Auditors and people; whistleblowers’ comfort; Wayfair developments; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Carrots and sticks

• Wolters Kluwer (http://news.cchgroup.com/): How to add value to your audits: You listen to your clients and you understand their businesses. Step back for a moment and see how far ahead that puts you.
• TaxMama (http://taxmama.com): Our favorite opening of the week: “Believe it or not, one of my favorite activities is spending time with the IRS.” How, if you give them a chance and just keep your crucifix and garlic in your bag, “the terrifying auditors and collections officers become real people…to trust and respect — and frankly, to like very much.”
• National Taxpayer Advocate (https://taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/about/nta-blog): Some of the factors influencing voluntary compliance certainly include deterrence theory. Unfortunately — and infinitely harder — taxpayers should best “have faith and trust in the fairness of the tax system.” How different types of audits impact taxpayers’ feelings about the IRS.
• TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): So, would rewarding taxpayers for compliance work?

Privileges

• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): A look at the latest IRS 2018 Data Book and its table 18, “Criminal Investigation Program Statistics.”
• Mahany Law (https://www.mahanyertl.com/blog/): “All inquiries are protected by the attorney-client privilege.” Makes whistleblowers feel more comfortable, but is it always true?

Being of help

• Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): There are myriad reasons why taxpayers should enlist the help of an experienced tax professional. Here are more than a few to pass on.
• Turbotax (https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/): What to tell them about using a refund to boost retirement savings.
• Sagenext (https://www.thesagenext.com/blog): Where businesses are expanding at an uncontrollable speed, linkages follow suit. What’s a linkage? One external linkage is of accounting and technology. (Let’s start with the Industrial Revolution…)
• Intuit Proconnect (https://proconnect.intuit.com/taxprocenter/): Business owners are relying on accountants for mentorship, strategic planning and consulting, rather than just an occasional compliance engagement or once-a-year tax meetup. This shift in client expectations from mere calculations to business consultation means that accounting firms must evolve accordingly — or lose clients.

Wayfairest

• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/us/en/blog.html: On the ever-evolving front of remote sellers collecting state sales tax, a look at how the Supreme Court has again overruled precedent in Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt, a decision that could make it harder for a state to shield an in-state business from an obligation to collect sales tax in another state.
• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): How the late great Alice Rivlin made state and local governments better, too.

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