In the Blogs: Mother Lodes


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Highlights of some of our favorite tax-related blogs from the past week.

Mother lodes

  • Mauled Again: Life holds few moments more exciting than moving in together, except maybe actually buying the home together. Life holds other exciting moments, too, such as the recent case Jackson v. Comr., which demonstrated why couples who decide to live together in a house they buy need careful records proving co-ownership.
  • Federal Tax Crimes: Most arresting opening of the week: “E-mails can be the mother lode in criminal prosecutions.” A look at recent major decisions from a pair of appeals courts involving e-mails and privacy. 
  • Roth Co.: “Not every bad thing that happens is a deductible casualty,” as the Tax Court recently explained to a New Yorker after a retaining wall for her building collapsed.
  • Due Diligence: In this week’s collection: “Uber Drivers Claim They Are Not Independent Contractors … in the U.K.”; “Nontraded REITs 2.0 (‘Nontraded Preferred Shares’) – A Bad Idea”; and “Think You Don’t Need a Lawyer for SEC Whistleblower Case?”
  • Tax Analysts: Funny thing happened on the way to the tax base: One laudable Wisconsin study recently showed that the state’s manufacturing and agriculture credit does little to boost the economy or create jobs.

Bites

  • Tax Vox: “Bite-sized explanations” of the candidates’ (or likely candidates’, still) tax plans. First, Trump’s: quadruple the standard deduction and collapse the current seven individual income tax brackets, for starters.
  • Don’t Mess With Taxes: What Richard Hatch – no, not Captain Apollo from “Battlestar Galactica,” the other Richard Hatch, the Survivor – can teach Trump about capturing the presidency. If only the future were as clear-cut as a Cylon invasion…

The ‘e’ in ‘education’

  • Musings of a Burbank CPA: A look at You Can Deduct That?, written by 15 certified tax coaches about how small-business owners can improve the bottom line of their returns. “Many of the CTCs writing chapters in the book are CPAs, Enrolled Agents, Chartered Financial Consultants, and one is a Certified Financial Planner … I was impressed with the wide range of information available to help get more tax deductions and generate maximum cash flow for businesses,” says blogger Brian Stoner.
  • Taxjar: An infographic to help your e-selling clients stop leaving money on the e-table.
  • TurboTax: Seems some parents need an education themselves when it comes to finally using that 529 to pay for a kid’s college.
  • Rubin on Tax: When Sec. 355, safe harbor acquisition of control for spin-offs, is safe with the IRS.
  • Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders: “Can your clients trust you?” A handful of seemingly innocent circumstances that could dent your rep big.

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