Key Takeaways
- IRS "CEO" Bisignano boasts of online progress.
- "Trump's Lieutenant" or source of stability?
- Judge tosses IRS deal to allow church political speech.
- 1 million returns filed claiming $1,000 Trump Account baby bonus.
- Taxes and housing policy.
- Mother Earth tries to fool the IRS.
- Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month.
IRS CEO defiant as Washington asks who's running things - Danny Nguyen, Politico:
The IRS "CEO" role was invented to avoid the need to have an actual IRS commissioner confirmed by the Senate. Their first Commissioner, hapless Billy Long, only lasted two months before being exiled to Iceland.
In an interview with POLITICO, Bisignano brushed off these concerns by invoking his time in C-suites at major financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase and Fiserv.
Bessent is not the Acting Commissioner anymore. He's just acting like it.
But he responded to follow-up questions about how he’s improved the refund tracker with a six-word text message: “I’m the ceo of the irs.” He did not elaborate.
Okie-Dokey, then.
The whole article is worth reading. Some IRS personnel describe Bisignano as "Trump's lieutenant," while others say he has brought stability to the IRS after a chaotic 2025 that saw 7 different people in charge of the agency.
Judge Tosses IRS Deal to Allow Politics in the Pulpit
IRS Loses Bid to Approve Deal Allowing Church Political Speech - James Matheson, Bloomberg ($).
National Religious Broadcasters and other religious groups and churches claimed the Johnson Amendment—which prohibits 501(c)(3) organizations from endorsing or proposing political campaigns—was unconstitutional. In July 2025, a proposed consent decree between the groups and the IRS allowed a church to engage in good faith communication to its congregation about politics during a religious service without violating the Johnson Amendment or losing their 501(c)(3) status.
IRS Johnson Amendment Settlement Gets Nixed in Case Dismissal - Trevor Sikes, Tax Notes ($):
The central issue in the case was a proposed consent decree that would permanently enjoin the IRS from enforcing the Johnson Amendment against the plaintiffs — two Texas churches and two religious nonprofits, led by National Religious Broadcasters.
...
The Johnson Amendment has been a lightning rod for religious organizations and the Trump administration, who argue that it’s an unconstitutional prohibition on religious freedom. President Trump has repeatedly been criticized for erroneously claiming that he got rid of the Johnson Amendment, and the IRS’s priority guidance plan for 2025-2026 shows that it plans to address the Johnson Amendment, likely in accordance with Trump’s focus on repealing the restrictions.
Related: Eide Bailly Exempt Organization Tax Services.
Billion-Dollar Babies: 1 Million Signups for $1,000 Trump Account Payment
,,,
The Trump Accounts and the Trump Account contribution pilot program were established under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, enacted on July 4, 2025. The eligibility requirements for the Trump Accounts and the pilot program are as follows:
- The tax-advantaged Trump Accounts allow parents, guardians and other authorized individuals to request establishment of a new type of individual retirement account for an eligible minor, who has not turned age 18 before the end of the calendar year in which the election is made and has a valid Social Security number.
- The Trump Accounts pilot program offers a $1,000 federal seed contribution for children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, and who are U.S. citizens with a valid Social Security number.
Parents or other individuals who qualify to make the election can use IRS Form 4547, Trump Account Election(s) PDF to request establishment of a Trump Account and to enroll in the pilot program with their tax year 2025 return.
Shocked, Shocked to Find Gaming Going On Here
OBBBA Tax Deduction Could Spur Workers to Game Overtime Pay - Kelsey Brooks, Tax Notes ($):
Almost 60 percent of all workers, including both salary and hourly workers, could qualify for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s (P.L. 119-21) overtime tax deduction if they worked slightly more hours or by shifting some of their pay to a tax-deductible status, said a March 31 report from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
“Treating some forms of income differently than others can invite changes in behavior to evade taxes,” the report said. “In this case, the OBBBA’s 'no tax on overtime provision' could encourage workers to seek more overtime.”
Any time you favor one sort of income, somehow other income becomes that sort of income.
Trump Lawsuit: Defending the Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone
Justice Dept. Struggles to Respond to Trump’s Suit Against I.R.S. - Andrew Duehren and Alan Feuer, New York Times:
In late January, Mr. Trump took the extraordinary step of suing a federal agency that he oversees, accusing the I.R.S. of not doing enough to prevent the leak of his tax returns to The New York Times in 2020. The suit immediately elicited questions about whether and how Trump administration officials would defend against a lawsuit filed by the head of the executive branch. The government has not yet responded to the case.
...
While former Justice Department officials see clear flaws in the president’s case, some Trump administration officials worry that assigning a lawyer to contest it would pose an unworkable conflict, given that such a person ultimately works for the president, according to the two people. Defending the case could also contradict a White House executive order that binds all government lawyers to the president’s interpretation of the law.
The article quotes Mr. Trump as saying he will give any proceeds to charity. Given that the charitable deduction is limited to 60% of adjusted gross income, that's unlikely for a $10 billion settlement, as it would leave him taxed on $4 billion of income with a liability of around $1.6 billion, with no cash left to pay it.
Housing and the Tax Law
Trump Tax Law’s Affordable Housing Boost Hits Snag - Emily Flitter and Katy O'Donnell, Bloomberg ($):
...
The expansion has eroded the value of the tax credits, which developers and other LIHTC participants like to sell to companies looking to reduce their tax bills — now that there are more credits available for sale, they cost less.
And even more crucially, it’s led to challenges in securing financing for deals involving the credits. Banks face a cap on so-called “public welfare investments” as a percentage of their regulatory capital. That means the lenders large enough to finance major projects are limited in how many such housing developments they can back.
Reconciliation 2.0 Should Put Housing Supply First - Adam Michel, Liberty Taxed:
...
The result of this system is that fewer projects pencil out and, thus, fewer homes get built. Which is why, when cost recovery for housing improved in the early 1980s, multifamily construction surged. And when Congress lengthened depreciation schedules a few years later, housing construction collapsed.
To be sure, there were other factors. For example, the passive loss rules of Sec. 469 shut down that era's retail tax shelter industry, but also sharply curtailed the use of real estate rental losses.
The Abundance Agenda Has a Tax Problem - Veronique de Rugy, The Unseen and the Unsaid.
...
The combination of demand-side subsidies and capital gains taxes discourages turnover. Policies like the mortgage interest deduction push prices up without increasing supply. At the same time, capital gains taxes create a lock-in effect that discourages people from selling homes that no longer fit their needs.
The result is misallocation. Larger homes sit underused. Younger families struggle to buy. Housing doesn’t move to its highest-value use.
Blogs and Bits
IRS Direct File’s cost was $16 million, not the estimated $61 million, says tax agency watchdog - Kay Bell, Don't Mess With Taxes. "And a Government Accountability Office report issued in December 2024 found that Direct File received top scores from 90 percent of the taxpayers who used it."
Bozo Tax Tip #9: Honey, You Don’t Exist! - Russ Fox, Taxable Talk. "With weddings comes changes in tax status. Your marital status on December 31st determines your marital status for the year. If you are married, you file as Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately. (In some rare cases, if you’re married you can file as Head of Household.) But you can’t file as single."
This happens. I once was on a call with a man with seven-figure income whose return I had been doing for several years. He mentioned going on a trip with his wife. I congratulated him and asked when he got married. "Oh, two years ago." Amended returns ensued, and they weren't free.
District Court Rejects APA Challenge to Final Microcaptive Regulations - Parker Tax Pro Library. "In rejecting CIC's contention that the final regulations are arbitrary and capricious, the court found that numerous recent Tax Court decisions, in which taxpayers in micro-captive transactions remitted amounts treated as insurance premiums for something other than insurance, provided a legitimate basis for the IRS to seek additional information from captives and material advisors to aid in determining whether a captive is impermissibly avoiding tax liability."
Risking Prison for a Minivan?
Tennessee couple and Texas woman charged with tax fraud and money laundering conspiracy - IRS (defendant names omitted, emphasis added):
As part of the scheme, Defendant A allegedly filed a false trust tax return for Mother Earth Trust seeking a refund of more than $700,000 based on false purported payments to the IRS of more than $1.1 million. After the IRS issued a refund check of $710,621.58 to the trust, Defendant C allegedly deposited the check into a Texas bank account. The indictment alleges that Defendant B then used more than $560,000 of the refund proceeds to purchase a house in Hixson where he subsequently lived with Defendant A, as well as two vehicles, a pickup truck and a minivan.
Usually these schemes involve purchasing expensive watches and sports cars. Hat's off to buying sensible vehicles, I guess.
Make a habit of sustained success.
