In the blogs: Regards from Mickey

Down on Main Street; the non-filer initiative; refund interest; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Regards from Mickey

• Boyum & Barenscheer (https://myboyum.com/blog/): If your client’s nonprofit needs funding to keep operating during this time, how and why a loan from the new $600 billion Main Street Lending Program may be an option.
• Tax Pro Center (https://proconnect.intuit.com/taxprocenter/): Some of the health-related benefits under the CARES Act, including expansion of qualified medical expenses and safe harbor for telehealth services.
• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): How would a second round of COVID-19 rebates affect households? It may be months before a vaccine is available to everyone — but it’s going to be a lot less than that before most people get their prescription renewed for a second round of recovery rebates, assuming that Republicans and Democrats iron out differences on unemployment insurance, aid to states and localities, increased business deductions, the definitions of good and evil, and so on and on and on.
• Sagenext (https://www.thesagenext.com/blog): The wrangle over lost-salary percentages for the unemployed.
• Taxing Subjects (https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog): The IRS has good news for taxpayers restoring historic buildings: more time to qualify for the Rehabilitation Tax Credit to mitigate logistical issues arising from the pandemic.

Nexus in line

• Sikich (https://www.sikich.com/insights/): The coronavirus pandemic has caused significant hardship, but have there been positives? There must be, as more than a few employees start to ask why they ever need to return to an office.
• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/us/en/blog.html): On the other hand, as shutdowns deplete tax-revenue coffers, states are rethinking their initial leniency on how nexus laws apply to remote workers.
• Taxjar (http://blog.taxjar.com/): How many times does an e-commerce business owner have to pay sales tax on one product for a transaction? The short answer can turn into a long headache.

Matters of interest

• Procedurally Taxing (https://procedurallytaxing.com): A pair of recent cases demonstrate the importance of notice. In one case, the IRS lost out on a $90,000 trust fund recovery penalty. In the second, the purchaser of property loses in an effort to remove the federal tax lien in a quiet title action.
• IRS Mind (http://www.irsmind.com/blog/): The 2020 (and beyond?) IRS non-filer initiative: what you need to know.
• TaxMama (http://taxmama.com): Are your clients (and maybe you) frustrated about getting tax questions answered — including where stimulus checks have gone? Mail is going to be less and less a viable payment option for a long time. What to tell them about e-payment options.
• Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): How interest payments will be made for any refunds due on returns filed prior to July 15 and issued after April 15. The interest will cover the three-month period between the previous due date and the current due date and will be treated as taxable income for taxpayers’ 2020 return. The interest on these refunds will be paid no matter whether the tax returns were filed before or after April 15, and their rate will be calculated on a sliding scale.
• Tax Girl (https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/): The IRS has announced that James Lee will become the new chief of IRS-Criminal Investigation on October 1. Lee, currently CI’s deputy chief and a 25-year veteran of the organization, is slated to succeed current chief Don Fort.

Corporate creep

• Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): When it comes to managing third-party risk, most organizations already have a formal due-diligence process for evaluating potential vendors. What about third-parties, especially those that provide vital services to the organization? If a key service provider were to suddenly go out of business, have serious control failures, or suffer a data breach (and what are the odds of those these days?), the repercussions could be disastrous. Keys and tools for assessment.
• Bloomberg Tax (https://pro.bloombergtax.com/news-insights/): Pandemic relief loans rushed much-needed relief to struggling small businesses, funneled through banks that promised hand-holding throughout the process. For some businesses, those hands would then wash themselves of the loans, by selling them to lesser-known — and lightly regulated — companies that may not have that same incentive.
• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): Our favorite tale of the week: “The General Treasurer of Rhode Island is Seth Magaziner. When the state pays its bills, his signature (along with that of Controller Peter Keenan) appears on the checks that are issued. Imagine the surprise when some business owners received tax refunds and instead of Mr. Magaziner’s signature, they looked down and saw ‘Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney.’ ”