Commissioner of the Week

[BobKamman]

(NYT)  The acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service is being replaced after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent complained to President Trump that the latest leader of the agency had been installed without his knowledge and at the behest of billionaire Elon Musk, according to five people with knowledge of the change and the sensitive discussions that precipitated it.

Mr. Bessent got Mr. Trump’s approval to unwind the decision. The next acting head of the I.R.S., which has seen a conveyor belt of temporary leaders under Mr. Trump, is expected to be the deputy secretary of the Treasury, Michael Faulkender. He would hold the role until the president’s nominee for the permanent role, former congressman Billy Long, if approved by the Senate, takes over.

[IRonMaN]

What a screwed up mess.  I keep waiting for Alan Funt to come back from the grave to tell us we are all on Candid Camera.

[sjrcpa]

I didn't even catch the latest one's name. Served for what - 2 or 3 days?

3 days - I Googled it.

[BobKamman]

@IRonMaN It's Allen, not Alan.  And I had forgotten this until I checked Wikipedia:

On February 3, 1969, Funt, his wife, and his two youngest children boarded Eastern Airlines Flight 7 in Newark, New Jersey, with a destination of Miami, Florida. En route, two men hijacked the plane and demanded passage to Cuba. Some of the passengers, having spotted Funt, believed the whole thing was a Candid Camera stunt. Funt repeatedly attempted to persuade them the hijacking was real, to no avail. The plane landed in Cuba, finally convincing the passengers.   Funt and the other passengers were released after 11 hours of captivity.

[sjrcpa]

From RIA CheckPoint PPC today:

Another IRS Officer Resigns While Agency is Set to Lose Another 20% of Staff:  The IRS' chief information officer, Rajiv Uppal, announced his resignation on Monday, adding to the growing list of high-profile departures from the agency. His resignation will be effective 4/28/25. Also, the IRS is expecting to lose nearly one-third of its workforce in 2025 after nearly 20,000 employees have accepted the second deferred resignation offer. More employees are accepting the second resignation offer than the first, which about 5,000 employees opted to accept. Those who accept the offer will receive full pay and benefits through 9/30/25. These resignations are in response to President Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency's plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce. Concerns are increasing that there will not be enough IRS staff to process the current backlogs as well as backlogs from future filing seasons.

[sjrcpa]

and this, too:

Top IRS Officials Resign Following Agreement on Sharing Immigrant Tax Data:  Following an agreement signed on 4/7/25 between the IRS and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to request tax records as part of non-tax criminal immigration investigations, several top IRS officials have resigned from their posts. Those leaving include the acting commissioner of the IRS, Melanie Krause, along with the agency's Chief Privacy Officer, Kathleen Walters; Chief Financial Officer, Teresa Hunter; and Chief Risk Officer, Mike Wetklow. The resignation comes after several disruptions to the IRS led by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, including thousands of layoffs and attempts to access taxpayer data. These departures also come amid the busiest time of year for the IRS, with the filing deadline for most individual tax returns falling on April 15th. The agreement, signed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, breaks with a longstanding IRS policy under which it encouraged immigrants to pay taxes even if they are not in the United States legally, assuring them that their data would be protected.

[IRonMaN]

This stuff would be really funny ............................ if it wasn't so sad.  

[sjrcpa · Accepted solution]

Update: Billy Long was confirmed by the Senate yesterday, June 12, 2025

[IRonMaN]

I’m guessing nobody from Fox was interested in the job so he was the only person available.

[BobKamman]

TACO !

TaxCourt Always Chickens Out

"As the result of ongoing law enforcement activity in and around the Roybal Federal Courthouse in Los Angeles, the in-person June 16, 2025, Los Angeles, California, Hybrid-Small Trial Session of the Court has been changed and will be conducted as a remote proceeding using Zoomgov and will start as scheduled on Monday, June 16, 2025, at 10:00 a.m., pursuant to the Court’s notice served June 11, 2025."

Anyway, Friday the 13th was my lucky day, because Chief Judge Urda signed the Decision in my client's case,

"ORDERED AND DECIDED: That there is no deficiency in income tax due from, nor overpayment due to, petitioner for taxable year 2022; and

That there is no penalty due from petitioner for taxable year 2022 under the provisions of I.R. C. §6676(a).”

The part signed by me and the IRS attorney states:

“It is further stipulated that petitioner was determined to be a victim of identity theft with regard to the 2022 electronically filed return in petitioner’s name and because of which respondent issued its notice of deficiency dated December 6, 2024. Petitioner submitted information to respondent’s counsel that: (i) was used to make a correct determination and (ii) will be used to correct petitioner’s 2022 income tax account.”

[sjrcpa]

Congratulations @BobKamman and client!