SALEM, OR — Tax season can be stressful, but Oregon residents don’t have to go it alone. The state offers over 100 free tax help locations, plus online assistance through the United Way’s MyFreeTaxes program.
Volunteer programs like VITA and AARP Tax-Aide help eligible taxpayers prepare returns at no cost, including:
Taxpayers can get in-person preparation, guidance using free software, or help at WorkSource Oregon centers with computers and Wi-Fi.
WorkSource Oregon Event Dates
Feb. 25 — Beaverton
Mar. 4 — Eugene
Mar. 11 — Portland
Mar. 18 — Lebanon
Mar. 25 — Bend
Bring your tax info—W-2s, 1099s, Social Security forms, bank info, and last year’s return. If using Direct File Oregon, set up a Revenue Online account ahead of time.
A federal appeals court has ruled that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may continue sharing certain taxpayer information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), rejecting a bid by immigrant rights groups to halt the policy.
In a decision Tuesday by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, judges declined to grant a preliminary injunction sought by plaintiffs including Centro de Trabajadores Unidos and other nonprofit organizations challenging the interagency data-sharing agreement.
Judge Harry T. Edwards denied the preliminary injunction request, stating that the nonprofit groups “are unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claim” because the information being shared by the agencies is not protected under the IRS privacy statute.
Why It Matters
The agreement allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to submit the names and addresses of individuals suspected of residing in the United States illegally to the Internal Revenue Service for cross-verification against tax records. The decision is a major win for the Trump administration as it pushes forward with it’s deportation program.
What To Know
The arrangement, signed in April 2025 by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, is part of broader federal efforts to identify individuals subject to immigration enforcement and carry out removal orders.
The Trump administration has argued that the agreement facilitates immigration enforcement and supports broader border security goals.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, reacting to the appeals court decision on social media, said the outcome was a “crucial victory” for the administration.
Critics argue that sharing confidential tax information for immigration enforcement undermines long-standing privacy protections and could deter undocumented immigrants from filing tax returns. Federal law generally prohibits the disclosure of sensitive tax data except in limited circumstances.
Court filings indicate that in responding to ICE requests, the IRS was able to verify only about 47,000 of the roughly 1.28 million names submitted by ICE, and in fewer than 5 percent of those cases provided additional address information, raising concerns that privacy rules may have been violated.
What People Are Saying
Attorney General Pamela Bondi wrote in a post on X: “Today’s court decision allowing @USTreasury to share IRS data with @ICEgov is a crucial victory for President Trump’s agenda to Make America Safe Again. It also reaffirms a simple truth: laws set by Congress must be enforced, not undermined by activist judges.”
Tom Bowman, policy counsel for the Center for Democracy & Technology, said in a statement shared with Newsweek: “This privacy failure is a stark reminder of why safeguards for sensitive data are so critical. The improper sharing of taxpayer data is unsafe, unlawful, and subject to serious criminal penalties. Once taxpayer data is opened to immigration enforcement, mistakes are inevitable and the consequences fall on innocent people.”
Tax filing season for the 2025 tax year is underway, and many taxpayers are wondering, “When will I get my tax refund?”
The Internal Revenue Service began accepting 2026 returns in late January, and most refunds start going out soon after a return is accepted.
The IRS says taxpayers who file electronically and choose direct deposit can generally expect refunds within about 21 days. If you file a paper return, your refund could take around six weeks or more to arrive.
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This year could bring larger refunds on average, thanks to tax law changes. Analysts project the average refund could exceed $4,000, or about $1,000 more than last year.
Tracking your refund status is easier than ever. The IRS recommends using the online “Where’s My Refund?” tool, the IRS2Go mobile app, or an IRS online account. These tools update once a day and provide a projected deposit date.
Most refunds for the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, or Additional Child Tax Credit should arrive by early March for taxpayers using direct deposit. Timing varies by bank and refund type.
One major change for 2026 is the IRS phasing out paper checks for refunds. Most taxpayers must provide accurate direct deposit account and routing numbers to avoid delays.
Refund timing can also vary if your return needs extra review. Errors, missing information, or certain credits may push processing beyond the typical timeline.
The federal filing deadline is Wednesday, April 15, 2026. Filing early and electronically with direct deposit remains the best way to speed up your refund.
A former tax preparer based on Long Island pleaded guilty in federal court in Central Islip on Wednesday to a nearly $12 million tax fraud scheme.
Damaris Beltre, who had operated a tax preparation service in Freeport, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said.
The U.S. Attorney said that Beltre had prepared false individual tax returns that caused a total of about $12 million in losses to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Payroll Protection Program (PPP).
“Beltre brazenly defrauded the government and callously put her clients in jeopardy to line her own pockets,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr., said in a news release about the guilty plea.
“Today’s guilty plea should serve as a warning to anyone who, like this defendant, views federal programs and the federal treasury as their own personal piggybanks, that you will be arrested and vigorously prosecuted,” he added.
“Beltre was a shady tax preparer with a complete disregard for U.S. law or the American public she failed when she fraudulently claimed tens of millions of dollars in COVID19-related tax credits,” Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation New York Special Agent in Charge Harry Chavis said in the news release. “She hoarded funds meant for those with a legitimate need just to fatten her own pockets. With today’s plea, she can move forward with facing the full consequences of her actions.”
Officials said that from January 2021 to April 2024, Beltre owned and operated multiple Freeport-based financial service businesses and personally prepared or supervised the preparation of false individual income tax returns and related forms submitted to the IRS. In those filings, Beltre claimed tens of millions in COVID-19 and motor fuel tax credits to generate improper refunds. Clients paid more than $1 million in fees for these services, often a percentage of the refunds. In April 2023, an undercover federal agent hired Beltre, who filed a return claiming a $14,243 refund instead of the $205 actually owed, charging $2,200, officials said. This years-long scheme led the IRS to issue nearly $11 million in improper refunds and lose additional tax revenue.
And officials said that separately, Beltre was involved in a PPP fraud scheme. They said that from April 2020 to July 2022, Beltre filed false payroll reports and tax returns for her corporate clients in order to fraudulently obtain about $1 million in PPP loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. She used the proceeds, along with funds from the tax-preparer fraud scheme, for personal expenses, including debts, a Caribbean home, a car and jewelry.
When sentenced, Beltre faces a maximum sentence of 53 years’ imprisonment, as well as restitution of approximately $12 million.
Will the administration unleash an economic upswing With cannabis and unlock jobs, investment, tax revenue nationwide?
Rescheduling cannabis under federal law would mark one of the most consequential economic policy shifts in decades, unlocking growth across industries while reshaping how the United States approaches regulation, investment, and small business development. By moving cannabis out of Schedule I, the federal government would remove long-standing barriers constraining legitimate commerce, innovation, and job creation, allowing a multibillion-dollar industry to more fully integrate into the US economy.
One of the most immediate economic impacts of rescheduling would be access to traditional financial systems. Cannabis businesses have long operated in a cash-heavy environment due to banking restrictions, increasing costs and security risks. Rescheduling would encourage broader participation from banks, credit unions, insurers, and payment processors, lowering operational friction and improving transparency. This shift alone would reduce compliance costs and allow capital to flow more efficiently into expansion, infrastructure, and workforce development.
Tax policy would also change dramatically. Currently, cannabis operators are subject to punitive federal tax treatment under IRS Section 280E, which disallows standard business deductions. Rescheduling would eliminate this burden, freeing up capital for reinvestment. Those savings would ripple outward, supporting higher wages, more hiring, improved benefits, and greater purchasing from local suppliers. State and local governments would also benefit from stronger, more stable tax revenues tied to compliant and profitable operators.
The labor impact would be substantial. The legal cannabis industry already supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, from cultivation and manufacturing to retail, logistics, marketing, and compliance. Rescheduling would accelerate job creation, particularly in states who have been cautious due to federal uncertainty. Ancillary industries such as construction, real estate, software, security, legal services, and advertising would see increased demand, further amplifying employment gains.
Notably, rescheduling would also buoy the alcohol industry, which has made significant early investments in cannabis. Major beer, wine, and spirits companies have quietly positioned themselves through minority stakes, research partnerships, and beverage-focused cannabis products. As regulatory clarity improves, these investments stand to gain value. Alcohol companies bring decades of experience in branding, distribution, compliance, and consumer marketing, skills translating effectively to cannabis. Rather than cannibalizing alcohol entirely, rescheduling may encourage hybrid portfolios and cross-category innovation, helping alcohol producers adapt to shifting consumer preferences while maintaining relevance and growth.
Perhaps the most meaningful impact, however, would be felt at the community level through the expansion of thousands of mom-and-pop cannabis businesses. Small, locally owned dispensaries, cultivators, manufacturers, and service providers anchor economic activity in neighborhoods often overlooked by traditional investment. These businesses create local jobs, lease storefronts, purchase from nearby vendors, and contribute to municipal tax bases. In rural areas, cannabis cultivation has already revitalized farmland and provided new income streams for family-owned operations. Rescheduling would give these businesses greater stability, access to credit, and a clearer path to long-term sustainability.
In economic terms, rescheduling cannabis is not merely a regulatory adjustment; it is a normalization of an industry already exists at scale. By aligning federal policy with economic reality, the US stands to unlock growth, modernize regulation, strengthen local communities, and reinforce American leadership in a global market that continues to expand.
Each year, the IRS nudges dozens of tax numbers so ordinary pay rises aren’t secretly taxed away.
For tax year 2026—the returns you’ll file in early 2027—those adjustments reflect recent law changes and modest inflation, and they will determine where taxpayers land in each bracket and how credits and deductions hold up.
Why the IRS Adjusts Tax Rules
The agency updates more than 60 tax provisions annually to prevent “bracket creep,” a quiet effect of inflation that can push people into higher tax rates or shrink the real value of credits and deductions even when pay hasn’t actually risen in terms of purchasing power.
Before 2018, the IRS used the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to measure inflation for these updates. Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, though, it has relied on the Chained Consumer Price Index (C-CPI), a different inflation measure that changes how thresholds and amounts move over time.
The federal income tax structure continues to use seven marginal rates. For 2025—that is taxes you will file in April 2026—those rates are 10 percent, 12 percent, 22 percent, 24 percent, 32 percent, 35 percent and 37 percent. The top marginal rate of 37 percent applies to single filers with taxable income above $626,350 and to married couples filing jointly with taxable income above $751,600.
Taken together with the inflation measure the IRS uses, the agency says that—on average—the inflation-adjusted tax numbers for 2026 will rise by roughly 2.7 percent. These increases apply to the income thresholds that determine tax rates, as well as to many credits and deductions.
Standard Deduction
For 2026, the standard deduction will rise by $350 (to $16,100) for single filers and $700 (to $32,200) for joint filers compared with 2025.
Taxpayers aged 65 and older can claim an extra standard deduction of $2,050 if single or $1,650 if filing jointly. The OBBBA also introduced a new $6,000 senior deduction per qualifying taxpayer, available whether taxpayers itemize or take the standard deduction. It phases out at six percent for incomes above $75,000 (single) and $150,000 (joint).
The personal exemption remains at $0, a change made under the TCJA and made permanent by the OBBBA.
When Tax Rates Will Change
All of the 2026 inflation updates will apply to tax year 2026—meaning they affect incomes and activity occurring during calendar year 2026 and will be reflected when taxpayers file their returns in early 2027.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Treasury Department are seeking public feedback on how to implement a new federal tax credit scholarship program created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which aims to expand school choice and help students cover education-related costs.
Under the OBBBA, the tax credit scholarship program is designed primarily to help K–12 students pay for private school tuition, though it also covers a range of other educational expenses. States will decide individually whether to participate in the program.
The U.S. government is getting back up to speed after the longest government shutdown in history. Airports have resumed their full schedules, which is a relief to anyone who’s planning to fly this holiday season. At the Internal Revenue Service, however, things are taking a bit longer to ramp back up, which could cause tax headaches for business owners and individual taxpayers over the next few months.
A tremendous backlog of correspondence, appeals and filings built up during the 44 days workers were furloughed. Operations have resumed, but the IRS was short-staffed long before the shutdown, after massive DOGE layoffs earlier this year and funding cuts. That means cutting through that accumulation of work is slow-going.
“The system is simply overwhelmed,” says Sharon Goldstein-Shapiro, a spokesperson for Legal Tax Defense, which provides legal representation to individuals and businesses facing tax problems. “Taxpayers waiting for refunds, installment approvals, or audit resolutions are seeing long delays.”
That backlog is going to cause a host of problems. Communications are likely to be delayed, which could give the impression to some people that timeliness isn’t as high a priority as it normally is for the IRS. That would be incorrect.
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There’s not a lot you can do when it comes to getting a response in a faster period of time, but it’s critical for business owners to take steps to protect themselves and their businesses from being financially impacted by the backlog.
That’s especially true if you’re in the midst of a dispute with the IRS. It could be weeks before submitted requests for penalty abatements or compromise offers are seen. Penalties and interest continue to accrue in that period, however.
The best way to minimize that is through careful record keeping. Keep copies of all of the letters, notices and payment confirmations you receive and send. And any correspondence should be sent through a certified tracking system, so you can confirm when it was accepted.
Most importantly, Goldstein-Shapiro says, don’t assume a lack of response means your case has been closed. And if you are facing a lien or levy, she suggests securing legal representation to ensure you are protected as case processing gets back underway.
“For small businesses, a two-month delay can disrupt cash flow and planning,” she says. “Having professional representation ensures your case is documented and prioritized once review resumes.”
It’s not just existing cases that experts are worried about. With the 2026 filing season just around the corner, the backlog could cause delays with new filings as well.
“It’s too early to say definitively, but any sustained shutdown has a ripple effect that can carry well beyond the immediate timeline,” says Garrett Wagner, founder of accounting firm consultancy C3 Evolution Group. “The IRS was already facing delays and a growing backlog. Even a short pause in IRS operations will expand the issues we are already seeing.”
Meanwhile, changes to the tax law as part of the 2025 budget bill that was passed earlier this year, are extensive, requiring the IRS to create new forms and instructions, which need to be sent out to tax professionals and reworking of software systems. The shutdown put that on pause, which could create a crunch as the 2026 tax season gets underway – and could delay the start of the season.
Will that mean the filing deadline is extended? That’s possible, but it’s much too early to say with any certainty.
The IRS does seem to grasp just how overwhelming the situation could be on its end. Over the first half of 2025, the IRS reduced its workforce from 100,000 to 60,000 employees, but later realized that created serious gaps in expertise and key areas, including IT and tax processing. In August, officials halted planned layoffs and began reaching out to employees who had been let go, encouraging them to rejoin the agency. There’s also been volatility when it comes to leadership at the agency. Since the start of 2025, the IRS has had seven directors or acting directors (and, as of October, one CEO).
Emily Gross, a furloughed worker at the Internal Revenue Service, said many of her colleagues are concerned about how long the government shutdown could last.
Young federal government employees who are just starting their careers are concerned about their ability to pay for necessities such as rent if they miss a paycheck because of the government shutdown, a furloughed worker told WTOP.
Emily Gross, who’s a furloughed government employee who works at the Internal Revenue Service, said many of her colleagues are concerned about how long the shutdown could last.
“A lot of the employees are young,” Gross said, before casting an early ballot at the Fairfax County Government Center last week. “They can’t pay rent if they don’t get one paycheck. They just don’t have that much money in savings; they’re at the beginning of their careers. I just don’t think it’s right.”
The shutdown entered its 14th day on Tuesday, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier this week that it could become the longest shutdown in history. While the Senate returned from holiday break, Johnson hasn’t yet called House lawmakers back to D.C. Democrats are hoping to prevent Affordable Care Act subsidies from expiring.
Last weekend, Vice President JD Vance warned there could be more cuts to the federal workforce the longer the government is shut down. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been furloughed during the shutdown, and the situation has also resulted in closed Smithsonian museums and delays at airports across the country.
“Fortunately, I’m safe right now financially, just because my children are grown and my husband has a good job,” Gross said. “But a lot of the people I work with are not, and they’re really, really worried.”
Gross said the circumstances surrounding the current shutdown are frustrating because, “Congress is being paid, and they had no say in this. I don’t think it’s fair. It’s been hard to be a federal employee this entire year.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The IRS has set the 2026 tax brackets and standard deductions, keeping seven rates in place while shifting the income thresholds upward to account for inflation and to reflect changes enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, meaning many paychecks will see modest relief in 2026 and the top rate still bites only above very high incomes.
For most households, the standard deduction rises again, which will reduce taxable income before the brackets even apply, and high earners will continue to face a 37% top rate but at slightly higher income thresholds than in 2025.
The 2026 brackets
For 2026, the tax rates remain 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%, with inflation-adjusted thresholds that determine how much income is taxed at each rate rather than taxing all income at a single rate.
Single filers reach the 12% bracket above $12,400, 22% above $50,400, 24% above $105,700, 32% above $201,775, 35% above $256,225, and the top 37% rate above $640,600 in 2026.
The corresponding married filing jointly thresholds are $24,800, $100,800, $211,400, $403,550, $512,450, and $768,700.
These thresholds rise to reduce bracket creep as prices and wages move, and press coverage pegs the broad pattern as roughly 4% increases for lower brackets and around 2% to 3% at higher levels compared with 2025, a common feature of the IRS’ annual inflation process.
Standard deduction changes
The standard deduction for 2026 is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household, reflecting both routine inflation indexing and specific changes embedded in the new law.
The law also bumped the 2025 standard deduction to $15,750 for single filers and $31,500 for joint filers—an increase that carries into the 2026 baseline—before the new 2026 figures take effect on returns filed in 2027
What it means for the average household
Most workers will see a small reduction in taxable income due to the higher standard deduction, and more of their pay will be taxed in lower brackets thanks to the shifted thresholds, which together help offset inflation’s push into higher nominal incomes.
The changes are designed to keep taxpayers from drifting into higher rates without real after-inflation income gains, so annual bracket adjustments typically translate into a modest paycheck boost or a slightly smaller tax bill at filing time.
What it means for high earners
The top marginal rate stays at 37% but begins at higher income levels—above $640,600 for single filers and $768,700 for joint filers—so high earners also benefit from bracket shifts, albeit modestly compared with their overall liability.
Beyond ordinary income, OBBBA made permanent several TCJA-era features that matter to affluent taxpayers, and it extended and reshaped other provisions, interacting with estate planning and high-bracket itemized deduction limits in ways that call for fresh planning.
Estate and wealth-transfer context
OBBBA permanently sets the federal estate and gift tax exemption at $15 million per person beginning in 2026, indexed to inflation, a significant change from the prior scheduled reversion that stabilizes long-horizon wealth planning for families with large estates.
That permanence creates durable room for transfers into trusts and other structures while aligning with the 2026 bracket landscape, making 2026 a key year to revisit estate strategies and potential gifting windows.
‘Sugar high’ risk
Fortunepreviously detailed how OBBBA cements TCJA-era individual rate architecture and boosts the standard deduction in 2025, framing the law’s household-level impact and distributional tilt as favoring higher earners according to independent modeling cited in our reporting.
Budget watchdogs have highlighted broader fiscal implications and the bill’s “sugar high” risk, linking tax cuts and spending choices to debt trajectories and future policy trade-offs that shape the 2026 tax bracket environment.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
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Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano was named to the newly created position of CEO of the IRS on Monday, making him the latest member of the Trump administration to be put in charge of multiple federal agencies.
As IRS CEO, Bisignano will report to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who currently serves as acting commissioner of the IRS, the Treasury Department says. It is unclear whether Bisignano’s newly created role at the IRS will require Senate confirmation.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that Bisignano will be responsible for overseeing all day-to-day IRS operations while also continuing to serve in his role as commissioner of the Social Security Administration.
Bessent said in a statement that the IRS and SSA “share many of the same technological and customer service goals. This makes Mr. Bisignano a natural choice for this role.”
The move to install Bisignano at the IRS adds another layer to the leadership shuffling that has occurred at the agency since the beginning of Trump’s term. Bessent was named acting commissioner in August after Trump removed former U.S. Rep Billy Long from the role less than two months after his confirmation, and made him ambassador to Iceland.
The four acting commissioners who preceded Long in the job included one who resigned over a deal between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security to share immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and another whose appointment led to a fight between former Trump adviser Elon Musk and Bessent.
With two day jobs, Bisignano joins a number of other Trump administration officials to wear multiple hats, including Bessent, Marco Rubio, Sean Duffy, Jamieson Greer and Russell Vought.
IRS and Social Security advocates expressed concern about the new appointment.
Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and Disability Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, pointed to Bisignano being named to a position that appears to avoid Congressional approval.
“If the Trump Admin asked for the Senate’s advice & consent, would they really want the same person running the government’s biggest program AND overseeing the implementation of the extraordinarily complex new tax law?” she said on the Bluesky social media app.
And Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for SSA recipients and future retirees, said Bisignano’s “divided attention will create a bottleneck that makes the inevitable problems that arise even harder to correct. Never in Social Security’s 90-year history has a commissioner held a second job. Bisiginano’s new role will leave a leadership vacuum at the top of the agency, especially since the Republican Senate hasn’t even confirmed a deputy commissioner.”
Bisignano has served as chair of Fiserv, a payments and financial services tech firm, since 2020. He is a onetime defender of corporate policies to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination.
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Longtime banking executive and current commissioner of the United States Social Security Administration Frank Bisignano is joining the IRS as its first-ever CEO, according to a Monday announcement from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Bisignano, whose most recent private sector post was president and CEO of payments processor Fiserv, is also colloquially known as Wall Street’s Mr. Fix-It given his decades of experience of troubleshooting problems throughout multiple large banks. (Bisignano oversaw J.P. Morgan’s mortgage business in the mid-2000’s and was tasked with turning it around after the 2008 financial crisis.)
“Frank is a businessman with an exceptional track record of driving growth and efficiency in the private and now public sector,” Bessent, who also serves as IRS Acting Commissioner, said in a statement. Even with Bisignano joining, Bessent will remain as Commissioner.
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The IRS will “sharpen” its focus on collections, Bessent said, in addition to homing in on privacy and customer service. It’s no secret that interfacing with the IRS is unpleasant. Just Google “IRS paper backlog” for a taste of what the agency is grappling with.
That’s something the Trump administration is looking to tackle: In August, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia shared he’ll be working with the government as a so-called Chief Design Officer. His first project? Improving the online presence of the IRS.
There’s just one thing: Bisignano already has a cabinet-level role in the Trump Administration as commissioner of the Social Security Administration. He accepted that role at the start of Trump’s term.
Which begs the question: How much can Bisignano really dedicate to the agency if he already has his hands full with the Social Security Administration?
While the Trump administration is trying to downplay the overlap (Bessent acknowledged that both agencies “share many of the same technological and customer service goals,”) not everyone’s convinced.
Brian Bernhardt, a partner at Fox Rothschild who focuses on federal tax litigation, says without a full-time IRS Commissioner, the agency will “suffer from poor morale,” and also struggle to keep up with the current filing season, as well as the next one.
“He, like Secretary Bessent will not be able to give the IRS what it needs — a full-time Commissioner focused on all of the day to day needs of the IRS,” Bernhardt says. “While Mr. Bisignano’s business background, and his other service in the administration, indicates he may tend to favor business interests, that’s not a change from Secretary Bessent, the other acting IRS leadership during this administration, or the policies of this administration.”
The IRS has suffered from rapid leadership changes and an absence of clear direction. Seven people served as commissioner from January to August, and if the agency is ever going to dig itself out from under its backlog, its new CEO will have to stick around long enough to steady the ship.
Frank Bisignano, Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Internal Revenue Service, according to a statement released Monday by the U.S. Treasury Department. The announcement was made by Treasury Secretary and Acting IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent, who confirmed that Bisignano will retain his SSA role while assuming day-to-day operational leadership of the IRS.
Crypto taxation has long been a source of confusion, and with the IRS placing digital assets front and center on tax forms, clarity has never been more important.
From the introduction of Form 1099-DA to new requirements for brokers, ETFs, and eventually DeFi platforms, the coming changes will redefine how individuals and institutions navigate their crypto tax obligations.
In this interview, Lawrence Zlatkin, Vice President of Tax at Coinbase, outlines what these changes mean, the common misconceptions investors should avoid, and the strategies that can help taxpayers stay compliant while minimizing liability.
What counts as a taxable event under the new rules? For example, is exchanging one cryptocurrency for another, using crypto for goods or services, or moving crypto between wallets all treated the same?
The kinds of taxable events remain unchanged in the new tax season. So if you were paid in crypto, sold your assets, exchanged cryptocurrencies, or used crypto to pay for goods and services, these are all considered taxable events by the IRS and will need to be accounted for come tax season.
Under the new rules in 2026, though, Coinbase and other brokers will be required to report your crypto sales and exchanges to the IRS, and you using the new Form 1099-DA for the 2025 tax year. For 2025 transactions, your copy of the form will display both cost basis and gross proceeds, but Coinbase will report only gross proceeds to the IRS.
For transactions in and after 2026, your copy will again display both cost basis and gross proceeds. However, Coinbase will only report the cost basis for crypto you purchased through Coinbase, alongside all gross proceeds.
Moving crypto between wallets is not a taxable transaction since you still hold the same crypto asset before and after.
Given that many users have transferred assets between wallets, exchanges, or acquired crypto well before 2025/2026, what strategies do you recommend for investors to accurately reconstruct the cost basis for those non-covered assets? What records are most important to preserve now?
Ensuring that you keep records of the price you purchased those assets, regardless of which platform that purchase originated, is key. Make sure to also include all transaction or gas fees that were paid as part of that purchase, since those “expenses” may be included in basis and used to offset future taxable gains.
What safe harbors or guidance exist for investors to choose their method of cost basis allocation
Coinbase customers can manage their cost basis method in their tax center settings within the platform. From there, they can currently choose between a HIFO (highest in, first out), LIFO (last in, first out), and FIFO (first in, first out) method. We always urge customers to make sure they consult a tax professional before choosing a strategy.
Many investors hold spot Bitcoin ETFs or Ethereum ETFs. Under the new IRS reporting regulations coming in 2026, how do these ETFs get treated differently? What requirements will ETF investors have, and what should investors in these ETFs do now to prepare for accurate tax reporting of their ETF gains or losses?
Most ETFs will be treated as trusts or “look thru” entities for the investor. It’s as if you held the BTC or ETH yourself. The ETF or the custodian for the ETF should report your sales as though you exchanged or sold the crypto asset yourself. ETFs are convenient for owning crypto assets, but they will not change how you are taxed.
DeFi platforms will be treated differently. Could you walk us through what exactly DeFi brokers will need to report – and what they won’t – once the rules take effect in 2027? Also, what transitional reliefs and timing should DeFi users and DeFi front-end providers be aware of now?
In the absence of reporting from DeFi providers, it’s important for DeFi users to maintain their personal documentation of all transactions in order to make tax reporting less of a headache until 2027 rolls around. DeFi transactions may not be reported to the IRS, but they are subject to the same tax rules as CeFi transactions, and you will need to report your transactions, gains, and losses to the IRS just as you would with CeFi.
Those transacting in DeFi should also be wary that transactions on centralized exchanges are not the only taxable transactions. Personal wallet transactions and DeFi activities can also be subject to taxes.
Beyond simply compliance, what legal strategies do investors often underestimate that can help minimize crypto tax liability under these new rules?
I encourage each individual investor to consult a qualified tax professional for their specific circumstances and what’s right for them, but there are several strategies that are often overlooked. Tax-loss harvesting allows you to offset gains by selling underperforming assets, while choosing the right cost basis method can help reduce taxable gains. These both require strong record-keeping, but can do some heavy lifting in lowering tax bills.
There are a lot of misconceptions floating around in the crypto community about how taxation works. What are some of the most common myths or rumors you hear about crypto taxes, and can you explain why they are wrong and what the realities are?
One big misconception is that many think crypto is treated as a currency by the IRS, when it actually treats crypto as property. Going back to one of your earlier questions, this means that selling, exchanging, or even using crypto to buy goods can trigger taxable events.
Another misconception is that you don’t have to pay taxes on crypto transactions if they are not reported to the IRS. Not true. Reporting helps you calculate your taxes, and it helps the IRS find taxpayers who don’t report their income. But you alone are responsible for your taxes, and reporting is only a guide or tool to help.
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In this instance, it comes down to taxes and a legal loophole that allows companies taking on STEM workers under a program known as Optional Practical Training (OPT) to avoid paying in to federal programs like Medicare and Social Security, or at least allows those companies to pay less in payroll taxes than they would for U.S. citizens or legal residents.
In the OPT program, “there’s no wage obligation in the way that there is in H-1B where we’re very tied to an obligated wage,” Anne Walsh, a partner at the San Francisco-based law firm Corporate Immigration Partners, told Newsweek. “That said, they must be compensated and experience the working conditions that are comparable to other similarly situated U.S. employees.”
How Popular Is STEM-OPT?
The OPT program allows companies to take on student visa holders for a limited term, either during their studies or after their graduation, while their F-1 visa is still valid.
In fiscal year 2024, U.S. companies employed 109,661 people on OPT. Amazon far outpaced other employers, with 10,167 OPT workers on its payroll, followed by the University of California system with 2,916. Google took on 2,454.
The program has expanded since its creation in 1992, with a lobbying effort in the 2000s leading U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) to raise the cap on participants and extend the length of time allowed.
With over 200 companies making use of the OPT program, immigration critics have warned that is just another way they see American workers being pushed aside for cheaper labor.
“The OPT program is one of the most widely-used guest worker programs despite never being approved by Congress,” Jeremy Beck, co-president of immigration think-tank NumbersUSA, told Newsweek. “Business lobbyists pitched the idea of using OPT to get around the H-1B cap to the Bush Administration, which complied. The Obama and Biden Administrations expanded the program.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told Newsweek that it regulates STEM-OPT through a 2016 final rule, which affirmed that student visa holders – who primarily use this program – were not required to pay into Social Security, Medicare or federal unemployment because of their status.
The rule granted employers the ability to save around 7.5 percent compared to the taxes and benefits they would pay for a U.S. resident or citizen worker. Another estimate, reported by Bloomberg in 2021, put the savings closer to 15 percent. Multiplied out, that potentially equals hundreds of millions of dollars staying on corporate balance sheets that would otherwise be paid into the federal tax pool under FICA.
Debate Over American Worker Displacement
In 2020, NAFSA, a non-profit professional organization focused on international education, published a report that said the set up left foreign students without the same benefits and certainties as other employees. It also alleged that the government was not doing enough to address deficiencies in the system itself.
Five years later, those concerns have only grown.
“Employers who hire OPT workers instead of Americans don’t have to pay payroll taxes, essentially giving them a discount for not hiring American workers,” Beck said. “OPT is one of many guestworker programs that displace qualified Americans in favor of exploitable foreign workers.”
ICE has made it clear that DHS does not have the power to change tax rules and laws – that remains the purview of Congress and the IRS. The agency affirmed in its 2016 final rule that it could only administer the program with the rules as they were, and are.
Newsweek reached out to the IRS for comment but did not hear back ahead of publication.
Walsh said that, despite the criticisms of the program, she believed the employers she works with on a regular basis were using STEM-OPT as something of a last resort.
“The obligations on the employer are definitely not as easy as hiring a qualified and willing U.S. worker,” she said. “They’ve got these obligations to fill out forms, to ensure proper supervision, to submit the required reporting at 12 months, and ensure that there’s no material changes that they have to report.”
The idea that employers would be motivated by tax breaks or tax loopholes in hiring is “specious, politically motivated, and without evidence,” said Dr. Fanta Aw, executive director and CEO of NAFSA.
“The real issue is that U.S. innovation requires expertise, especially in STEM fields, and international talent plays a vital role in meeting that need for expertise,” Aw said.
Will Anything Change?
University students walk past the Natural Sciences and Mathematics build on the campus of Cal State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, USA. Image for illustration purposes only. University students walk past the Natural Sciences and Mathematics build on the campus of Cal State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, USA. Image for illustration purposes only. Getty Images
That sits in contrast with the frustration being voiced, primarily on social media, that American workers – specifically highly educated college graduates – are being overlooked for roles they are qualified for while some of the best-paying jobs in the country go to workers on guest visas.
In March, Arizona Republican Representative Paul Gosarreintroduced legislation aimed at tackling the OPT pipeline. He said his Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act, first filed in President Donald Trump‘s first term, would terminate the program.
“The OPT program completely undercuts American workers, particularly higher-skilled workers and recent college graduates, by giving employers a tax incentive to hire inexpensive, foreign labor under the guise of student training,” Gosar said in a March 25 press release, in which he called employers using the program “greedy”.
Getting Congress to pass such reform like this appears unlikely, with many other immigration bills dying in committee despite calls from both Republicans and Democrats for change.
Beck told Newsweek that NumbersUSA was making Gosar’s bill a priority, to ensure the end of the OPT program.
For Walsh’s clients, they want something different: a clearer pathway for legal status for the foreign students they take on.
“The frustration around having little to no option on the completion of STEM-OPT continues to get louder and louder,” Walsh said. “They want this talent, they don’t want them because they’re foreign workers, they want them because they’re positively contributing to growing their U.S. businesses and enabling the companies to hire more U.S. workers through their talents. So that continues to be a frustration that just gets louder and louder.”
Maryland went through an IRS audit and owes millions, WTOP’s Kyle Cooper reports.
The taxman cometh for everyone.
Even the state.
For the first time in memory — perhaps ever — the Internal Revenue Service audited Maryland government. And it turns out Maryland taxpayers owe Uncle Sam at least $5.4 million for tax year 2020.
“This is a new one,” Comptroller Brooke Lierman said at Wednesday’s Board of Public Works meeting where the audit was discussed.
“It might be the first time the state has ever been audited. We looked back 30 years and it had not happened before,” she said.
State and local governments do not have income tax return filing requirements. The IRS notes that those entities are subject to employment and some excise tax filing requirements.
An IRS spokesperson declined to comment on Maryland’s situation, citing federal law on tax return confidentiality. But publicly available data shows that in fiscal 2023, the IRS said conducted 1,645 examinations — the agency’s term for an audit — of tax-exempt organizations, employee retirement plans, government entities and tax-exempt bond returns.
Initially, Maryland was on the hook for roughly $16 million.
Lierman and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, sitting as the Board of Public Works, unanimously approved a $5.4 million payment to resolve most of the matter. Treasurer Dereck Davis was absent from Wednesday’s meeting to attend a funeral.
“This [lower payment] is specifically because staff within the Office of the Comptroller and other state agencies worked tirelessly to provide and obtain documentation to the IRS to significantly reduce the amount the state owes,” said Rachel Sessa, deputy comptroller for law and oversight. “And since this is the first examination and assessment of its kind, the IRS agreed to waive penalties.”
Sessa warned that the state may still have to pay interest. The amount of that is not yet known. Sessa said state officials were scheduled to meet with the IRS Wednesday afternoon.
The penalties in tax year 2020 were related to three areas, according to Sessa.
First, nine state agencies failed to properly withhold federal taxes for some employees.
Second, a handful of state police within five agencies made contributions to deferred compensation plans that exceeded limits.
Finally, the state was unable to show the IRS that backup withholding was applied to some vendors.
Sessa said the state is implementing a series of “corrective actions” that include education and training for state agencies. She said the IRS will assist in the training, which will begin “over the next couple of months.”
Lierman said she and other state officials “are working to resolve the underpayment issue with the IRS. It occurred under the previous administration. Gov.Moore, Treasurer Davis, I, Lt. Gov. Miller, I know we’re all committed to transparency in the business of government, and … wanted to make sure that people understand what this is, where it came from, and how we are handling it.”
Board approves more public safety lawsuit settlements
The two-member board also unanimously approved nearly $900,000 to settle three cases involving the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. The settlements Wednesday bring the total paid out by the department to $10.5 million for the year, according to Lierman.
Joseph W. Sedtal, deputy secretary of administration for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said the agency is working to improve document retention policies for both paper records and video recordings.
“Obviously, one of the things we’ve seen before is that not having that documentation forces the department to defend a negative,” Sedtal told the board. “We’re trying to combat that through an infrastructure improvement, improving our cameras, improving our policies and retention associated with that, including now looking into ways to potentially audit the ability to retain that information, and ensure that when we say, ‘Hey, we need to hold this for a period of time,’ we’re actually doing it.”
Lierman said such policies are necessary not only to protect the state but also to ensure that incarcerated individuals are not mistreated.
“At the end of the day, it comes down to what evidence we have of what happened,” Lierman said. “We can’t allow our lawyers to be put in a position where they’re asking for video footage or sign-in sheets that have been destroyed or that were never made, because then we have put ourselves in a position where we can’t go to trial and we have to settle because there’s no evidence to prove what we what our side of the story, or to prove … to show what really happened, so that we can then discipline the employees and take appropriate action about against the employees.”
Lierman said the department needed not only to update its policies but to ensure those policies are carried out.
“It’s nice to have good policy, but what matters is actual implementation and follow through,” she said.
Some Americans could see lower federal income taxes in 2025 due to an annual bracket adjustment by the IRS. On the down side, this relief could be more modest than over the past two years.
The IRS typically announces its new tax brackets each fall, but experts are already forecasting next year’s adjustments by crunching the same inflation data the tax agency uses in its annual resets.
Tax brackets and other provisions are likely to be adjusted higher by 2.8% for the 2025 tax year, according to Bloomberg Tax and financial information services provider Wolters Kluwer, which both published their forecasts earlier this month. That would mark the smallest inflation adjustment in at least three years, following a 5.4% increase in 2024 and a 7.1% boost in 2023.
The smaller projected adjustment for 2025 comes amid rapidly cooling inflation, which dropped to a three-year low in August after touching a 40-year high in 2022.
Why adjusting tax brackets matter
Adjusting the nation’s tax brackets for inflation helps individuals avoid so-called “bracket creep,” or when workers are pushed into higher tax bands due to the impact of cost-of-living adjustments to offset inflation, without a change in their standard of living.
“The IRS adjusts a host of tax elements each year for inflation,”Jackson Hewitt chief tax information officer Mark Steber told CBS MoneyWatch. “Otherwise, as people march through life and get raises for inflation, they could get pushed into higher tax brackets, and that would undercut any benefit from the raise.”
The IRS’ annual inflation adjustments are based on what’s known as the chained Consumer Price Index, as required by the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA), Wolters Kluwer noted. Unlike the primary CPI data familiar to consumers, chained CPI more accurately reflects trends in monthly spending, according to the Brookings Institute.
Both Wolters Kluwer and Bloomberg Tax said their forecasts are based on recent chained CPI data.
New thresholds for each tax bracket
Next year’s tax bracket rates will remain the same, but the cutoffs for each band of taxation will rise based on the inflation adjustments. The individual tax rates will remain 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%, as set by the 2017 TCJA.
The upshot: You’ll have to earn more income next year to reach each higher band of taxation. For instance, a single taxpayer who earns $48,000 in 2025 will have a top marginal tax rate of 12%, whereas in 2024 the top marginal tax rate stands at 22%.
Taxation in the U.S. is progressive, which means that tax rates increase the more you earn. But some people misunderstand how tax brackets work, believing incorrectly that their top rate is what they’ll pay on all of their income. Instead, the brackets represent the percentage you’ll pay in taxes on each portion of your income.
For instance, married taxpayers who file jointly and earn more than $23,850 (the top threshold for the 10% bracket) will likely pay $2,385 in federal income tax — or 10% of their first $23,850 in earnings — and then 12% on any income above that amount, up to $96,950.
Standard deduction for 2025
Other tax provisions for the 2025 tax year will also likely increase by about 2.8% next year, including the standard deduction, according to the Bloomberg Tax and Wolters Kluwer estimates. That deduction represents the amount taxpayers can subtract from their income before federal income tax is applied, so a bigger deduction shelters more of your income from taxation.
The standard deduction next year is projected to increase to $30,000 for married couples filing jointly, up from $29,200 in the current tax year. The standard deduction for single taxpayers is forecast to rise to $15,000, up from $14,600 in 2024, Wolters Kluwer said.
Head of household filers will see the standard deduction increase to $22,500 from $21,900, while those who are married but file separately will see an increase to $15,000, versus $14,600 in 2024.
How to use the new tax bracket info
Although the new tax bracket thresholds won’t go into effect into January 2025, it can be useful to know the new parameters now for tax planning purposes, Jackson Hewitt’s Steber notes.
He also recommends completing a year-end tax tune-up to ensure you’ve paid enough to the IRS during the current tax year. That can help avoid an unpleasant surprise come April 15, he added.
Next, take a look at the projected inflation adjustments for 2025, as well as your expected income next year, Steber said. That can allow you to check if you might need to adjust your withholding, for instance, or plan to save more in your 401(k) or IRA plan.
“With these inflationary projections, you can take a swipe at next year,” Steber said..
Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is firmly in former President Donald Trump’s corner politically, but what a potential Trump Administration could mean for the electric vehicle maker that pays Musk billions is unclear—even to Musk himself.
“I guess there would be some impact,” said Musk. “It would be devastating for our competitors, and it would hurt Tesla slightly.”
The CEO also noted that because Trump has promised heavy tariffs on vehicles produced in Mexico, Tesla would pull back on investing in a factory it had planned to open in Monterrey in 2026. “If that’s going to be the case, we kind of need to see how things play out politically,” he said. Yesterday, Musk denied reports that he would pump $45 million per month into Trump’s campaign.
Speaking on CNBC before the earnings call, Wedbush Securities tech analyst Dan Ives said that a Trump presidency could be negative for the overall EV market because Trump could eliminate the Inflation Reduction Act and with it thetax credits for EVs and certain plug-in hybrids. That would mean an administration under Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic party nominee, could be a positive for the EV industry.
Yet, Trump might be better for the regulatory agenda needed to promote full-self driving and autonomy, which is a key component of Tesla’s growth strategy, said Ives.
“Musk has been background noise under the Biden Administration and in a Trump administration, is that something that will be more front and center?” said Ives. “That’s why I would say Tesla is part of that Trump trade.”
Musk dismissed the notion that regulators might balk at a fleet of Tesla-made, self-driving robotaxis without steering wheels and pedals. An analyst asked Musk to explain why regulatory risk wasn’t an issue for Tesla, when General Motors had paused production of its Origin vehicle that doesn’t have a steering wheel, in favor of its Chevrolet Bolt, in part because of regulation. The Cruise Origin autonomous vehicle would need approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration because it doesn’t have traditional manual controls like a steering wheel and pedals, which are required by current safety regulations, and were written for cars with human drivers and not fully autonomous vehicles.
“The main reason with switching from the Origin to the Bolt is we extinguish the regulatory risk,” GM CEO Mary Barra said, according to a Reuters report.
“The real reason they canceled it is because GM can’t make it work,” said Musk, adding that the automaker’s technology “is not up to par.” He said blaming regulators was “misleading.”
Jim Cain, an executive director at GM, told Fortune Musk is flat wrong.
“All of those statements are categorically false,” said Cain, who listened to Musk’s comments during the earnings call. “The Origin vehicle faced a lot of hurdles getting certified because it doesn’t have a steering wheel, it doesn’t have a brake pedal, and it has a unique seating layout that requires a federal motor vehicle safety waiver—full stop.”
Cain said Cruise technology improves every day because of the way it leverages its data set with AI. “And so far, they have driven more than 5 million fully autonomous miles and Tesla has driven exactly zero.”
Musk has an unshakeable faith in Tesla’s power to “solve autonomy,” which he reiterated Tuesday, even as Tesla reported financial results showing net profits dropped 45%, marking its second quarter of sluggish growth and fourth straight quarter of falling quarterly earnings. Car industry data also showed that Tesla continues to lose popularity in California, where sales fell 24% in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Trump has pledged to end what he referred to as the “green new scam,” promising to abolish “the electric-vehicle mandate on day one.”
According to Ives, if autonomy is the strategic future of Tesla, it might be more beneficial for Tesla to have less regulation, which is likelier under a Trump presidency versus a Harris presidency.
“The cherry on top of what could be the sundae” for investors is how the company will impact the robotics market and its efforts on full-self driving and autonomy, said Ives. Ultimately, that’s how the company could potentially reach a $1 trillion or even $2 trillion valuation, he added.
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The IRS said Thursday that its plan to crack down on wealthy tax cheats is paying off, with the agency collecting more than $1 billion since targeting high-income earners who owe the government money.
The joint announcement with the U.S. Treasury Department is meant to highlight that the IRS’ $80 billion in funding from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act is helping to recoup revenue for the nation’s coffers.
Some Republican lawmakers had falsely claimed that the funding would be used to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to “to audit Walmart shoppers.” But the IRS has said the new funding is being used to hire customer service agents to answer more calls and improve its technology after the pandemic shuttered its offices and caused years of processing delays and snarls.
The agency is also stepping up the number of audits on people with more than $1 million in annual income and more than $250,000 in tax debts. Federal officials have said they are chiefly pursuing wealthy individuals and large corporations, while vowing not to increase audit rates on people earning less than $400,000 a year.
“President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is increasing tax fairness and ensuring that all wealthy taxpayers pay the taxes they owe, just like working families do,” U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said in a statement. “A new initiative to collect overdue taxes from a small group of wealthy taxpayers is already a major success, yielding more than $1 billion in revenue so far.”
In May, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel outlined the agency’s plans to increase enforcement, with plans to triple its audit rates of corporations with assets of more than $250 million and increase audits by 50% for individuals with more than $10 million in total positive income.
“Any increase in government investigations appears like an intrusion,” said Eugene Steuerle, a fellow and co-founder of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. But, he added, if the IRS can show taxpayers how it is conducting its investigations, the broader public may become less fearful of an audit, and “there would be more public support for this activity and the agency.”
Republicans have threatened a series of cuts to the IRS, sometimes successfully. House Republicans built a $1.4 billion reduction to the IRS into the debt ceiling and budget cuts package passed by Congress in the summer of 2023. The deal included a separate agreement to take $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years and divert that money to other non-defense programs.
House Republicans’ fiscal year 2025 proposal out of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee in June proposes further cuts to the IRS in 2025, and would cut funding to the Direct File program that is being expanded to allow Americans to file their taxes directly with the IRS.
Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
The IRS issued a rare apology to billionaire investor Ken Griffin for releasing his tax records to the press, as well as to other taxpayers whose information was breached, the tax agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The Internal Revenue Service sincerely apologizes to Mr. Kenneth Griffin and the thousands of other Americans whose personal information was leaked to the press,” the IRS said.
The apology stems from the case of a former IRS contractor named Charles Littlejohn, who was sentenced earlier this year to five years in prison for unauthorized disclosure of tax returns. Littlejohn had provided tax return information for Griffin and other wealthy Americans to nonprofit news organization ProPublica.
In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, Griffin said, “I am grateful to my team for securing an outcome that will better protect American taxpayers and that will ultimately benefit all Americans.”
Beginning in 2021, ProPublica published a series called “The Secret IRS Files,” which included the details of tax returns for thousands of rich taxpayers, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk. The coverage explored how some of the wealthiest Americans minimize their taxes.
Littlejohn “violated the terms of his contract and betrayed the trust that the American people place in the IRS to safeguard their sensitive information,” the agency said in Tuesday’s statement. “The IRS takes its responsibilities seriously and acknowledges that it failed to prevent Mr. Littlejohn’s criminal conduct and unlawful disclosure of Mr. Griffin’s confidential data.”
Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of hedge fund Citadel, at the Qatar Economic Forum, on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.
Christopher Pike/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Griffin, the founder of the hedge fund Citadel, is worth almost $42 billion, making him the world’s 34th richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The IRS’ apology comes after Griffin on Monday dropped a lawsuit against the agency and the U.S. Treasury Department that he had filed in December over the breach.
ProPublica didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The IRS said it has made “substantial investments in its data security to strengthen its safeguarding of taxpayer information.”
It added, “The agency believes that its actions and the resolution of this case will result in a stronger and more trustworthy process for safeguarding the personal information of all taxpayers.”
Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
