In the blogs: You will survive

Saving Social Security; sued over an address; more 5471 opinions; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

You will survive

• U of I Tax School (https://taxschool.illinois.edu/blog/): From fielding endless tax questions to relatives' barrage of requests for help with returns, the accountants' survival guide to Thanksgiving.
• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): Could a pre-tariff buying frenzy kick off a new round of inflation?
• TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): Congress last reformed the nation's current tax penalty regime some three decades ago, before the rise of big data and the advent of predictive analytics. Is it time for Congress to weave the latter into the Internal Revenue Code?
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog) As Social Security faces looming insolvency, one issue that garners a lot of attention in the debate over solutions is raising the payroll tax cap. Policymakers should also recognize that broader changes in how workers are compensated have contributed to the decline in wages subject to payroll taxes. Expanding the payroll tax base to include all forms of worker compensation should be on the table.
• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (https://itep.org/category/blog/): A recent analysis shows that some widespread tariffs are beneficial — and that those now proposed wouldn't be among them.
• Don't Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): What do holiday shopping and taxes share? The growing potential for ID theft.

Just guess

• Tax Notes (https://www.taxnotes.com/procedurally-taxing): A preparer puts a wrong address on a joint return, which leads to IRS correspondence taking almost a year and a half to get to the right address. Macartney v. Seiler looks at how the preparer's mistake contributed to a $450,000 refund not arriving until after the spouses separated, leaving one with nothing and the other with the refund. Guess who got sued?
• The Rosenberg Associates (https://rosenbergassoc.com/blog/): Is your firm small, midsize or large? How is this even properly measured? 
• Wolters Kluwer (https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/tax-accounting-us/industry-news): "Products to watch" aside, five ways artificial intelligence will soon impact your practice (for the better).
• Canopy (https://www.getcanopy.com/blog): What is "scope creep" with clients and its dangers and causes? More importantly, how can you avoid it?
• Taxjar (https://www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): How much do your ecommerce clients really know about sales tax registration? (Don't let them learn the hard way …)

Tricky stuff

• The Tax Times (https://www.thetaxtimes.com): The Tax Court just opined on another case that thwarts IRS authority to assess 5471 reporting penalties.
• Global Taxes (https://www.globaltaxes.com/blog.php): Seems that in Mukhi v. Commissioner, the Tax Court rejected arguments that a due process hearing was conducted by a partial appeals officer and that non-filing penalties violated the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause. The big win was in the third question.
• Withum (https://www.withum.com/resources/): Latest state updates include Washington's Supreme Court denying an investment income deduction and new services subject to B&O retailing classification in the state.
• TaxConnex (https://www.taxconnex.com/blog-): Execs go into M&A often blindly jazzed about the deal and thinking they know the landmines, such as employees' reactions or overpaying the target company. What about the risk of past sales tax exposure?
• Palm Beach Accounting and Financial Services (https://www.pbafs.com/blog): Savings bonds, 529 contributions and the good old-fashioned, rattling piggy bank: Gifts that can teach kids about finances.
• Boyum & Barenscheer (https://www.myboyum.com/blog/): What to remind them about the differences between accounting and tax profitability.
• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/blog/en/north-america.html: A state-by-state look at clothing taxes.
• Vertex (https://www.vertexinc.com/resources/resource-library/filter/field_asset_type/blog?page=0): What to remind them of the complexities of corporate taxes.
• Armanino (https://www.armanino.com/articles/): The latest on issuing 1099s for next season.
• Sovos (https://sovos.com/blog/): Third-party settlement organizations are also keeping a close watch on IRS guidance regarding their obligations under 1099-K requirements. Recent changes to reporting thresholds, coupled with delayed enforcement and conflicting guidance, have left many TPSOs on marshy ground about their responsibilities.
• MBK (https://www.mbkcpa.com/insights): How business-vehicle deductions can be especially "tricky."
• Virginia – U.S. Tax Talk (https://us-tax.org/about-this-us-tax-blog/): Overseas Americans are entitled to certain tax breaks, one significant break being the exclusion of amounts provided by an employer for foreign housing.
• Gordon Law (https://gordonlawltd.com/blog/): When big hearts co-exist with small tax brains: What to remind them about taxes and charities this giving season.
• Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): One of the main provisions of Secure 2.0 kicks in on Jan. 1: automatic enrollment for new employee benefit plans.
• AICPA & CIMA Insights (https://www.aicpa-cima.com/blog): Whether accounting for digital assets or auditing entities in this space, to understand the asset class you need to understand the fundamentals of the underlying technology: blockchain.