In the blogs: Sales tax every five minutes

When damage awards are taxable; avoiding New Jersey taxes; cutting-edge workflow; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

• Don’t Mess With Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): As Amazon offered taxable deals on Prime Day, online shoppers and marketplace sellers faced a new tattle-tale sales tax law as states join the feds in the extravaganza of online sales tax.
• Tax Girl (http://blogs.forbes.com/kellyphillipserb): Even as Amazon claimed “hundreds of thousands of deals” with “new deals starting as often as every five minutes,” Tax Girl notes that it fought imposition of sales taxes on a state-by-state basis and still “does not collect sales tax in Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon: Those states don’t have a state sales tax.”
• Turbotax Blog (http://Blog.turbotax.intuit.com): On a cheerier note: “How the Sales Tax Holiday Can Boost Your Back-to-School Savings.”

‘The mixed bunch’

• Houston Tax Attorney (http://www.irstaxtrouble.com/category/tax-blog/): Damage awards received on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness are not taxable. If a taxpayer receives a non-taxable award under this rule and then is discriminated against by his employer due to the physical injuries, is a second award paid by the employer also non-taxable? The court recently addressed this in Rajcoomar v. Commissioner.
• Procedurally Taxing (http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/): Designated orders from late June, “quite the mixed bunch,” included whistleblower cases, a last-known address issue and a discovery order in a major transfer pricing dispute between Coca Cola and the federal government. Also: granting an IRS motion for summary judgment as to a non-responsive CDP petitioner and a remand in a tax shelter TEFRA proceeding.

The write stuff

• Rubin on Tax (http://rubinontax.floridatax.com): An update to the blogger’s guide on U.S. taxation of nonresident aliens.
• The Wandering Tax Pro (http://wanderingtaxpro.blogspot.com/): Favorite headline of the week: “Experience the Joy of Avoiding N.J. Taxes!” The blogger’s book has gone to press, a study in what one state’s taxes get away with when most residents concentrate on their federal return. (Sure doesn’t sound like a day at the closed public beach…)

Power thinking

• The Income Tax School (http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/): Military personnel and their families can find alternative career paths tricky amid the schedule-shattering alerts and moves from base to base. Why tax prep might be one answer.
• Intuit Proconnect (http://taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com/): A video explores implementing a firm of the future workflow, from the cloud journey to value pricing and digital marketing.
• TaxMama (http://taxmama.com): “Disasters and Other Pleasant Experiences” and tips on how to prepare for them – inspired by the blogger’s recently returning home on the hottest night of the year so far to find the power off.