In the blogs: Simple hopes

Staffing and AI; a tab for online sports bets; risk factors; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Simple hopes

• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/blog/en/north-america.html): Short-staffed businesses in any industry basically have three options: Ask existing employees to work more, cut services or invest in technology to juice efficiency. New research claims that CFOs who face staffing challenges now favor artificial intelligence.
• TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): The upcoming Supreme Court's Moore v. United States raises questions that the court has rarely addressed in a century: namely, the meaning of the 16th Amendment and Congress' income tax power.
• Procedurally Taxing (https://www.taxnotes.com/procedurally-taxing): The blogger says he's raised power-of-attorney issues with the IRS before, as have others. After a recent incident, the blogger returns to the topic with "the simple hope" of making practitioners aware of extra security questions they may be subject to when they call.
• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (https://itep.org/category/blog/): One of the most attention-grabbing anti-tax campaigns today is "SAFE" — Saving America's Family Enterprises. "It could mean 'Saving Aristocrats From Everything' given the outfit's knack for opposing any national proposal to limit tax advantages" for only the wealthy.
• University of Illinois Tax School (https://taxschool.illinois.edu/blog/): As the deadline to file extended individual returns looms, a review of two IRS notices issued this year that apply to state tax refunds. Both aim to clarify whether individuals should include payments from states in their gross income.
• Turbotax (https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com): Eight last-minute tips to help make that extension deadline easier.
• TaxConnex (https://www.taxconnex.com/blog-): Software often makes a lot of promises in all areas of tax prep. Can it deliver in the tangled world of sales tax for clients who sell online?
• Canopy (https://www.getcanopy.com/blog): What to remind nonprofit clients – and yourself – about 990s.
• Parametric (https://www.parametricportfolio.com/blog): How did clients' portfolios do after taxes? The blogger bets most investors have no idea. What to remind them about tax management when plowing money into Wall Street.
• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): Favorite opening of the week (and we praise the youngster for quick arithmetic): "Our teenage son called me from school in the middle of the day last month. I braced myself. Generally, those calls come when there's a problem." But wait: " 'We won $1,700 last night! Do we really have to pay 24% in taxes, over $400?!' "

Location, location, location

• Vertex (https://www.vertexinc.com/resources/resource-library/filter/field_asset_type/blog?page=0): An Arizona-based online bead business has lost its appeal that Louisiana has an impossibly complex sales tax system.
• Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders (https://ritakeller.com/wordpress/): How much did salaries recently rise in the industry? Geography, even in this age of remote work, remains a big factor.
• Taxjar (https://www.taxjar.com/resources/blog/): Does Maine charge sales tax on services? Turns out ayuh, in some cases, not to mention the Pine Tree State's service provider tax.
• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): Maine and Massachusetts are also conforming to recent federal filing relief after Hurricane Lee.
• Virginia – US Tax Talk (https://us-tax.org/about-this-us-tax-blog/): How things can get ugly — American tax-wise — for foreign companies that have an American partner.
• Global Taxes (https://www.globaltaxes.com/blog.php): International deals figure big in the latest IRS promises of more-energetic enforcement.
• Don't Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): Heard It Through the Bovine Dept: Favorite caption of the week reads, "These cattle chilling out in the West Texas Big Bend area don't appear worried about much. Their owners, however, have a lot of concerns, including the extremely dry conditions that could hurt the profitability of their agricultural endeavors." How tax relief is on the way. 

Threats, illusions and lookbacks

• Taxing Subjects (https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog): As cyber-threats only get worse, here's a look at prevalent threats, foundational best practices and critical strategies to keep your firm safe.
• Armanino (https://www.armanino.com/articles/): Yes, risk seems utterly overwhelming. But here's a good, clear breakdown of what to look for, including when and how to keep the wolves of cyber-threat, staffing, economic churn and supply-chain miseries and more at bay.
• The Rosenberg Associates (https://rosenbergassoc.com/blog/): Call it "year-end tax blog planning": A look back at Rosenberg's most-read entries so far in 2023.
• Withum (https://www.withum.com/resources/): Instances of the "Illusion of Value" (much in headlines right now), including those of stocks, goliath acquisitions and how "value" can influence the name of the baseball stadium.