In the blogs: You must comply

Refunds straight to crypto; M&A & taxes; improving customer service; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

What’s at stake?

• National Taxpayer Advocate (https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/taxnews-information/blogs-nta/): If a taxpayer calls the IRS in the woods and nobody hears him, does he make any noise? “Hello, Is Anyone There?” looks at how taxpayers and practitioners continue to experience frustration over lack of phone, well, service from the service.
• Gordon Law (https://gordonlawltd.com/blog/): The internet is buzzing over news that a couple in Tennessee was awarded a refund from the IRS for income tax on crypto staking rewards that were never sold or traded for the tax year 2019. Unfortunately, this news does not mean that the IRS has changed its stance on staking rewards, as many sources have claimed.
• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): With NFTs, DeFi, DAOs and “staking” (once upon a time we didn’t know what “internet” meant, either…) becoming all the rage in crypto, there are a lot of questions on what all these “words” mean for taxes. The blogger thinks it best to start this series of clarifications with the many kinds of staking.
• Turbotax (https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com): Turbotax and Coinbase now offer filers the chance to plow refunds right into cryptocurrency.
• Sovos (https://sovos.com/blog/?region=united-states): Identifying the “location of risk” in the case of health insurance can be tricky, but failure to do so could lead to under-declared tax liabilities and the potential for penalties. A look at the situation from a European perspective.
• The Tax Times (https://www.thetaxtimes.com): The headline says it all: “And Yet Another Criminal Prosecution for Failure to Pay Payroll Taxes.” And we like the tagline: “Thinking of borrowing from your company’s payroll taxes?...”
• National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): This week’s “You Make the Call” looks at a tax prep firm in business for about 25 years, where Mr. Bush was sole owner and president since its inception. When e-filing became prominent, he applied for and received an EFIN. It was issued to him after completing fingerprinting, suitability verification and any other requirements at the time. Coming into tax season 2021, Mr. Bush died suddenly. Over the years, meanwhile, the business had grown until some 1,200 returns were completed annually by four preparers. Mrs. Bush, who was vice president, intends to continue the business. Can she simply continue to use the EFIN issued to Mr. Bush?

You must comply

• HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): COVID-19 relief is expiring across the board, and taxpayers should be aware that the limitation on excess business losses is now in effect.
• Taxjar (https://www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): With Peloton and a couple of airlines making M&A headlines right now, it’s plain that growth or a big sale of a company can make for heady times. As this entry in a series on business milestones notes, however, don’t forget in a deal to tick all those boxes regarding tax compliance.
• John R. Dundon II EA (https://www.johmrdundon.comm): Navigating compliance for liquidating distributions of a partner’s interest in a partnership have three buzzworthy considerations to avoid unwanted scrutiny.
• TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): A look at the new online calculator “Realtime Inequality” and how it lets you tabulate information that might soon be put out by the federal government.
• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): In Ruesch v. Commissioner, the court affirmed the Tax Court’s holding that the Sec. 7345 proceeding was moot where the IRS withdrew the “seriously delinquent tax debt” certification to the Secretary of State. Two points about this.
• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/): The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act changed how parts of the Tax Code are indexed for inflation, shifting to what’s known as chained CPI, or C-CPI-U. At the time, estimates said this would raise federal revenue $134 billion over 10 years by reducing inflation adjustments for tax brackets and other elements of the revenue code. But the pandemic scrambled the effects of the change in surprising ways.

Any day now

• Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/): What do accountants have in common with the bad customer-service habits of other professionals?
• Strategic Advisor (https://www.liveplan.com/strategic-advisors/blog/): You may still be trying to find ways to charge for advice that you’ve been offering for free. Or you may be selling bundled, fixed-fee advisory services. Either way, at this time the demands being placed on you and the work that you’re doing in response are new and unique. What skills do you need beyond knowing the Tax Code and studying the legislation?
• Taxpro Center (https://proconnect.intuit.com/taxprocenter/): Seven tips to help you give better client service.
• Wolters Kluwer (https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/tax-accounting-us/industry-news): Four steps to cross-selling services start with a hard look in the mirror.
• Tax Warriors (https://www.taxwarriors.com/blog): What to remind them about making sure that business banking doesn’t get personal.
• CPA Growth Trends (https://www.cpagrowthtrends.com/): What strategies and tactics do you apply to business development? It’s easy to get mechanical. Time to get out of that rut and think about growing your business with client experience-focused development opportunities.

Hyphen kickers

• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (https://itep.org/category/blog/): Amazon’s latest annual financial report paints a vivid picture of a company edging toward monopoly status — at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.
• AICPA Insights (https://www.aicpa.org/blog): A dwindling candidate pool and fallout from the Great Resignation have become headaches for companies everywhere, including, of course, accounting firms. Can a new apprenticeship program by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants offer a path to CGMA — and an aspirin for the headache?
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): A recent study about the impact of banning flavored tobacco in Massachusetts found, “not surprisingly,” that the sale of flavored tobacco decreased following the ban. Such a result would indicate that the ban has been a success — except that the study left out a very important piece of information.