Delaying filing; inbox anxiety; a new voice; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Fun times ahead

• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/): Opponents of additional federal aid to state and local governments have noted that overall state revenue declines have not been as bad as expected during the pandemic, thus the need for assistance has lessened. This is too simplistic an argument, the blog maintains. Help is still needed.
• Turbotax (https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com): Favorite opening of the week: “The words ‘taxes’ and ‘fun’ rarely go together in the same sentence, but here are a few fun state tax facts and federal scenarios…we promise they’re fun!” Examples include how Colorado taxes the lids of coffee cups but not the takeout cups themselves, and how Nevada gives tax filers a free deck of cards.
• The Wandering Tax Pro (http://wanderingtaxpro.blogspot.com/): An open letter to taxpayers as the season launches, starting with “when sending/giving your tax preparer your 2020 tax ‘stuff’ be sure to include the amount of any Economic Impact Payments you received in May of 2020 and January of 2021…”
• Bloomberg Tax (https://pro.bloombergtax.com/news-insights/): A look at the Supreme Court’s recent rejection of a bid by Donald Trump to keep eight years of his returns and other financial records out of the hands of a Manhattan prosecutor.
• TaxProf Blog (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/): The sex-trafficking scandal surrounding the late Jeffrey Epstein already has tarnished the reputations of prominent politicians, businessmen and the British royal family. Now it’s casting a shadow on an estate tax-avoidance strategy popular among Wall Street CEOs and tech entrepreneurs.
• Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): Why clients may actually want to hold back filing early this year: an impact on eligibility for the potential upcoming stimulus payments.
• Taxing Subjects (https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog): An upcoming issue of the IRS’s Internal Revenue Bulletin gives tax professionals updated guidance on federal interest rates in a number of areas, including the various prescribed rates for federal income tax purposes.
• National Taxpayer Advocate (https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/taxnews-information/blogs-nta/): The pandemic has been different from the typical natural disasters that prompt the IRS to postpone deadlines, and practitioners and taxpayers alike may wonder what future IRS disaster relief will look like as we continue grappling with this disaster and face new ones. The IRS has tried to tackle some of these questions and recently issued proposed regulations to clarify the operation of IRC Sec. 7508A(d). Comments are due March 15 and a public hearing is slated for March 23.

A new relief

• National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): Recent legislation extended and amended relief to certain small and midsized employers under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. A look at IRS updates to the FAQs on paid sick leave credit and family leave credit.
• Sikich (https://www.sikich.com/insights/): COVID-19 will pass someday — and when it does, some industries will boom. Why one of them is likely to be construction.
• The Income Tax School (http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/): How pandemic-displaced workers might just find a new career in tax prep.
• Don’t Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): In honor of the recent National Margarita Day, a look at how distilled spirits taxes are based on amounts of the “potent potables produced.”

Pot luck

• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): The IRS and FinCEN now allege that foreign online poker accounts are “casino” accounts that must be reported as foreign financial accounts. How the common-sense rule — when in doubt, report — remains affected clients’ best bet.
• Tax Warriors (https://www.taxwarriors.com/): A look at factors to turbo-boost 529 plans, including starting early and rewarding all contributors.
• Financial Cents Accounting Blog (https://financial-cents.com/blog/): When it comes to storing cryptocurrency, just how secure is “bank-level” security?
• Current Federal Tax Developments (https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com): How an attorney malpractice settlement related to claimed failures in representing a taxpayer in a physical injury case are not excludable from income.
• Strategic Advisor (https://strategicadvisor.liveplan.com/): Spam a Lot Dept.: “Overcoming Inbox Anxiety.”
• Allison Christians (https://www.allisonchristians.com/blog): U.S. 301 investigations and digital services taxes recently adopted by France and a group of other jurisdictions.
• Procedurally Taxing (https://procedurallytaxing.com): How what would seem a simple tax decision can “fracture” courts.

New to us

• Sovos (https://sovos.com/blog/?region=united-states): The blog of this leading tax software provider premiers here with entries on Delaware’s recent invitation for companies to join its Voluntary Disclosure Agreement program for those believed to be noncompliant with state unclaimed property reporting laws, and how businesses must now start issuing Forms 1042-S to non-U.S. taxpayers that received U.S. income from them during the year. These and other blog entries complement an excellent knowledge center covering a range of tax issues foreign and domestic. Welcome!