Extending the season; rebuilding revenues; taxes on the citizens’ test; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Nudge nudge

• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): Will the IRS extend the 2021 season by extending the filing deadlines for various 2020 returns?
• Taxing Subjects (https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog): A look at the recent “friendly nudge” from the IRS to remind employers that their W-2s and other wage statements have to be filed by Feb. 1. As often happens in life, “start early for the best results.”
• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): For decades, conventional wisdom said that high levels of federal debt created a significant drag on the economy by diverting money that could more productively be used for business investment to the purchasing of government bonds. Two influential Democratic economists now say that theory is badly outdated.
• Current Federal Tax Developments (https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com): Multifactor authentication to be available on all online tax products beginning with the 2020 season.
• Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): Tax pros chat about Biden’s proposals.
• Wolters Kluwer (http://news.cchgroup.com/): Successful firms did these four things to be more agile.

States of mind

• Don’t Mess With Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): Yes, the House last week decided to decriminalize marijuana. The federal stance on weed is frustrating for the 36 states that have legalized the plant for medicinal purposes, along with the 15 jurisdictions where it’s legal for recreational uses. But many of those states also already are fighting a tax-related crime related to a legal inhalant.
• Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/us/en/blog.html): Beginning Jan. 1, 2021, most remote retailers with an obligation to collect sales tax in Illinois will have to collect local tax in addition to state tax. Collection requirements for marketplace facilitators are also changing.
• AICPA (https://blog.aicpa.org/): According to a recent report, states, localities, tribal nations and U.S. territories face revenue shortfalls of about $480 billion and $620 billion through 2022, thanks much in part to COVID. Affected revenue sources will likely include individual and corporate income taxes, sales taxes, gasoline taxes and local property taxes. (Note: “Unlike the federal government, most states require a balanced budget each year.”) How some states are beginning to respond.
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): New York faces projected budget shortfalls as arresting as Manhattan’s skyline, and “some have proposed taxes that would rival that skyline for staggering height.” The challenge confronting policymakers is real, though perhaps not as dire as once feared.
• Bloomberg Tax (https://pro.bloombergtax.com/news-insights/): Imposing a stock transfer fee, pausing scheduled middle-class tax cuts, and legalizing and taxing adult-use marijuana are just a few proposals on the table as the Empire State searches for revenue.
• Taxjar (http://blog.taxjar.com/): Six steps to sales tax compliance in time for the holidays.

Just rewards

• Tax Girl (https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/): An Indian national gets 20 years in the slammer for his role in operating and funding call centers that defrauded U.S. victims out of millions by impersonating the IRS.
• Solutions For CPA Firm Leaders (http://ritakeller.com/blog/): Hard work and dedication pay off for one Arizona firm’s new CEO.
• Procedurally Taxing (https://procedurallytaxing.com): In United States v. Holland, the court decides that the federal tax lien has priority over the claim by attorneys for their fees from certain funds interpleaded from the sale of royalties on the songs written by Edward J. Holland, one of the top songwriters of Motown.
• IRS Mind (http://www.irsmind.com/blog/): Why do so few get an offer in compromise? And what’s the real cost?
• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): A look at the jury instruction in United States v. Gilmore, in which the court affirmed the convictions of Gilmore, a lawyer, for tax and financial crimes.

Why it’s important

• Boyum Barenscheer (https://myboyum.com/blog/): The boards of nonprofits face a special and tough challenge until the pandemic passes. How they can remain vigilant.
• Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): Taxes appear in four questions on the new naturalization test. One worthy of a “quibble” is, “Why is it important to pay federal taxes?”
• Tax Warriors (https://www.taxwarriors.com/blog): How updated IRS life expectancy tables mean smaller required minimum distributions in 2022.