Somalia State Probing Turkey-Linked Cargo Seized Off Its Coast
The federal government on Wednesday accused Puntland authorities of seizing MV Sea World with a shipment destined for a Turkish military training facility in the capital, Mogadishu. Puntland said traders in the city had claimed ownership and that Turkey's ambassador had also reached out.
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Washington Post
a day ago
- Washington Post
IRS warns federal workers about tax debts. Will it cost them their jobs?
The IRS has sent letters to federal workers alleging that they are among 525,000 current and former government staffers who owe back taxes, prompting tax experts to warn that the unpaid bills could be used as a pretext to fire them from their jobs. The letters, mailed last month, begin with the words 'Urgent: You have an outstanding tax issue,' in bold, large type. They started arriving in people's mailboxes shortly after the Office of Personnel Management proposed a rule that would make it easier to dismiss employees who don't meet certain 'suitability criteria,' including 'failure to comply with generally applicable legal obligations, including timely filing of tax returns.' While privacy laws generally prevent the IRS from sharing information about individuals' tax returns with other government agencies, several tax practitioners and employment lawyers who reviewed the letter said agency heads can use unpaid taxes as a basis for firing the workers if the proposed firing guidelines are put into effect. 'I immediately thought: They're trying to find some grounds to use this suitability process,' said Debra D'Agostino, an employment attorney focused on federal employees. 'That's what absolutely immediately jumped in my head.' The letter from the IRS did not specify any consequences that the workers and retirees might face. It acknowledged the recipients' service to the government and reminded them of their responsibility to 'lead by example' by paying their taxes. Jessica Marine, who left her federal job in April and now works as a tax attorney at a Maryland law firm with many federal employees as clients, became concerned when more than 20 of them received the notice. While the clients do owe taxes or have not submitted returns, some are already on payment plans arranged with the IRS, she said. 'This is not to be taken lightly,' she said. She added that if the suitability rule takes effect, 'this is a way the Trump administration could get rid of many federal employees … and it would be 100 percent legal.' The IRS and the Office of Personnel Management did not respond to questions from The Washington Post. Collections letters from the IRS typically include the amount owed or a tax year for which no return was filed. The notices usually include a deadline to pay before penalties increase. But last month's letters, labeled LT36, have none of that personalized information, just a broad warning that the recipient is in some way behind on their taxes. 'The administration came into office saying it wanted to gut the workforce. There were people associated with this administration that said, 'We want it to be psychologically damaging when we do it.' And that's sort of what's happening,' said Suzanne Summerlin, a federal appointee under President Joe Biden who is now a labor attorney focused on the federal workforce. The IRS letters seem to be 'another attack that this administration is making on its own workforce,' she said. The federal government until now has lacked the authority to fire employees over unpaid taxes, although Republican lawmakers years ago unsuccessfully floated legislation that would have allowed it. Receiving a warning from the IRS might make employees apprehensive about staying in government and being 'subjected to this level of scrutiny,' Summerlin said. All Americans are obligated by law to file returns and pay their taxes, but a program called FERDI — the Federal Employee/Retiree Delinquency Initiative — that dates back to 1993 allows the IRS to take extra measures to collect back taxes from federal workers. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration noted in a 2023 report that cases of federal workers behind on their taxes have risen, from just under 4 percent of federal workers in 2015 to just under 5 percent in 2021, the most recent year for which estimates were available. (The rate for all taxpayers tends to fall between 8 and 9 percent, so federal workers are doing better.) According to the 2023 report, the largest number of federal workers who failed to submit their tax returns for two or more years worked for the U.S. Postal Service, followed by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the military. More than 3 in 4 non-filers had annual income below $100,000. The IRS generally explains numbered notices like this one on its website, but the agency has not posted online information about LT36. The IRS did send the letters, but after California accountant Logan Allec posted about the letter on YouTube, some people told him they had thought the letter was a scam mimicking a real IRS letter, since it didn't come up on the IRS website, he said. The comments on his video filled up with several people who claimed they got the letter, checked their balance and found they did not actually owe any taxes. 'Notices usually have information about the taxpayer's account: the balance due, the penalties, the interest, a particular due date,' Allec said. He found some of the notices that his clients received frustrating. In one case, the IRS had claimed months ago that Allec's client owed a 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty on all of the money that he took out of a retirement account. Allec thinks the client only owes a penalty on some of the money and has exchanged multiple letters with the IRS trying to resolve the issue. That client received the LT36 letter and is 'kind of freaking out,' Allec said, even though he is in the midst of a good-faith effort to pay what he rightly owes. About two dozen clients of Los Angeles tax adviser Mike Habib's firm received the letter, he said. Habib said taxpayers who get the notice should call the IRS, figure out what they owe, and pay it quickly or set up a payment plan. 'I would expect within five to six months, if you ignore it, then the IRS will move on to possibly levies and things like that,' he said. 'If you work for the government, they expect you to be compliant with the federal tax laws.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
‘Pause': Kaiser stops gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 19
( — Kaiser Permanente has announced it will be pausing gender-affirming surgeries for patients who are under the age of 19. Kaiser became the latest health care provider to change its gender-affirming care policy starting August 29, in response to efforts by the Trump administration to restrict access. 'After significant deliberation and consultation with internal and external experts, including our physicians, we've made the difficult decision to pause surgical treatment for patients under the age of 19 in our hospitals and surgical centers,' a Kaiser spokesperson told 'All other gender-affirming care treatment remains available.' Kaiser says there has been a huge focus by the federal government on gender-affirming care, especially for those who are under the age of 19. Ring app users report unauthorized access to their accounts 'We continue to meet with regulators as well as our clinicians, patients, their families, and the community with the goal of identifying a responsible path forward,' Kaiser officials said. According to the hospital, this includes an executive order that instructs federal agencies to take actions to reduce access and restrict funding for gender-affirming care, and hospital inquiries by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and changes to coverage and border federal agencies review, which includes the Federal Trade Commission. A recent subpoena has also been issued by the U.S. Department of Justice to doctors and clinics that provided care to minors. 'We recognize that this is an extremely challenging and stressful time for our patients seeking care, as well as for our clinicians whose mission is to care for them,' Kaiser said. 'We will work closely with each patient to support their care journey.' State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) stated this is 'straight up denial of care' to those who are under the care of a physician and parents who have permitted the treatments. 'Trump has declared war on trans people and trans kids and their families in particular,' Wiener said. 'Now is the time to have these kids' and these families' backs, not to fold under pressure from the most homophobic and transphobic Administration in modern history — an Administration that won't stop until LGBTQ people are entirely erased from public life.' reached out to some Republican senators and congressmen, but did not hear back in time for this article. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Doug Ford walks back pledge to issue work permits to asylum seekers
TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford has walked back last week's pledge to wrestle some control away from the federal government to issue work permits to asylum seekers. He did not explain why he changed his mind. "I don't want to take the responsibility off the federal government, but in saying that, if you have a pulse and you're healthy, you need to be working," Ford said Monday. Ford and the rest of the country's premiers said at their gathering last week they wanted more control over immigration, usually a purview of the federal government. The Ontario premier pointed to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who cited Section 95 of the Constitution that they believed gave provinces the power to make decisions on immigration. 'We will be issuing our own work permits,' Ford said last week when all the premiers met in Huntsville, Ont. He said the federal government was taking up to two years to issue work permits to asylum seekers. But Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said work permits are usually processed within 45 days of an asylum claimant submitting a completed application that includes a medical examination and an updated address. "The Government of Canada will continue to work collaboratively with provinces and territories to achieve our shared economic immigration objectives," said Jeffrey MacDonald, a spokesman for the department. He said immigration is within both federal and provincial jurisdictions and Ottawa enters into legally binding agreements with each province and territory to administer, co-ordinate and implement federal legislation on immigration. MacDonald said the department is still in the midst of planning immigration levels from 2026 to 2028 with input from all provinces and territories. Despite Ford's change of mind, he still said the federal government is taking far too long to issue work permits. He said 70,000 work permits were issued to asylum claimants last year, but there were 90,000 such claimants in the province and he wants the backlog cleared. New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles said Ford needs to focus on the problems he can control. "He wants to talk about a whole bunch of stuff that is not his responsibility in the first place," Stiles said. "I think that the premier needs to start actually showing up for work for the people of this province and that means showing up to fix our health-care system, showing up to address the crumbling infrastructure in this province, showing up for the post-secondary institutions." —With files from Sarah Ritchie in Ottawa This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2025. Liam Casey, The Canadian Press
