Good morning, capital markets servants! I’ve fetched the finest fresh news for your reading pleasure. If you have a tip, a story we should see, or a comment, reach us via email or text anytime.
Journal of Accountancy discusses IRS layoffs in depth:
According to this week’s court document, reduction-in-force notices were sent to:
- 527 staffers in exam and collections, which consists of programs that enforce tax laws and increase compliance through examination and collection programs. It also includes support of the Questionable Refund Program and appeals, and litigation activities associated with examination and collection. Some 29,380 people work in this group.
- 489 staffers in information services, which manages, maintains, and operates the information systems supporting IRS business operations and tax administration programs. This includes operations of IT security controls and disaster recovery planning, maintenance of software, as well as the operations, maintenance, and replacement of mainframes, servers, personal computers, and networks. Some 7,211 people work in this group.
- 297 staffers in shared services and support, which consists of policy management, administration, IRS-wide research support; strategic planning; communications and liaison; protection of sensitive information and the privacy of privacy of taxpayers and employees; finance, human resources, printing and postage; business systems planning; and procurement. Some 5,258 people are employed in this group.
- Smaller numbers of staffers in Treasury-wide management and programs and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
So a bit of good news, the government shutdown road block is moving along. According to this POLITICO story, Amy Schumer’s cousin is catching some heat over what happened on Sunday:
Congressional Democrats are livid after a handful of their Senate colleagues voted Sunday to advance the House-passed stopgap and end the government shutdown.
After 40 days of stalemate, eight members of the Senate Democratic Caucus voted to advance the bill Sunday night, though notably none of the eight are up for reelection in 2026. But it’s Schumer — who voted no Sunday — who is now facing questions about his ability to lead the caucus.
Here’s something about tax credits from Nevada Independent. The TLDR is some lawmakers are looking to expand the state’s tax credit program by, like, a lot. Keeping in mind that the majority of credits are not directly cashed in by movie studios.
In the more than 10-year history of Nevada’s film tax credit program, more than 98 percent of the credits have been transferred from movie studios to other companies. In total, the state has issued more than $35 million in tax credits, but only about $600,000 have not been transferred.
Then they got these two to debate the meaning of the word “launder” as it applies to transferable tax credits:
“The only purpose to make these tax credits transferable is to launder subsidy payments through other businesses’ tax returns,” said James Hohman, director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Michigan-based nonprofit that advocates for limited government. “The derogatory term ‘launder’ may seem extreme. That’s exactly what is going on in the situation.”
UNR Economics Professor Elliott Parker disagreed with Hohman’s characterization, saying it’s a frequently used tool for economic development, and referred to the transferable structure as more of a “sleight of hand” budgeting maneuver.
“We’re making it look like we’re giving them a break on the taxes that they pay,” Parker explained. “But in fact, what we’re doing is we’re allowing them to make money by selling it to other firms that would have been paying those taxes.”
Pretty interesting read.
As you may have heard, Trump was truthing about tariffs over the weekend and made it sound like we’re all gonna get $2,000 checks (well, direct deposits):
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent then had to answer questions about it on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, reports Quartz. Questions he wasn’t prepared to answer:
The Treasury Secretary said he hadn’t spoken to Trump about the plan, which would require Congress to pass fresh legislation. A tariff dividend could come “in lots of forms,” he said, including tax cuts already established in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“It could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president’s agenda. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, deductibility on auto loans,” he said. “Those are substantial deductions that are being financed in the tax bill.”
Houston Chronicle discusses local workplaces that are embracing hybrid work, including an accounting firm that sits at #301 on the INSIDE Public Accounting Top 500:
Because just 15-20% of the firm’s Houston-area employees are in the office every day, Miller Grossbard has had to work “twice or three times as hard” to maintain its culture, partner Michael Miller said. Those efforts include convening a social committee to curate a calendar of events, from traditional happy hours to outings like axe throwing, and holding four “HTX weeks” each year, when out-of-state employees are flown in and put up in a hotel.
But Miller Grossbard has stopped short of requiring employees to meet any in-office quotas or enforcing attendance through means like counting badge swipes. Because accounting workflows are punctuated by major tax deadlines, being able to forego lengthy commutes can be an asset, Miller said.
Nice to see a partner figure out that no commute = more time that can be spent working!
Law firm picks up an IRS veteran for its SALT practice, puts out a press release about it:
Leading global law firm Baker McKenzie announced today that Doug Wick has joined the Firm’s Tax Practice in Chicago. Doug is a highly respected practitioner who brings nearly 15 years of experience in both private practice and government service, most recently as Senior Attorney with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel.
And that’s it for this news brief. Go out there and have a great week.
Apple’s Visionary Redefined Digital Age [