Within the blogs: International tax gods

Harmful procedural traps; justification for change; surprising tax publicity; and different highlights from our favourite tax bloggers.

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International tax gods

• Do not Mess With Taxes: The worldwide tax gods apparently received collectively and determined to make the monetary lives of some rich celebrities simpler. Donald Trump and Shakira each received good tax information from, respectively, the IRS and a Spanish court docket. The IRS will finish pending tax investigations in opposition to Trump. Shakira is not thought-about a worldwide tax evader. The favored singer is also getting again greater than 55 million euros ($64 million) in tax fines {that a} court docket dominated have been wrongly imposed by Spain’s tax authority.
• ITEP: In 2025, Amazon obtained $17.5 billion in tax subsidies by paying simply 1.4% of its U.S. earnings in federal company earnings taxes relatively than the official 21% that’s the ostensible tax fee for companies. This $17.5 billion in tax financial savings for Amazon was about 10% of the $180 billion in federal earnings tax subsidies for all publicly traded firms in 2025 that present sufficient data of their annual monetary reviews to make such a willpower. 
• Armanino: Likelihood is with household workplaces which can be run or supported by a senior finance or operations chief, the reporting course of didn’t start with a strategic plan or a clearly outlined enterprise purposes roadmap. It advanced over time. A spreadsheet right here, a guide step added to resolve a short-term concern there. After some time that patchwork turned the best way issues are finished, with untracked inputs and casual handoffs turning into the norm throughout groups and programs. On the floor, it really works. However as entities multiply and expectations for accuracy and timeliness enhance, the method turns into more durable to maintain. That’s the place ROI turns into helpful. 

Windfall income taxes

• Tax Basis: Army motion across the Strait of Hormuz has elevated international oil costs. In response, policymakers around the globe have put ahead proposals focusing on oil and fuel producers who’re seeing income enhance within the brief run from the spike in costs. The proposals run into three issues: There already is a tax that captures windfall income; a short lived coverage can nonetheless change funding selections; and so-called windfall income taxes typically proceed previous the supposed emergency.
• CLA: Larger schooling establishments and nonprofits proceed to speculate closely in enterprise platforms to attach and assist tutorial supply, enrollment operations, compliance necessities and institutional planning. But even after a profitable go-live, many establishments discover the operational worth they anticipated is slower to emerge. This expertise is widespread and infrequently displays operational complexity relatively than shortcomings within the system itself.
• Cover: Updating the messaging and id following a basic shift in what a agency is might be tougher than constructing a model from scratch. This weblog discusses the right way to leverage the repute that an organization has already constructed (and bought) whereas repositioning the agency for its new path ahead. 
• TaxConnex: Drop cargo transactions have turn out to be more and more widespread as ecommerce companies search for methods to scale back stock prices, enhance success pace and scale operations. However whereas the operational mannequin could also be environment friendly, the gross sales tax implications behind drop shipments are something however easy. Following the enlargement of financial nexus guidelines after the South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. determination, many companies are discovering that drop cargo preparations can create surprising tax publicity and margin erosion if not correctly managed. 

Counteracting inflation

• Yeo and Yeo: For the 12 months ending in April 2026, the U.S. inflation fee was 3.8%, in response to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Costs for enterprise’ merchandise, supplies and different working prices could have risen sooner in latest months than anticipated, making planning and forecasting difficult. How can companies counteract inflation? They will begin by making prudent cost-cutting selections and performing swiftly once they spot alternatives.
• Sovos: Most corporations deal with use tax as an issue they’re going to get to finally. “Section 2” of the transformation plan. In the meantime, auditors, who’ve gotten meaningfully smarter by way of expertise, know precisely the place to look. Producers can discover themselves a frequent goal. When a vendor takes a correctly accomplished exemption certificates from a producer, they’re largely off the hook. The producer by no means is. 
• Wiss: Excessive earners obtain tax returns. Excessive-net-worth people obtain tax penalties. The excellence issues as a result of the choices that produce these penalties, involving enterprise buildings, property planning transactions and retirement earnings timing, are made all year long, typically with out full visibility into how they work together. 
• Boyum & Barenscheer: The Minnesota Legislature handed a tax invoice on Could 18, which the governor is predicted to signal shortly. This weblog discusses what’s within the invoice, together with the extension of the state’s pass-through entity tax. The PTE tax had been serving to Minnesota pass-throughs for various years earlier than it expired on December 31, 2025. This invoice will prolong the PTE for the 2026 and 2027 tax years. So it is solely a two-year extension, however undoubtedly a win for PTE shoppers.

Curiosity, not simply compliance

• Tax Professional Heart: At tax time, corporations typically reconnect with shoppers by way of their numbers earlier than reconnecting with them by way of dialog. A 12 months goes by. Then the varieties begin arriving: W-2s. 1099s. Enterprise earnings. Retirement distributions. On paper, these varieties inform what occurred financially, however they’ll additionally inform how the shopper’s 12 months really went. That is the second the place good tax prep requires curiosity, not simply compliance.
• Withum: The R&D tax credit score below IRC Sec. 41 is a statutory tax incentive, not a discretionary profit, designed to reward corporations for investing in innovation within the U.S. Whereas the chance might be vital, the credit score is very technical and documentation-driven. 
• Present Federal Tax Developments: On Could 19, 2026, the Home of Representatives handed H.R. 6506, the Taxpayer Due Course of Enhancement Act. For tax practitioners who characterize shoppers in assortment due course of proceedings, this laws is a welcome and extremely essential growth. The invoice was drafted as a direct congressional override of the Supreme Court docket’s controversial June 2025 determination in Commissioner v. Zuch, which severely curtailed the jurisdiction of the U.S. Tax Court docket and created harmful procedural traps for taxpayers preventing IRS assortment actions.