In the blogs: Age before beauty

Old IRS tech; lead, don’t manage; an MP want-ad; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Age before beauty

• Turbotax (https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com): In this commencement season (like few others, but not for reasons of personal finance), what to remind soon-to-be grads about their money and tax futures.
• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): The blogger’s clients just received their federal refund, which was off by exactly the amount of an estimated tax payment they had made using IRS Direct Pay. Maybe the feds didn’t see that estimated payment because the main IRS computer system is older than most of the readers of this blog.
• Don’t Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): The holiday just gone by may have celebrated mothers, but parents everywhere still await Senate greenlighting of the newest Child Tax Credit.
• TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): A look at President Biden’s three recent judicial nominees for the Tax Court.
• Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): Wyden pressuring Intuit to make good with Oregon residents and possible premature cheering for carbon credits highlight the latest Top Five tax issues.

Places to go

• Sovos (https://sovos.com/blog/): Understanding nuances of value-added tax recovery is essential for businesses who pay the tax in different countries. A look at the fundamentals.
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): With one month to go until the polls open, how the seven political groups in the European Parliament define their priorities on economic and tax policy.
• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/blog/en/north-america.html): A rundown of this year’s sales tax holidays in states.
• Taxjar (https://www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): June’s sale tax due dates.
• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (https://itep.org/category/blog/): Shifts from graduated to single-rate income taxes are designed to benefit higher earners: Different families will still pay varying rates, but the rich will pay less. The recent shift in Iowa is no different. 
• Global Taxes (https://www.globaltaxes.com/blog.php): Overseas investors in the U.S. real estate market should know that American real estate agents get some of the highest commissions in the world. Will a recent lawsuit really change that?

Consider the alternatives

• Keller Advisors (https://ritakeller.com/wordpress/): With clients, aim for “leadership” and not “management.”
• National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): This week’s “You Make the Call” looks at Remy, a sole proprietor who just started a business as an LLC. He has no employees and wants to lease a vehicle in the name of his LLC that will be used 100% for his business. If Remy leases the vehicle under his LLC, can he write off any of the business mileage since it’s a leased vehicle?
• John R. Dundon II EA (http://johnrdundon.com/): What to remind them about the tax implications of U.S. savings bonds.
• TaxConnex (https://www.taxconnex.com/blog-): How physical nexus for sales tax still sneaks up on e-commerce clients.
• HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): Many exempt organizations turn to gaming activities to raise funds, but are these moneymakers safe bets against surprise tax liabilities? 
• Boyum & Barenscheer (https://www.myboyum.com/blog/): Alternative investments may appeal to nonprofit clients for (often) high long-term performance. But along with the risk can come tax liability for NFPs. 
• Armanino (https://www.armanino.com/articles/): If your client’s company still hasn’t switched to cloud accounting software, there are a number of compelling reasons to make the change, like efficiency, access to real-time data and security. Another big reason often overlooked: the effect of software choices on staffing.  
• The Rosenberg Associates (https://rosenbergassoc.com/blog/): If a firm needed a new managing partner, it’s unlikely they’d place a want ad. But if they did, here’s what that ad might say.

Our changing crimes

• Marcum (https://www.marcumllp.com/insights): Last year those older than 60 reported $3.4 billion in financial losses to scams, a jump of almost 11% since 2022. Clearly, elder fraud is going in the wrong direction.
• University of Illinois Tax School Blog (https://taxschool.illinois.edu/blog/): A look at new IRS measures to combat ID theft that also change how tax pros access client information through the Transcript Delivery System.
• The Tax Times (https://www.thetaxtimes.com): Turns out the IRS has become “increasingly concerned” about the risk a compromised Central Authorization File number presents to tax pros and taxpayers: Crooks could use a compromised CAF to obtain transcripts and other PII to let slip the dogs of fraud.