16. The top newsletters for tax professionals
The best tax and business newsletters for accountants, lawyers and consultants
Women in Tax is a semiweekly newsletter for the female accountant, lawyer or consultant in tax who wants to build your personal brand, grow your book of business & become a thought leader in your industry.
I am obsessed with newsletters, and since I’ve been asked a couple times recently what newsletters I recommend for tax professionals, I wanted to round up a list to share here for future reference!
The majority of these are free newsletters, but some do have paid versions, so if that’s the case, I made note of it.
I don’t recommend that you subscribe to every single one though – go through and skim each one and then pick the ones that easiest for you to read and align the most with your area of practice. Many of these cover similar topics, just in from different angles or formats. Â
And since all our inboxes are already crowded, I’m going to share a practical tip with you: create a rule in your inbox to send your news and newsletters to a specific folder instead of your main inbox. This way you can just open up that inbox folder when you have a few minutes to skim the news and your main inbox can remain focused on emails from clients and co-workers. Here is how to create a rule in Outlook and in Gmail (super easy!).
Without further ado, here’s the list:
Tax & general business news
IRS news & updates – I have found that this is the fastest way to know when new regulations or guidance is published. I recommend subscribing to the following email lists: e-News for Tax Professionals, IRS Guidewire, and IRS Newswire.
TaxNotes (paid) – If you want in-depth tax reporting, this is the best source. Not only do they cover tax news, but they also publish white papers on technical topics featuring tax thought leaders. I’ve had partners share past TaxNotes article with me when tasking me with a new project or research topic because these articles are often such a good overview of certain areas of tax.
Punchbowl News (free and paid versions) – If you’re going to subscribe to any political newsletter, let it be this one. It is an easy read, and they are often the first to get the scoop on the Hill happenings. The AM version is free, but you can also subscribe to other premium options for a monthly fee.
POLITICO Huddle (free) – For more in-depth, quality reporting on what is going on in D.C., Politico is a reliable source. They also often get early access to documents (Dear Colleague letters from members or leaders of Congress, early versions of potential legislation, etc.). Politico also just launched Inside Congress Live, which is basically a live stream of updates from D.C. – worth bookmarking! And if you prefer to listen to your news, the Politico Playbook has short daily updates on what’s new on the Hill. Â
The Hill Morning Report – This is another good political newsletter. It is like Politico, so I’d recommend reading a few issues of each newsletter to see what format and type of reporting you prefer.
The Washington Post Early 202 – This is also like Politico’s and the Hill’s political newsletters. So, read a few issues and see which of the three you prefer!
Semafor – This is the new kid on the block, but I like the format of their newsletters because it’s not only original reporting on current events (in a short easy to read format), but they also include links to other sources, so you get news from multiple sources in a single newsletter. I recommend the Principals newsletter for policy updates and the Business one for general market and economy news.
Bloomberg (paid) – If you or your firm use Bloomberg for research, take advantage of their reporting. They probably have the best coverage of tax news. It is not as in-depth as TaxNotes, but for busy professionals, it’s the best way to stay up to date on what is happening in Tax. I recommend the following Bloomberg newsletters (choose based on your practice area): Daily Tax Report, Crypto, Daily Tax Report: International, Daily Tax Report: State, Tax Insights & Commentary or Weekly Tax Report.
Checkpoint (paid) – If you or your firm use Checkpoint for research, they also have tax newsletters. From my experience, they’re often the last to report on any new tax developments (compared to all of the other sources above), and they don’t cover as much as Bloomberg does. But, if this is what you have access to, I recommend their News & Insights, Checkpoint Daily Updates, PPC’s Daily Updates and EY Tax News.
Axios – If you want a one stop shop for news that is quick and easy to read, this is it. The newsletters are in bullet points and truly just tell you what you need to know and why it is important, and it usually takes less than 5 minutes to read. They have a ton of newsletter options based on your interests, but I recommend the What’s Next AM & PM, Finish Line and the Politics Suite.
Accounting Today (paid) – This is a good subscription to have to keep up with accounting profession and tax news. They cover what other accounting firms are doing, as well as news from the IRS and Treasury.
From the Hill – I may be biased since I started this newsletter when I was at FORVIS, but there is truly nothing out there like this. The weekly newsletter covers the latest legislative and regulatory developments, from new IRS guidance to the latest bills proposed in Congress. Short, easy read, and it’s free!
Other newsletters
CFO Dive – If your ideal client is a CFO (or any finance executive), this is a good newsletter to subscribe to as it includes insights and analysis relevant to financial executives. They also have a really good Healthcare newsletter if you have clients in the healthcare industry.
The Broadsheet – This is a great read for women in business. It’s a newsletter published by Fortune magazine focused on news and developments specific to women in business.
McKinsey & Company Daily Read – This newsletter features McKinsey articles chosen by their editors. Given that McKinsey is a thought leader in management consulting and publishes a lot of original research, this is a good read for general business acumen.
Mind of a Writer (free and paid options) – We can all stand to become better writers and communicators, and this newsletter is a full of tips on how to do that.
Sahil Bloom’s Curiosity Chronicle – This is a great read on how to be a better and more successful human being. Every single issue will make you think and challenge you to level up.
Eye on AI – this is another good newsletter by Fortune magazine. Since everyone is talking about AI right now, this is a good way to be in the know on what’s going on with AI.
What are your favorite and go-to sources for news?
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