State taxes from highest to lowest; Schedule M-2 spreadsheets; corporate income tax with no physical presence; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Border-adjustable tax worries retailers

• Tax Vox (http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org): Same BAT Channel Dept.: Republicans’ proposal for a border-adjustable tax is driving retailers, well, batty with worry over future prices on foreign goods. What advocates and opponents say, and the math that addresses each’s concerns.
• H&R Block (http://blogs.hrblock.com/): States with the highest taxes (California, Oregon, Minnesota, Iowa, and New Jersey) and states with no income tax (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming) are just part of the fun of this infographic revealing the lowest and highest taxed states.
• Tax Policy (http://taxfoundation.org/blog): Forty-four states levy a corporate income tax, from 3 percent in North Carolina to 12 percent in Iowa. State corporate income tax rates and brackets for 2017.
• Tax Analysts (http://www.taxanalysts.org/tax-analysts-blog): Speed can figure big in passing bills. “Will Delay Doom the DBCFT?” looks at how ramming through a destination-based cash flow tax might fall victim to this adage.

Just business

• Procedurally Taxing (http://www.procedurallytaxing.com/): Blogger Keith Fogg examines how the IRS now agrees that petitioner is not liable for the penalties at issue in Vigon v. Commissioner.
• John R. Dundon II EA (http://johnrdundon.com/): Taxpaying users of 1120S can “get a little freaky” over the Accumulated Adjustment Account reported on Schedule M-2. Should you keep a spreadsheet on the differences between the AAA and retained earnings from year to year?
• Taxjar (http://blog.taxjar.com/): An FAQ on resale certificates, a.k.a., reseller’s permits that allow registered retailers to buy items for resale without paying sales tax.
• Dinesen Tax (http://dinesentax.com/blog): What to tell the in-biz-for-themselves newbies about estimated payments, starting with the observation that “tax refunds are not a magical creation (regardless of what the H&R Block and TurboTax commercials might imply).”

Good intentions

• Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): Moves such as Philly’s soda tax – designed to trip the twin lights fantastic of raising revenue while improving public health – sometimes fulfill their promise and sometimes don’t. What does happen “When Tax Revenues Are Better Than Expected but Less Than Required”?
• Bloomberg BNA (http://www.bna.com/news/#!topic=istax&type=isblogpost): Is it possible to owe state corporate income tax without having any offices, employees, or property there? Evidently yes, according to the Oregon Tax Court and its look at the reapings of Capital One Auto Finance within the state.

To their credits

• Federal Tax Crimes (http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/): FBAR is now due April 15 for the prior year’s report, with the ability to obtain an extension to Oct. 15.
• Summing It Up (http://blog.freedmaxick.com/summing-it-up): If you can make it there, maybe you had help: A look at New York State’s programs and tax credits for startups.
• M&A (http://taxaid.com/blog/): Buddy Can You Spare a Tax Break Dep’t: A look at client circumstances that might fall between able to pay and not qualifying for an OIC, a.k.a. a hardship status.
• Liberty Tax Blog (http://www.libertytax.com/tax-lounge): There are still two options for getting health coverage in this maddest of seasons for the Affordable Care Act.
• Rubin on Tax (http://rubinontax.floridatax.com): A look at President Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies to exercise authority and discretion to reduce the potential burdens of the ACA. Chief among the issues for preparers and those who love them: the IRS indication that it won’t automatically reject 2016 returns of those who fail to verify that they had health insurance.

Challenges, challenges

• Don’t Mess With Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): Ill-explained absences, moody silence, lipstick on the collar (probably the husband’s): six situations where MFS might be best for the future.
• Sageworks (https://www.sageworks.com/blog/default.aspx): Jackie McLaughlin, CPA, looks at two of the biggest challenges that partners face when undertaking an audit engagement. One key and familiar point: “The real challenge for the auditor is to perform a more efficient audit, or do less work while maintaining an acceptable level of audit risk.”
• Intuit Proconnect (http://taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com/): Another look at the recent scam that tries to trick tax professionals into unlocking tax software accounts.

Jeff Stimpson is a veteran freelance journalist who previously served as editor of The Practical Accountant.