.html): Are you ready for the seventh edition of the World Customs Organization Harmonized Tariff Schedule? It’s here.