Poker winnings and taxes; the costs of valuation mistakes; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

To have and withhold

• HR Block (http://blogs.hrblock.com/): Tax breaks for moms and dads, from credits to correctly declaring dependents. We thought every day was parents’ day?
• Liberty Tax Blog (https://www.libertytax.com/tax-lounge/): You can’t tell them often enough: Four tips for your client to organize tax records after filing, from how (and why) to stow the form, related records and receipts, to figuring out how to compensate if some credits will be lost.
• Dinesen Tax (http://dinesentax.com/blog): Part one of “Revisiting a History of Marriage in the Tax Code” looks at the blogger’s research into the subject and the tax life of same-gender marrieds.
• Tax Girl (http://blogs.forbes.com/kellyphillipserb): Blogger Kelly Phillips Erb handles a reader’s question on tax implications of payments to ex-spouses other than alimony.
• Houston Tax Attorney (http://www.irstaxtrouble.com/category/tax-blog/): In Gregory v. Commissioner, the court recently dispelled the notion that only accrual-method taxpayers can benefit from Sec. 468.
• Musings of a Burbank CPA (http://briantstonercpa.com/blog/#sthash.OkfGp9NM.dpbs): As both the road signs and the weeks and months of 2017 fly past, the importance of reminding them about mileage logs.

Straight Poop

• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): A look at the big winners of the recent World Series of Poker and the tax burdens created by their runs of luck.
• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): More on “bull***t tax shelters,” a.k.a. the conservation easement tax scam “built on one or two foundations (sometimes both): fake law and fake facts.”

Complications

• Backtaxeshelp (http://www.backtaxeshelp.com/tax-blog/): Shopping online often means beating the crowds, no need for parking and comparing prices in your underwear. It also often means beating your local sales tax: “What Does the New Colorado ‘Amazon’ Tax Mean for You?”
• Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): What is a foreign trust and how does it affect U.S. tax reporting? Answers to common questions.
• Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): We’ve all learned recently that populist sentiment can sway elections. Should it also influence tax policy? A new poll indicates that more Americans actually favor an increase in the federal gasoline tax.
• AG Tax (http://agtax.ca/tax-tips-and-articles): A reminder that per international agreement, Canadian banks and financial institutions send out FACTA letters to American citizens and green card holders. A reminder, too, that Uncle Sam recently sued a Canadian-U.S. citizen for millions in penalties and interest for non-disclosure of his foreign assets, including domestic Canadian financial assets.
• Tax Vox (http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org): What will Republicans do about the nearly $1 trillion in taxes the ACA will generate over the next 10 years? Why killing the ACA’s investment tax now would make the next GOP tax bill easier. God knows the new patient needs some kind of intensive care.
• Tax Policy (www.taxfoundation.org/blog): Blogger Scott Greenberg looks at lawmakers’ “Five Ideas for Simplifying the Individual Tax Code” through recent years – increasing the standard deduction and so on. Who would have thought simplifying something could be so complicated?
• Don’t Mess With Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): Just your friendly neighborhood tax break: How Marvel Studios (and would-be superhero blockbusters) get help from California.
• Bloomberg BNA (http://www.bna.com/news/#!topic=istaxtype=isblogpost): While many states lowered corporate income tax rates in this year, Illinois hiked its rate to 7 percent from 5.25 percent. Business sense?

Hoisting sales

• Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/): Rita Keller examines ConvergenceCoaching’s Transformational Leadership Program. The typical participant is a manager, senior manager or newer partner and the one-year program focuses on leadership behavior and mindset first, then management skills and knowledge of the profession.
• Intuit ProConnect (http://taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com/): Even if they’re lined up in the morning when you show up to unlock your office, sooner or later you’re going to have to sell something. Industry guru Scott Cytron examines sales techniques for tax pros.
• Taxjar (http://blog.taxjar.com/): Our favorite opening of the week: “In the past, bookkeeping was a lengthy process, and in all honesty, a bit of a mess.” A look at what you might want to keep in mind if you have retail clients, namely the effect of modern cloud software and automated accounting.
• Sageworks (https://www.sageworks.com/blog/default.aspx): Whether it’s a goof in the valuation of a media giant or an error in the valuation of a mom-and-pop restaurant, a mistake in valuing a business can be costly to both the owners and the valuation professionals. Jim Alerding, a former member of both the AICPA Business Valuation Committee and the AICPA Business Valuation Standards Writing Task Force, recently led a Sageworks webinar on tips for spotting errors in the valuations of other analysts and for avoiding errors when performing your own valuation work.

New to us

• Focus (https://sgcpa.com/resources/focus-blog/): Regional firm Smith Gesteland’s blog joins our lineup this week. First up from this fine and varied blog: a look at a new enhanced RD credit bill. Welcome aboard!

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