Trump's pick to lead IRS promoted a nonexistent tax credit

Boston Globe

20-05-2025

One of those entities was White River Energy Corp., an Arkansas-based oil and gas company. The firm has said it joined with an unnamed tribal entity to sell 'tribal tax credits' to people who wanted to claim the supposed credits and reduce their tax bill.
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In a statement last month, the company said Long 'made an insignificant amount of referrals of these credits to third parties.' White River also defended the credit and said the federal government had never told the company to stop using it. Bloomberg Tax first revealed White River's business practices.
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A financial disclosure Long submitted as part of his confirmation process shows him receiving at least $5,000 in compensation from White River, on top of tens of thousands of dollars in payments for work with other companies that encouraged clients to file for large refunds, including by using the supposed tribal credit.
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The IRS, responding to a request from Senate Democrats, told lawmakers there was no such credit. 'We can confirm that these tax credits do not exist,' the agency wrote in March. 'Taxpayers who claim credits that don't exist are subject to penalties and possible examination. Furthermore, promoters of these credits may be subject to civil or criminal penalties.' The Treasury Department declined to comment on whether the credit exists.
Long's time pitching tax breaks puts him on the other side of IRS efforts to clamp down on what it warned could be abusive practices. That history has inflamed concerns that tax enforcement could decline steeply if he takes the helm. The Trump administration has already cut much of the agency's staff that conducts audits.
If confirmed, Long would become the first official head of the IRS under the Trump administration but the sixth person to lead the agency since the beginning of the year.
That remarkable string of turmoil comes as Trump has sought to enlist the tax collection agency in exacting political retribution. The president, angry that Harvard University has resisted his demands for overhauling its campus practices, has called for the IRS to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status. He has also floated the possibility of the agency taking on other nonprofit groups that Trump dislikes. On social media, Long has reposted content criticizing Harvard, as well as George Soros' nonprofit and the fundraising platform Act Blue.
Long did not respond to requests for comment.
A Government Boondoggle
Long did not serve on the tax-writing committee during his congressional career, though he did repeatedly sponsor legislation that called for the abolition of the IRS. Long describes himself on social media as a 'Certified Tax and Business Advisor,' a credential he received after attending a three-day course offered by Excel Empire, another tax consulting company, a spokesperson for the company told the Springfield News-Leader.
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His career in tax focused on a pandemic-era tax break, known as the employee-retention tax credit.
Created in 2020 to support businesses that kept employees on the payroll, the credit soon became a magnet for fraud, costing the government hundreds of billions more than initially expected. The IRS, overrun with what it worried were ineligible claims, froze the program in 2023.
Long and the companies he worked with helped small businesses and nonprofits apply for the tax credit in exchange for a fee. In some instances, the clients and their accountants questioned whether they were actually eligible for the credit.
In a podcast interview in 2023, Long said certified accountants often doubted his ability to generate large tax refunds.
'Instantly, the reflex reaction is to go to bashing and, 'Oh, that's a joke. That's a fake deal. That's not true. You're going to have to pay all that money back. You'll get audited,'' Long, sporting a hat bearing the initials of the tax credit, said of accountants at the time. 'They come up with any excuse they can.'
Long worked with a Wisconsin-based company, Lifetime Advisors, which completed applications for the employee retention tax credit. A contract viewed by the Times showed Lifetime Advisors taking 20% of the value of the tax refund, a commission structure that the IRS has repeatedly warned against. One client of Long's told the Times last year that it had backed out of claiming the credit after realizing that it might not actually be eligible.
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Lifetime Advisors, whose group of founders included two men previously sanctioned by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, also promoted the so-called tribal tax credit to clients, according to former employees. Some of its accountants quit the company over concerns of how the firm prepared taxes, the Times reported last year.
As he has awaited his Senate hearing, Long has worked at the Office of Personnel Management, according to a spokesperson for the agency. He was at one point joined at the agency by Mark Czruchy, an owner and the general counsel at Lifetime Advisors. Czruchy no longer works at the Office of Personnel Management, the spokesperson said.
Long's financial disclosure form reported earnings of nearly $250,000 from promoting the retention credit in 2024 and the first couple of months of 2025. That figure does not include money earned before the IRS tried to slow the flood of claims in September 2023.
Industry Support
Senate Democrats, as well as some tax professionals, have raised concerns that Long could use his position to protect and advance companies that promoted the employee retention tax credit and the so-called tribal tax credit. Rather than distance himself from the groups since his nomination, Long has continued to receive their support.
In January, a few weeks after Trump nominated Long to lead the IRS, Long's dormant 2022 campaign for a Senate seat representing Missouri received a rush of more than $135,000 in donations, many from people affiliated with White River Energy Corp., Lifetime Advisors and other companies that promote tax credits. Long then used those donations to pay himself back for a loan he had made to the campaign, campaign finance records show.
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Late last year, White River Energy Corp. held a call with investors anxious about whether the so-called tribal tax credit existed, according to selections of a transcript of the call released by Senate Democrats. On the call, Jay Puchir, the company's chief financial officer, said he was in close touch with incoming Trump officials and would work to get the credits approved under the new administration, although no law creates the tax credits.
White Energy River Corp. did not respond to a request for comment.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.