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

Taking sides

• Mauled Again: The origins of the universe, the deep secrets of the human heart, and a given taxpayer’s motives: Who can truly say what’s the biggest mystery, especially considering the recent case of Santos v. Comr.?
• Don’t Mess With Taxes: A look at IRS Commissioner Koskinen’s recent decision “not to present his side of the story during the House Judiciary’s Committee’s look … into how he’s doing his job.” We’re reminded of what happens to taxpayers who decide not to present their side of the story during audits.
• Rubin on Tax: How and why a U.S. citizen and permanent resident of Israel incurs capital gains from the sale of stock of a U.S. corporation. And “one has to wonder why the taxpayer took this all the way to the Tax Court.”
• Federal Tax Crimes: Our favorite headline of the week: “Whack a Mole – Fifth Circuit Confirms That the Stench of a Bulls**t Shelter Does Not Smell Better with Time.” We took out the two letters there, by the way.
• The Wandering Tax Pro: Interesting (and sort of jaundiced) look at not putting off procrastinating when it comes to a property tax reimbursement deadline in New Jersey. Blogger Flach’s big question: “Whether Trenton … will once again reduce the income threshold for 2015 to $70,000 to screw some senior or disabled homeowners out of their reimbursement check in order to balance the budget.”

House minimums

• Tax Policy: Blogger Nicole Kaeding looks at the recent report from the Oregon’s Legislative Revenue Office on Initiative Petition 28 (IP28), which, if adopted in November, would raise the state’s minimum tax on large corporations to 2.5 percent of all Oregon-based sales in excess of $25 million.
• Tax Vox: The potential ripples after eight states go the polls in November to decide whether to raise their minimum wage.
• Taxable Talk: The tax impacts of this blogger’s long-time topic (and interest): the World Series of Poker.

On their own two feet

• The Income Tax School: Ten-shun, now hear this and grab your socks: “Five Things Tax Preparers Could Learn From the Military.”
• HR Block: Breaking up is hard to do – especially with mom and dad and especially when you don’t know how to make a budget on your own. A recent survey revealed that about half of American households are paying at least some bills for an adult child older than 24. Appears Greg Brady Syndrome is more prevalent that we thought.
• Taxes at About.com: The marital question that will not die, especially in a spotty job market for some age groups: Can a husband or wife ever claim his or her spouse as a dependent?
• TurboTax: The recent National American Red Cross Founder’s Day marked the anniversary of the American Red Cross and made a good time to pass on tips – from spreadsheets to designated paper folders – for clients who want to track charitable donations and the valuable deductions.

Letter imperfect

• Procedurally Taxing: Wildfires tend to inspire wild solutions: TIGTA and its new “eye-popping numbers” about EITC abuse and the IRS’s failure to take action. The blogger doesn’t understand, however, TIGTA’s “default solution … that effectively treats EITC-claiming individuals as a suspect class that is not entitled to the same due process protections as other individuals who file income tax returns.”
• BNA blogs: FASB and GASB going more IT.
• The Tax Times: Might U.S. advisors be caught in new EU demands that tax avoidance be punished?
• Taxjar: The digital may frequently feel unreal (after all, is it a Print button or a picture of a Print button?) but the questions around taxing digital goods are very real – especially when regulated by states with governments that are barely past DOS.

New to us

• Summing It Up: We welcome the blog of Upstate New York firm Freed Maxick, long a powerhouse among regional firms. This first entry looks at U.S. taxpayers using foreign accounts to hide income subject to taxes. “This [FACTA] discussion requires serving a large bowl of abbreviation alphabet soup, so we’ll make that the appetizer before we get to the main course.” Welcome, and we look forward to future dining.

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