In the blogs: Perfect examples 

Avoidance above all; conferences to attend; creeping brackets; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Perfect examples

• The Wandering Tax Pro (http://wanderingtaxpro.blogspot.com/): As the season begins, advice from the blogger’s book “The Joy of Avoiding Taxes.”
• The Tax Times (https://www.thetaxtimes.com): Why the things that taxpayers do in an IRS audit to cover up past noncompliance can get anyone convicted. 
• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (https://itep.org/category/blog/): The showdown between the Kansas legislature and governor continued as Gov. Kelly vetoed the legislature’s latest attempt to pass a flat personal income tax. Elsewhere, the focus is on doing more for working families through proposals to expand refundable credits in Maryland, and a millionaire tax bracket was added in Rhode Island.
• University of Illinois Tax School Blog (https://taxschool.illinois.edu/blog/): How the latest tax bill could impact this season.
• National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): This week’s “You Make the Call” looks at Charles, a part-time student who lives at home with his parents and who works at a supermarket as a cashier. The company offers him a 401(k) with an employer match. Charles wants to buy a new guitar but his dad urges him to contribute as much as possible to the 401(k) while living at home. With an adjusted gross income of less than $20,000 and not being his parents’ dependent, is there any boost from the IRS to help his savings plans?
• Procedurally Taxing (https://www.taxnotes.com/procedurally-taxing): The recent Denning v. Treasury highlights a longstanding issue in tax procedure: When is a document purporting to be a return a return? And when is an amended return a valid refund claim?

Quotations included

Latest research

• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): Shortly after the House passed the bipartisan tax deal, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., introduced the SALT Marriage Penalty Elimination Act, which passed the House Rules Committee and is headed for the House floor. “While the bill would offer incremental relief, it would increase the budget deficit, create a new cliff in the Tax Code and mostly benefit higher earners, all without improving long-run economic growth.”
• National Taxpayer Advocate (https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/taxnews-information/blogs-nta/): One component of the advocate’s annual reports to Congress “that doesn’t receive as much attention as it should” are studies as the IRS seeks to transform the taxpayer experience. The advocate here publishes the research volume of its report.
• AICPA & CIMA Insights (https://www.aicpa-cima.com/blog): The National Management of an Accounting Practice Survey from the AICPA & CIMA Private Companies Practice Section is out and full of the latest on the profession, starting with how salaries recently changed.
• Wolters Kluwer (https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/tax-accounting-us/industry-news): The U.S. GAO has issued the 2024 revision of Government Auditing Standards, a.k.a. “the Yellow Book.” These standards frame how auditors globally perform audit work when reviewing government programs and spending.
• Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): The plusses of AP automation.

Worlds of difference

• Don’t Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): All hail sales tax holiday over-achievers.
• Withum (https://www.withum.com/resources/): State-level updates include a challenge to the remote seller tax rules of Illinois; Rhode Island’s retroactive extension of incentives and credits for individual income, corporate income, sale, use and excise tax; and the Washington Department of Revenue tweaking, among other things, the exemption expiration date for fruit and vegetable and dairy products businesses and further explanations regarding the valuation of asphalt and aggregates used in road construction.
• HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): Will Washington State repeal its capital gains tax?
• The Buzz About Taxes (http://thebuzzabouttaxes.com/): A look at Social Security benefits and other returns on FICA for a non-U.S. citizen who’s paid into the system but now lives outside the United States.
• Peisner Johnson (https://peisnerjohnson.com/blog/): Do memberships and dues incur sales tax?
• TaxConnex (https://www.taxconnex.com/blog-): The “Hot Topics” series continues with marketplace facilitators.
• Virginia – U.S. Tax Talk (https://us-tax.org/about-this-us-tax-blog/): What is situs — and, concerning U.S. estate tax, why does it make a difference for international taxpayers?
• Meyers Brothers Kalicka (https://www.mbkcpa.com/insights): Many biz clients (and maybe you, too) get sticker shock on cloud usage. How to corral what can be a stunningly high expense.