Candidates and credits; best of Twitter; smoothing out next season; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.
The way ahead
- Tax Vox (
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox ): Favorite opening of the week: “‘Take two tax credits and call me in the morning:’ For many politicians that is the tried and true prescription for the economic and social ills that ail our country.” Most Democratic presidential candidates have proposed expanding credits — with the surprising exception of two front-running hopefuls. - TaxMama (
http://taxmama.com ): Why clients should care about what’s in the newest tax law, starting with extenders, SECUREity and keeping the government running. - Tax Girl (
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/ ): Twitter is an easy way to find out what’s happening in the never-stop tax world, be you professional, payer or just geek. A look at the “Top 100 Must-Follow Tax Twitter Accounts For 2020.” - Avalara (
https://www.avalara.com/us/en/index.html ): A last roundup of 2019 features “the normal slew” of sales and use tax changes, starting with American Catalog Mailers Association wanting Congress to rein in states taxing remote sales. - Sagenext (
https://www.thesagenext.com/blog ): From owners of small and midsize businesses to towering tycoons, here are some of the best tech tools.
Season of the hitch
- Don’t Mess With Taxes (
http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/ ): Recently some tax software companies allegedly hid their Free File option on their corporate websites, instead sending otherwise eligible free filers to paid products. That won't happen again, says the IRS, under a new agreement that kicks in for the upcoming 2020 season. - Wolters Kluwer (
http://news.cchgroup.com/ ): Client readiness, workload compression, pricing pressures, securing data, workflow process: Anyone have troubles last season? Presenting this year’s “Strategies for an Efficient Tax Season.” - The Income Tax School (
http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/ ): Been prepping your clients? A look at some IRS resources that can help with the job. - Boyum & Barenscheer (
https://myboyum.com/blog/ ): How the home-office deduction remains especially tricky. - Liberty Tax (
http://www.libertytax.com/tax-lounge ): So how do tax brackets work? - Intuit ProConnect (
http://taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com/ ): For practices getting ready, tax, compliance and just plain smart deadlines for January.
Local matters
- Tax Foundation (
https://taxfoundation.org/blog ): Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s budget for FY2021-2022 includes, among other things, plans to increase excise taxes on gas, tobacco and other nicotine products. And that may be just the beginning. - Taxjar (
http://blog.taxjar.com/ ): January 2020 sales tax due dates, state by state. - Mauled Again (
http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/ ): The facts are fairly simple but the analysis is more complicated after Chesterfield, Missouri, enacted a local sales tax. The town is home to large retail complexes but not many who shop there. From where do the tax dollars come, and where do they go fairly?
Truth or dare
- Solutions For CPA Firm Leaders (
http://ritakeller.com/blog/ ): Actual feedback from employees regarding what matters most to them in a manager. Dare to read? - Bloomberg Tax (
https://pro.bloombergtax.com/news-insights/ ): President Trump has highlighted that home values in low-income areas picked for new tax breaks are growing, and proclaimed that his administration’s policies are fuelling growth in some of America’s most distressed communities. True? - Rubin on Tax (
http://rubinontax.floridatax.com/ ): Taxpayers who fail to file an FBAR can escape penalty if they can show reasonable cause for the failure. How a recent district court case failed to allow for reasonable cause.
