More rush regulation; figuring reasonable compensation; software versus you; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Semi-reformal

• Liberty Tax (https://www.libertytax.com/tax-lounge/): What to remind them about withholdings in the new dawn of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
• Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): If some of your biz clients are real property owners, changes to cost recovery rules resulting from reform just turned up the heat on their tax planning and prep questions. Depreciate or expense property? Capitalize repairs in conformity with book treatment or expense? Claim bonus depreciation or elect not to claim for any class of property?
• Tax Girl (http://blogs.forbes.com/kellyphillipserb): The threat of government shutdown has actually become ho-hum in the ferret playground of our current Washington, but this time there may be a twist: the rush to regulate online sales tax.
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): The sales tax structure of Arkansas needs broad reforms, but it should proceed cautiously with the newfound revenue from sales tax base expansions. What can be learned here and applied elsewhere in the nation?

Double down

• Intuit ProConnect (https://taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com): Cue the double-edged sword, as now more than ever (see “pass-through”) you need to help your clients find that middle ground between too much and too little — especially when it comes to determining reasonable compensation. A hopefully helpful formula or two.
• Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/): In this scam- and tech-crazy age, nothing beats double caution: “Stay Safe Out There – Two-Factor Authentication” looks at how, even though CPA firms are fanatics about protecting the safety of their data, some preparers continue to not use two-factor authentication with their personal devices (and some don’t even know what it is).
• Dinesen Tax Times (http://dinesentax.com/blog): If a not-for-profit loses its corporate status with a state, does it lose its federal tax-exempt status as well? The answer appears to be no, but check and double-check.

Looking ahead

• Backtaxeshelp (https://www.backtaxeshelp.com/tax-blog/): When and how to start paying estimated tax for IRA withdrawals.
• TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): A look at a recent presentation on the death and life of the SALT deduction.
• Taxjar (https://blog.taxjar.com): An outside look at “Software or Tax Preparer?” Pays to know what they might walk in thinking.
• Manhany Law (http://www.mahanyertl.com/mahanyertl/): Snake oil never goes out of style, just dons a new name. Now that the prices of cryptocurrencies has cooled a bit, many of the scams are beginning to surface. “Just this week we were contacted by a potential client who invested $1.3 million in a cryptocurrency scheme with a guy he met in an online forum. It turns out the promoter is a convicted felon …” A list of the latest cryto-bunkos.
• Boyum Barenscheer (https://myboyum.com/blog/): “Pipeline” is one of those business chestnuts that happens to be true. What to bear in mind for your practice and your biz clients once your attention can turn once again to marketing (and not just surviving another season).

OVPD R.I.P.

• National Taxpayer Advocate (https://taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/about/nta-blog): First of three parts analyzing tax settlement programs as amnesties. When should the government offer them and how should they be structured?
• Wolters Kluwer (http://news.cchgroup.com/): More taxpayers will qualify for the maximum standard deduction on their Alabama income tax returns for tax years after 2018. How come?
• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com): The IRS has decided to ramp down and then end the OVDP — but the streamlined procedures for offshore assets will continue for now. A discussion of the FAQs.
• Procedurally Taxing (http://procedurallytaxing.com): Another one of the five countries that have collection treaties with the IRS had an opinion issued based on the efforts of the IRS to assist it in collecting taxes due to France. In Hanse v. United States, the court analyzes the treaty provisions in the context of a summons enforcement case.

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