In the blogs: Ghouls just wanna have fun

Backdoor Roth IRA; anti-tax lobbyists; deciding to part ways; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Processing Content

Ghouls just wanna have fun

• Tax Pro Center: It’s that time of the year again … scary tales from the depths of tax and accounting practices, all having to do with tax filing extensions. This blog reached out to the Intuit Tax Council to share their best extension season horror stories, so grab your favorite fall drink, sit back and be prepared to be … scared!
• Don’t Mess With Taxes: Happy Halloween! Time for ghosts, ghouls and, in many cases, taxable candy treats. Here’s a look at the various, and sometimes scary, ways states (and often other jurisdictions, too) tax different types of confections.
• National Association of Tax Professionals: Every practice has one. It’s the client whose documents show up on April 14, who argues every invoice or who just isn’t a good fit anymore. Deciding to part ways is the easy part. Doing it without leaving deadlines, live authorizations and unanswered questions behind takes a plan.

Dinner-table ultimatum

• TaxProf Blog: Mark Zuckerberg’s months of wrangling with his own board came to a head with a dinner-table ultimatum: He was taking steps to leave California after the wealth-tax proposal made it onto the November ballot. Zuckerberg, who’s currently valued at $247 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, would face a multibillion-dollar bill from the potential levy, which would apply to people whose net worth exceeded $1 billion on Jan. 1, 2026.
• Tax Foundation: Tax-exempt hospitals provide a substantial share of medical care in the United States. Of the 6,100 hospitals operating in the country in 2026, nearly half are nongovernment, tax-exempt community hospitals. As hospitals consolidate into larger systems and their revenues rise, the value of their tax exemption and the cost of forgone revenue grow.
• Yeo and Yeo: When talk with business owners turns to cybersecurity, there’s one recommendation that consistently generates pushback: multifactor authentication. Not because people don’t understand its value. Most do. The challenge is that MFA introduces an extra step. It asks users to enter a code, approve a login request or verify their identity before accessing an account. While that might sound minor, it can feel inconvenient when you’re trying to move quickly throughout the day.
• The Tax Times: A federal appeals court has ordered a Texas district court to reconsider its 2025 ruling involving approximately $1 million in civil penalties imposed against a taxpayer for failing to report foreign bank accounts. United States v. Sagoo raises a constitutional issue extending beyond whether taxpayers are entitled to a jury trial when challenging civil FBAR penalties.

A moving target

• Sovos: If proof was needed that tax compliance is a moving target, the third quarter of 2026 delivered it. Between July 1 and Sept. 30, this blog tracked regulatory changes around the world. Some were long-awaited go-lives. Others were surprising delays, new obligations or policy signals that will reshape how businesses operate for years. Here are the developments that matter most, and what they mean for a business’ compliance strategy.
• Boyum & Barenscheer: A backdoor Roth IRA can look simple on paper. A nondeductible contribution is made to a traditional IRA. Then that money is converted to a Roth IRA. Because the original contribution wasn’t deducted, little or no tax on the conversion is expected. But that may not be the result if you already have money in other IRAs.
• CBIZ: As tariffs remain a dominant theme of tax and trade policy negotiations, they are expected to present significant business challenges through 2027. Ongoing tariff actions and retaliatory trade measures are prompting businesses to strengthen supply chain resilience, tighten cash flow controls, improve documentation and expand contingency planning. Beyond operational concerns, organizations must continue to evaluate the impacts of tariff exposure, compliance obligations and potential refund opportunities on their broader tax and accounting positions.
•  AICPA & CIMA: When clients think of estate planning, they often focus on documents, beneficiaries and wealth transfer. Yet some of the most significant planning opportunities are found in less-visible tax considerations that can have a lasting impact on families and future generations. For financial planners and tax practitioners, understanding these concepts can help uncover opportunities, strengthen client relationships and deliver more comprehensive advice.
• ITEP: As more states move to raise revenue and tax the rich, anti-tax lobbyists and lawmakers are hard at work to undo those moves. In the latest iteration: Montana lawmakers sued over the state’s second-home tax, which raised property taxes on vacation homes and short-term rentals while using that revenue to lower property taxes for Montana residents. And in Washington, voters will soon determine whether to maintain their newly passed tax on millionaires and whether to prohibit future income taxes.

The work that matters most

• CLA: Year-end business planning can turn financial results into practical operating priorities for the year ahead. A focused evaluation of revenue, spending, cash flow, reporting, technology and tax considerations can help finance leadership spot gaps early and direct resources toward the work that matters most. Evaluate opportunities businesses can act on before Dec. 31.
• TaxConnex: Businesses that use Shopify Tax’s automated filing service to manage sales tax returns may have to start planning for a change. Shopify has announced that it is ending automated filing, meaning businesses that rely on the service will need to find another way to file their sales tax returns. This blog describes the change, options and how to determine which approach makes the most sense.
• The Sales Tax People: A lot of salon, gym and studio owners assume services aren’t taxed, but that depends on the state and on what is sold. Some states tax tanning, spa treatments or gym memberships, and the products that are sold at the front desk can be taxable even when main services are not. Here’s how to tell where taxes may be owed, before an audit.
• Rosenberg Associates: A remarkable 84% of the firms recently surveyed cited succession and developing next-gen leaders as their top change priority (even ahead of AI and revenue growth). This blog posts key questions to address on the topic to help firms with this often thorny issue.