The concept of disappearing ink used to appeal to me as a child. I recall penning really, really significant messages to my buddies with a tiny paintbrush dipped in lemon juice. Unless you knew the top secret “key,” which was heating the paper to make the letters reappear after the “ink” dried, it was no longer readable. Don’t tell my mom, but the idea was to hold the paper near an old-fashioned lightbulb to cause the lemon juice to turn brown in the absence of matches.
When you’re younger, it’s a really fun joke.
But when you’re an adult, and the text of critical documents just disappears? That’s more scary than exciting. However, many tax professionals went through that this week. While users were reading the IRS Internal Revenue Manual, some sections were taken offline (☆).
The Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) is a guide for tax professionals and IRS personnel alike, detailing the operations of the agency. IRM rules provide guidance on how IRS agents and officers may view a particular tax matter or criteria in an examination or collections action, but they are not laws and should not be interpreted as such.
First reported on social media, the missing pages were removed as part of a review to ensure the handbook is in compliance with President Trump’s executive order from January 22, which, among other things, ends “diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) discrimination” in federal contracting and spending as well as in the federal workforce.
As expected, language initiatives and human resources pages were eliminated, but pages pertinent to DEI are nowhere to be found. However, some that no longer exist online–such as those for Offers in Compromise–don’t appear to be the case because, a source claims, the word search that was used to locate necessary information quickly of certain terms highlights a larger type of information.
Because the IRM is very long and because the order involves forms, web pages, and other IRS materials, the search was required.
According to the IRS, only the missing areas are being reviewed at this point in time. Yet, a public target date has not yet been established for any of the reposted material.
(Unlike my childhood trick, your laptop does not come up by holding it up to a lightbulb).
I wrote last week about Trump’s executive order that froze employment at the majority of federal agencies. I mentioned that, with the exception of the IRS, the freeze is only meant to be
temporary. The tax agency will not be let out of an employment freeze without the Secretary of the Treasury making a determination to lift the freeze, following consultations with DOGE and the Office of Management & Budget (OMB). You probably recall that DOGE is that initiative led by the richest man in the world, Elon Musk. Department of Government Efficiency is represented by the initials.)
Candidates with start dates on or before February 8, 2025, will be allowed to continue their onboarding process, but offers with an unknown start date or a start date after February 8, 2025, will be rescinded, based on the official IRS employment website. In addition, job openings posted on sites such as USAJOBS.gov have been pulled.
Some have turned to social media to air grievances, like the legal professors looking for employment opportunities for currently-unemployed students. But most keep their concerns out of fear of retribution with the press.
How about current IRS workers? Last week, Trump insisted he would either fire IRS staff members or deport them to the border.
“Every form of hiring freeze has an effect, and that will be true here,” former IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig, who served during Trump’s first term, said in a lengthy statement to Forbes when reached for comment. The vast majority of individuals interact with the IRS in a striving effort to satisfy their reporting and payment responsibilities. Consequently, the IRS will likely continue to transfer core personnel from enforcement to taxpayer services and general operations support, to the extent practicable. IRS employees are dedicated to the country and will not lose their objective. The entire press release, with details about the revocations, is available here.
Of course, this all occurred during the first full week of tax season when tax professionals were busy answering questions about when to expect Forms 1099 and W-2. Those forms should have been received by January 31, 2025, for most taxpayers; however, if yours didn’t, you might be going online or calling a few people. Here is a list of forms and deadlines.
Some people are confused about whether they still have to file their 1040s and pay taxes due to the mad week and maybe some wishful thinking. I can affirm that you still do.
Obviously, cybercriminals are counting on distracted taxpayers who would click on malicious links or share personal details that can be used to commit identity theft given the start of tax season. An example of these scams includes a text message that informs the taxpayer that he or she qualifies for a $1,400 Economic Impact Payment if he or she clicks on a link and provides his or her information. Like many hoaxes, there’s enough truth in the message to persuade taxpayers to click.
In fact, according to a recent IRS report, more than a million qualified taxpayers might have missed the Recovery Rebate Credit (RRC) on their 2021 tax returns.Don’t do it! The IRS will pay you automatically if you are an eligible qualified beneficiary. It’s a scam, so you are not
supposed to do anything, including click on any links provided to you via social media, email, or text. () Use caution.
Next week, we will learn about scams, including one so ridiculous it was turned into a television series. I’ll also give you an update on my preparations for Alaska (spoiler alert: I’m experimenting with dried foods).
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who listened to, shared, and commented on the first Forbes Tax Breaks podcast episode. You can catch up if you missed it here. The next one will be out shortly.
