Some IRS workers looking to take advantage of a deferred resignation offer instead were show a stop signal. (Photo by Engin Akyurt) We all want to be that employee who is important to our company’s operation. Until, that is, we want to leave and the boss says, “no, we can’t afford to lose you.” That’s what happened to some Internal Revenue Service personnel. While most attention recently has been on federal staff who were fired and upset about losing their government jobs, around 2,100 IRS workers who wanted out have been told they can’t take the latest deferred resignation offer.... Read more →
Politics
Photo by Josh Willink Hello, lovers of the great outdoors! We have just the commemoration for you. National Park Week started April 19 and runs to April 27. This year, as often happens, Earth Day — that’s today, April 22 — falls during this annual week celebrating the more than 400 national parks across the United States. Sixty-three National Park Service (NPS) sites include the words “National Park” in their official names, but our national park system also encompasses monuments, memorials, battlefields, recreation areas, preserves, and historical sites. Each is a testament to our country’s natural and manmade diversity, beauty,... Read more →
Most years, once we’re past Tax Day, the Internal Revenue Service’s work continues quietly, behind the scenes. Not now. Last week the IRS got yet another interim commissioner. Michael Faulkender, who had been serving as deputy to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is the agency’s latest acting leader. Faulkender is the fifth person to take the IRS reins after former commissioner Danny Werfel resigned in January. Faulkender became the third acting leader of the agency in just a week. The latest quick personnel rotation at the IRS — equivalent to 0.36 Scaramuccis — and that it happened during the week that... Read more →
Spoiler: Tax cheating is not going away, and likely will increase thanks to recent Trump administration/DOGE actions. Roman portraiture fresco of a young man with a papyrus scroll, from Herculaneum, 1st century AD (Image by Olivierw/own work, Public Domain/Wikimedia) Tax cheating is a big topic every filing season. This year it got added attention. Many in the tax world are worried that cuts to the Internal Revenue Service by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), championed by the Trump administration, will hamper the agency’s ability to effectively enforce tax laws. But tax cheating is not new. It’s been around as... Read more →
Two proposals by Sen. Joni Ernst focus on Internal Revenue Service employees who haven't paid their taxes. A third looks to remove the tax agency's weapons. Iowa’s junior senator, Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, speaking to her Senate colleagues last month in defense of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) actions. (Photo: Office of Joni Ernst) While millions of taxpayers were finishing up their tax returns on April 15, Sen. Joni Ernst was introducing legislation she says is necessary to find millions of Internal Revenue Service employees who don’t pay their taxes. The Iowa Republican’s Audit the IRS Act would require the... Read more →
Donald Trump's touted tariff Liberation Day turned into a dark day after for U.S. investors. (Autopilot via Wikimedia) How are my fellow investors doing this day after Liberation Day? Yeah, I thought so. When the markets opened today, we got to see the real time reaction to Donald Trump’s expansive round of tariffs he announced late Monday, April 2, afternoon. It wasn’t pretty. The global trade move sparked a Wall Street dive to its worst day in five years. That prior low also was under a Trump presidency, as we were starting to feel the initial economic effects of the... Read more →
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on March 27 signed into law a tax bill that, among other things, will phase out the Magnolia State’s income tax. (Photo courtesy Reeves' Facebook page) One day, April 15 Tax Day in Mississippi will be less work for many residents. That’s because last week, the Magnolia State set in place a plan to phase out its income tax. It still will take while, though, before Mississippians feel the full no-tax benefit. Like into the next decade. After some specific phasing down of the tax rates, which is 4.7 percent on 2024 tax year returns now... Read more →
Most Americans believe that the wealthy, who have disposable income for things like pet accoutrements, should pay taxes at a higher rate. ( Photo by Pet foto) There’s word out of Washington that the White House might consider raising taxes on the wealthiest taxpayers in order to offset a Donald J. Trump campaign promise to end taxes on tip income. Nothing is finalized. And talk is particularly cheap on Capitol Hill. gratuities. But if Republicans in Congress do go along with that tax tradeoff as they work on expanding the 2017 tax cuts that expire at the end of this... Read more →
Photo by cottonbro studio All of us with older cars, but not enough to buy a newer one right now, are watching Donald J. Trump's latest tariff move. What he sees at Liberation Day on April 3, could mean we drivers are stuck dealing with aging autos for a bit longer. Trump's convinced that his latest trade war volley, a 25 percent tariff on foreign-made vehicles and parts, will lead to a fundamental transformation of the U.S. economy. A lot of people, both economic experts and U.S. consumers agree, but not in the same positive reconfiguration that the 47th president... Read more →
Some roads, like this rural one in Central Texas, don't get much funding from the state. (Photo by Kay Bell) I know, spring just officially arrived last week. But temperatures already in the 80s here in Central Texas have me contemplating summer travel. Thinking back on my family’s summer road trips when I was child, also made me realize that my interest in the tax world was foretold back then. Every time we’d run into a travel delay due to road crews repairing and/or resurfacing our routes across the Lone Star State, my father would announce, “Your tax dollars at... Read more →
The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Finance Committee want to end, or at least reduce, taxpayer reactions like the one above. The bipartisan pair wants your comments on their proposed Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act by the end of March. The Internal Revenue Service and Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) are both dealing with outside forces this filing season. The IRS continues to be in Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) crosshairs. Meanwhile, the Trump administration wants to cut more than 20 percent of the staff at TAS, an independent component of the tax agency that was created to help... Read more →
Department of Government Efficiency and Congressional efforts appear to be putting a stop signal for many of the IRS' goals. (Photo by Kari Bluff Nesler via Flickr) The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the quasi-governmental group created by billionaire Elon Musk, contends it has so far found $100 billion in fraud and waste across multiple federal agencies. Even if that’s true, which scrutiny from other organizations questions, the way DOGE, with the White House's approval, is slashing Uncle Sam’s operations could end up costing more than the purported savings. “Just one move — the plan to shrink the Internal Revenue... Read more →
A related, and larger question, is what will happen to all federal student loans if, as the Trump administration also wants, the U.S. Department of Education is dismantled? And if your student loan already has been canceled, your celebration could be dampened if you live in one of 19 states that wants tax on the forgiven loan amount. The entrance to the National Museum of Education, located in the U.S. Department of Education headquarters in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Building, Washington, D.C. (Photo by Carol M. Highsmith for LBJ Building Architecture Gallery at GSA.gov) When the White House announced last... Read more →
Photo by Ksenia Chernaya While doing my weekly grocery shopping every Tuesday morning, I tend to encounter the same folks, both H-E-B employees and other customers. This week, though, a woman I hadn’t seen before made an impression. I dubbed her the Egg Crier, since she posted herself by the store section holding those products. And in her best town crier form, she personally informed every shopper who picked up a carton — and all those even remotely close to the area — of the cost, noting with some exasperation the current high prices. The dozen Grade A large white... Read more →
But DOGE and Congressional cuts could threaten further enhancements The Internal Revenue Service is working to expand digital interaction with taxpayers. Will the effort survive Republican budget cutters and the new administration's federal government downsizing moves? (Photo by GotCredit via Flickr CC) I finally opened a taxpayer account with the Internal Revenue Service last year. My motivation was that for the first time in ages I filed the hubby’s and my joint 1040 before April 15, but didn’t send the tax due at the same time. Instead, I electronically paid Uncle Sam on Tax Day. So, I wanted to make... Read more →
When we file our tax returns, we’re assured that the information is private. Access to our filing data is limited, and the Internal Revenue Service employees who do get to see our personal information are prevented by law from sharing it. It is a felony for IRS personnel to gain unauthorized access to taxpayer data. That same legal restrictions apply to IRS contractors. Just ask Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS consultant who last year was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing and sharing Donald Trump’s (and others’) tax data. The billionaire Elon Musk was one of those others... Read more →
Photo by Алексей Васильев While we wait for a new Internal Revenue Service commissioner to be confirmed, the personnel carousel keeps spinning at the tax agency. The first major change was Danny Werfel, who had served as the 50th head of the tax agency since March 2023. Werfel resigned his post in January after Donald J. Trump announced he wanted his own person in charge. IRS Deputy Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell, a senior career IRS official, stepped into the opening as acting commissioner. It was O’Donnell’s second stint as the IRS’ an interim leader, also serving from November 2022 to March... Read more →
We’re through a full month of the 2025 tax filing season. Many of the taxpayers who filed when the season started at the end of January have already received their refunds. The official count, last updated by the Internal Revenue Service on Feb. 14, shows nearly 13.7 million refunds have been issued. The average refund check so far is $2,169. You, however, are still waiting for the IRS to send you your money. The best way to find where it is in the IRS system is to use the agency’s online tracking tool Where’s My Refund? Here are some questions... Read more →
Photo by RDNE Stock project The Republican party has long opposed the federal estate tax, or as its members call it, the Death Tax. Bills are regularly introduced to kill the tax. Eliminating it even made it into the GOP-led House Budget Committee working paper on extending the tax cuts enacted the last time Donald J. Trump was president. Now, however, that committee’s chairman has decided that a, dare we say, more conservative approach would be better. Rather than eliminate the tax, he’s introduced a bill that would cut the current 40 percent estate tax rate in half. Short-lived tax... Read more →
U.S. Capitol, Wikipedia Commons photo The Republican-led Congress is struggling to find a way to enact Donald J. Trump’s agenda. Even Trump seems to be waffling. After originally saying he supported the House’s plan for "one big, beautiful bill," Trump said during a radio interview Friday the GOP’s tax, border security, and energy legislative efforts may need to be broken up into smaller bills. So, where do we go from here? That’s what GOP Congressional leaders wany to know. Senates acts first: In the meantime, the Senate last week went with its two-part approach, and passed a $340 billion budget... Read more →