Popular forms’ deadlines; sharper eye on S corps; when restitution has mattered; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

The coming grind

• Intuit ProConnect (http://taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com/): Timely opening of the week: “No matter how much they like preparing taxes, they are probably not looking forward to the long hours, increased workload and the lack of time for themselves.” Three ways to keep your staff happy during the coming grind.
• Solutions For CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/): Hiring’s one thing, retention quite another. Why do people quit their jobs?
• Liberty Tax (http://www.libertytax.com/tax-lounge): Another favorite opening of the week: “For many of us, putting off our taxes is as natural as avoiding your next root canal.” What to remind them about how actually filing early can take some sting out of the season.
• IRS Mind (https://www.irsmind.com/): By law, the IRS cannot release refunds for tax filers with refundable credits until Feb. 15. For tax season 2020, the IRS stated that these refunds will not be issued until “the first week of March.” Furthermore, taxpayers with refundable credits will not be able to track their refund until Feb. 22. What’s going on here and why.
• The Income Tax School (http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/): What to tell them about this looming season’s changes in tax law, starting with the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act (see “Dodged another shutdown”) and standard mileage rates for 2020.
• Tax Girl (https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/): Pre-filing, the form that most folks care about is the W-2, which has a due date of Jan. 31. A look at the due dates for some other “popular” forms.
• Sagenext (https://www.thesagenext.com/blog): It’s a piece of actual news that most taxpayers can jumpstart their federal returns using the IRS Free File much before the IRS officially announces the tax season. The essentials of Free File.

Trends

• Mahany Law (https://www.mahanyertl.com/blog/): Another exec sentenced after the IRS says he filed a false return to hide unreported offshore income. “Otherwise educated, smart and very wealthy Americans continue to hide money offshore in an effort to evade taxes.” When will they learn? As the chestnut cartoon caption once said, “Is ‘never’ good for you?”
• Taxjar (http://blog.taxjar.com/): Three of last year’s big trends in e-commerce, including how the sales venue is evolving into a huger piece of the retail pie and the needs for a sales tax solution are growing.
• Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): One outcome of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is increased IRS scrutiny of S corps and their shareholders with regard to certain tax liability issues — specifically activities regarding unrealized built-in gains from the sale of assets as well as distributions and loan repayments. What to warn your clients about.
• Sikich (https://www.sikich.com/insights/): In the new decade, will manufacturers and distributors see continued growth or a pullback? One item that could have a significant impact is the USMCA Trade Agreement, a rewrite of NAFTA that took effect in 1994.
• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/us/en/index.html): Sales tax revenue is on the rise in many states due to an increase in remote sales tax collections. States that joined an earlier agreement to streamline collection seem to be benefiting most in the coffer.
• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): A review of a summary of key restitution points in tax cases.
• Don’t Mess With Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): In honor of the holiday just passed, how current tax policies reflect some values of MLK.
• Wolters Kluwer (http://news.cchgroup.com/): A look at the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s recent clarification of accounting for equity securities, equity method investments and certain derivative instruments.

Blurring lines

• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): Tips — and testimony — on strengthening the federal-state-local partnership, including revision of funding formulas to better respond to regional differences and economic shocks and to adopt a more predictable federal budget process.
• Bloomberg Tax (https://pro.bloombergtax.com/news-insights/): A case testing the boundaries of legal challenges to Treasury rules has reached the Supreme Court after it bitterly divided judges in an appeals court.
• Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): It’s too easy to promise something, take the tax break, break the promise and then laugh all the way to the offshore bank. The blogger again focuses on the broken promises of job creation made by businesses and wealthy individuals who end up failing to create jobs, or, in some instances, actually eliminating jobs.
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): Under a territorial tax system, international businesses pay taxes to the countries in which they are located and earn their income. This means that territorial tax regimes do not generally tax the income companies earn in foreign countries. A worldwide tax system such as that previously employed by the U.S. requires companies to pay taxes on worldwide income regardless of where it’s earned. A look at the two.