Latest news with #taxcollections
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The IRS has had six leaders in 2025. What that means for taxpayers.
The IRS is on its seventh commissioner of the year, has lost one-quarter of its staff and is faced with implementing a raft of new regulations. Whether and how this turmoil could affect Americans remains to be seen. But the first impacts are likely to be lower tax collections and a harder time getting answers to tax-related questions, according to a former commissioner and a policy analyst. 'You can be fairly confident of the direction of the impact, that having this level of instability is not good for IRS' core functions and for taxpayer service," said Alex Muresianu, Senior Policy Analyst at the Tax Foundation, a tax policy think tank. 'This level of instability coinciding with the implementation of a new set of tax laws ‒ that is a dangerous mix." The IRS got its seventh leader of the year Aug. 8 when President Donald Trump tapped Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as its temporary head, after removing Commissioner Billy Long. Trump ousted Long after 53 days on the job, giving him the shortest tenure of any Senate-approved IRS Commissioner. The IRS media office referred USA TODAY to the Treasury Department, which did not return a request for comment Aug. 12. Long, who said he will be nominated as ambassador to Iceland, was the fifth person picked by Trump to lead the agency since regaining the Oval office in 2025, but the only one approved by the Senate. Biden's IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel resigned his five-year position three years early in January, rather than be fired by Trump. New priorities with each new leader Each IRS commissioner sets priorities, moves resources and staff around and problem solves differently, Werfel told USA TODAY. Constant flux over the last 8 months has likely made it difficult for staff to function, he said. The IRS Commissioner's job is to make sure the agency runs well. Werfel compared it to keeping trains on time. "Every time you have a new leader these rules and processes can change," he said. "It just sows confusion." CNN and The Washington Post reported that Long was fired after the IRS clashed with the White House over using tax data to help locate suspected undocumented immigrants. Long, a former Republican Congressman and auctioneer, previously had to walk back plans to start tax season later and eliminate the IRS' free tax filing program. Fewer agents to process returns and answer taxpayer questions The Biden administration added nearly $80 billion in new IRS funding, largely to collect unpaid taxes from the wealthy. That money brought the agency to one of its highest staffing levels just before Trump took office. The new administration almost immediately began mass layoffs and offered early retirements for federal employees, in an effort to downsize the government. A quarter of the IRS staff had left the agency as of mid- July, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Among the hardest hit positions are people responsible for reviewing and processing federal tax returns, and agents, who conduct individual and business audits. Other fired workers were involved in modernizing IRS technology or helping taxpayers by telephone. Werfel said the staffing cuts will impact customer service unless those people's jobs have been replaced by technology, and he said there is no indication they have been. Contact with the IRS is stressful for most taxpayers, Werfel said. Fewer employees means fewer people answering phones and responding to requests for help, fewer available inperson appointments and longer waits for audit results, he said. "The higher functioning IRS you have, the less stressful this is," he said. "If you're going to engage that bureacracy, you want it to at least work." Fewer audits means less revenue Conducting fewer audits means the country is collecting less revenue, which Werfel said should bother Americans worried about the national debt. "We should want our country to be fiscally responsible," he said. "The more money that we leave on the table that is actually owed to the country, the more that we have to put on the credit card at a high interest rate." For every dollar spent auditing America's highest earners, for example, the IRS reaps more than $4 in recovered tax dollars, research shows. Werfel said there is an estimated $700 billion in taxes that are owed each year but not paid, an amount he said could climb if the risk of an audit drops and there is less pressure to pay. "It creates an incentive for more people to break the rules and that means less revenue," he said. Implementing the GOP tax law The IRS and Treasury Department are rushing to stand up Republicans' new tax law. Lawmakers left it up to the agencies to fill in the details of the policy changes, many of which take effect this tax year, including sorting out specifics of how new breaks for overtime pay, tips and other provisions will work. Muresianu, the tax analyst, said taxpayers often need more clarification from the IRS when new tax laws take effect, and the call volume will likely be higher next year. 'If you have instability at the IRS, management problems at the IRS, and their ability to provide service declines, that is particularly bad if it's coming at a time where there a lot of people looking for clarity,' he said. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump fired the IRS commissioner. What it means for taxpayers.
Reuters
7 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
India's net direct tax collections fall 4% y/y from April-August
NEW DELHI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - India's net direct tax collections dropped 4% year-on-year to 6.64 trillion rupees ($75.79 billion) from April 1 to Aug 11, the government on Tuesday. Direct taxes, which include corporate and personal tax, fell nearly 2% year-on-year to 7.99 trillion rupees on a gross basis during the period, the statement from the income tax department said. The government said it had issued tax refunds worth 1.35 trillion rupees during the period, about 10% higher than last year. ($1 = 87.6050 Indian rupees)
Times of Oman
21-06-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
India's direct tax collections rise 4.86% in FY26 so far, net collections dip on higher refunds
New Delhi: India's gross direct tax collections for the financial year 2025-26 rose by 4.86 per cent to about Rs 5.45 lakh crore as of June 19, compared to about Rs 5.19 lakh crore collected during the same period last year, according to data released by the Income Tax Department. However, net direct tax collections saw a marginal decline of 1.39 per cent, dropping to Rs 4.59 lakh crore. The fall is primarily attributed to a sharp 58 per cent jump in refunds issued, reflecting faster processing and improved taxpayer services. Advance tax collections during the period stood at Rs 1.56 lakh crore, registering a growth of 3.87 per cent. This was led by a 5.86 per cent increase in corporate advance tax payments, even as collections from non-corporate taxpayers declined by 2.68 per cent. The data shows that while corporate tax collections remained strong, the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) saw a decline, and overall growth momentum in collections appears moderated by elevated refund outflows. Recently, the Income Tax Department has introduced the 'e-Pay Tax' feature on its official online portal to facilitate the taxpayers by easing various processes, according to the CBDT. Additionally, in the July 2024 Budget, the government proposed a comprehensive review of the Income-tax Act of 1961. The purpose was to make the Act concise and lucid, thereby reducing disputes and litigation. Meanwhile, on March 25, Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the new Income Tax Bill will be taken up for discussion in the monsoon session of Parliament. The Finance Minister has already announced in his budget speech that with the revised tax structure, individuals earning up to Rs 12 lakhs will have no tax liability due to the increased rebate of Rs 60,000. Earlier on March 18, the government encouraged the stakeholders to submit their suggestions on the newly introduced Income Tax Bill 2025. The Bill is currently under examination by the Select Committee for detailed consideration.
