Thursday September 15, 2022 – United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Speaking at an IRS facility in New Carrollton, Maryland, said “the funding will help to improve the IRS in the form of better technology and taxpayer services, and stronger enforcement focused on wealthy Americans and corporations.”

Yellon also said “Importantly, I’ve directed that enforcement resources will not be used to raise audit rates for households making under $400,000 a year relative to historical levels,”

Republicans in Congress have prosposed legislation that would prevent the IRS from using any of the Inflation Reduction Act money to audit taxpayers who earn less than $400,000 annually. Good luck.

Attorney Steven A. Leahy critiques Secretary Yellon’s announcements about how the IRS will use the $80 Billion windfall on Today’s Tax Talk.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/26/op-ed-the-irs-just-isnt-prepared-for-the-inflation-reduction-act.html

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/yellen-outlines-planned-changes-irs-80b-overhaul

https://www.foxnews.com/us/senate-republicans-protect-americans-earning-less-than-400k-irs-audits

Wednesday September 14, 2022 – Recently, our Government doubled the size with the Inflation Reduction Act. There have been assurances the IRS will not use this increase in power to target any American group.

Those assurances now ring hollow after Judicial Watch published the recently unsealed 2017 sworn depositions by Lois Lerner, then director of the Exempt Organizations Unit of the Internal Revenue Service and Holly Paz, her top aide and former IRS director of Office of Rulings and Agreements,

Judicial Watch found: “The unsealed Lerner and Paz deposition transcripts reveal through sworn testimony the bureaucratic tangle created by the Obama IRS to single out, delay and deny the processing of conservative, especially Tea Party non-profit groups’ applications for tax-exempt status and to disclose their donors’ names. At the same time, Paz admits under questioning that she knew from the beginning there was not sufficient legal basis to deny most of the targeted groups tax exempt status:”

Attorney Steven A. Leahy reviews the Judical Watch findings on Today’s Tax Talk.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/senate-republicans-protect-americans-earning-less-than-400k-irs-audits

Tuesday September 13, 2022 – Cryptocurreny has taken a hit. The values have fallen and have not shown the ability to rebound.

With the fall in value, one year in, El Salvado’s Bitcoin experiment has been described as a “Spectacular Failure.” President Bukele’s promise of building :”Bit Coin City” has not materialized – and it doesn’t look as if it will be any time soon.

In addition, the promise of cryptocurrenies as antidotes to totalitarian governments and central banks has been shown, through international events, to fall short of that promise, And, may, in fact, assist as an instrument of tyranny.

Attorney Steven A. Leahy walks you through the Crypto jungle on Today’s Tax Talk.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/cryptocurrency-is-picking-up-as-an-instrument-for-tyranny

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/economist-el-salvadors-year-with-bitcoin-currency-has-been-spectacular-failure/ar-AA11KpPM

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/leading-cryptocurrency-company-coinflip-opens-160000638.html

Monday September 12, 2022 – You may have heard, Queen Elizabeth II passed away. Generally, when someone passes, their estate is passed on to their family. And, often, there are tax ramifications – especially, with an estate the size of the Queen’s.

But, no. Not in this case. In 1993 Parliament passed a law exempts the king from paying taxes on property inherited from the passing of another monarch. In the United Kingdom, the inheritance tax is 40%, applicable to estates greater than $377,000.

Attorney Steven A. Leahy, reviews the tax implications, or lack thereor, to King Charles III upon the passing of his Mother on Today’s Tax Talk.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/here-s-why-king-charles-iii-will-not-pay-inheritance-taxes-on-a-750-million-property/ar-AA11K68j?ocid=anaheim-ntp-feeds&pc=U531&cvid=cfdc1868b24e485680574e0c02082543

https://www.axios.com/2022/09/11/king-charles-inheritance-tax-queen-elizabeth

Thursday September 8, 2022 – Recently, Congress and the Administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act. That Act authorized $80 Billion to the IRS.over 10 years. According to the United States Department of Treasury, the money “could fund 86,852 full-time hires through 2031.”

Add the 10,000 additional employees authorized just prior to the Inflation Reduction Act passing, and we are at nearly 97,000 new hires.

Just what will the IRS do with the new workers? Well, more than half of the money is allocated to enforcement. Read that as “audits.”

What can you do to prepare for the 87,000 plus surge in the IRS? Attorney Steven A. Leahy addresses that question on Today’s Tax Talk.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2022/09/07/irs-audits-with-no-time-limit-and-no-statute-of-limitations/?sh=11456d35526d

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/my-irs-audit-from-hell-over-a-small-boat-and-the-folly-of-87000-new-agents/ar-AA11fccU