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IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley to be named acting commissioner

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Gary Shapley, a former special agent in the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation division who investigated Hunter Biden’s taxes and testified before Congress about interference, will reportedly be named acting commissioner of the IRS after the resignation of the current acting commissioner, Melanie Krause.

Shapley and a fellow special agent, Joseph Ziegler, testified in 2023 before the House Oversight Committee that then-President Joe Biden’s son Hunter received preferential treatment during a tax-evasion investigation, and they had been removed from the investigation after complaining to their supervisors in 2022.

Both of them were promoted last month to senior advisors to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Shapley was made deputy chief of IRS Criminal Investigation. Now he will reportedly become acting commissioner, according to the Washington Post and CBS News. He will be replacing Krause, who accepted a voluntary buyout offer under the IRS’s deferred resignation program after a dispute over sharing confidential taxpayer data with immigration authorities at the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division. 

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, hailed the decision to name Shapley as acting IRS commissioner with a post on X saying, “It’s GR8 NEWS whistleblower Gary Shapley will b taking over as Acting IRS Commissioner Pres Trump’s administration is catching on 2 my advice not only shld WBs who faced retaliation b reinstated they shld b PROMOTED Need more patriots like Gary in leadership.”

The IRS referred inquiries to the Treasury Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The acting IRS commissioner post has been a revolving door in recent months. Krause, who was chief operating officer at the IRS, took the job in February following the abrupt retirement of former acting commissioner Douglas O’Donnell and the departure of the previous commissioner, Danny Werfel, in January. President Trump had named former congressman Billy Long, R-Missouri, as the next IRS commissioner even before his inauguration, prompting Werfel’s departure on Inauguration Day. However the Senate has not yet held a confirmation hearing for Long.

Shapley and Long will be overseeing a series of planned reductions in force of the IRS of up to 40%, according to the Federal News Network. According to an internal memo, the plan would reduce the IRS’s workforce of approximately 102,000 people to about 60,000 to 70,000. Among the parts of the IRS expected to take the heaviest cuts are the IRS Taxpayer Experience Office, Transformation Strategy Office, Online Services Office. Office of Civil Rights, Taxpayer Services and Compliance. Approximately 22,000 employees have already accepted the latest voluntary buyout offer under the IRS’s second deferred resignation program, according to Politico

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Accountants on IRS and PwC layoffs, accounting students and more

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Complimentary Access Pill

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.

This week’s stats focus in part on the job titles seeing the greatest losses at the IRS during layoffs; as well as the states that have proposed or passed alternatives to the 150-hour rule; the percentage of master’s in accounting program applicants since 2020; the number of PwC employees laid off in May; the projected size of Deloitte’s new New York City headquarters; and the amount of 2026 HSA annual contribution limits, depending on coverage.

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CrowdStrike says DOJ, SEC sent inquiries on firm accounting

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CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. said U.S. officials have asked for information related to the accounting of deals it’s made with some customers and said the cybersecurity firm is cooperating with the inquiry.

The Austin, Texas-based company said in a filing Wednesday that it has gotten “requests for information” from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission “relating to the company’s recognition of revenue and reporting of ARR for transactions with certain customers.” ARR refers to annual recurring revenue, a measure of earnings from subscriptions.

The company said the federal officials have also sought information related to a CrowdStrike update last year that crashed Windows operating systems around the world.

“The company is cooperating and providing information in response to these requests,” the filing states.

U.S. prosecutors and regulators have been investigating a $32 million deal between CrowdStrike and a technology distributor, Carahsoft Technology Corp., to provide cybersecurity tools to the Internal Revenue Service, Bloomberg News first reported in February. The IRS never purchased or received the products, Bloomberg News earlier reported.

The investigators are probing what senior CrowdStrike executives may have known about the $32 million deal and are examining other transactions made by the cybersecurity firm, Bloomberg News reported in May.

Asked for comment about the filing, CrowdStrike spokesperson Brian Merrill said, “As we have told Bloomberg repeatedly, this is old news and we stand by the accounting of the transaction.” 

A lawyer for Carahsoft previously declined to comment on the federal investigations, and representatives didn’t respond to subsequent requests for comment about them.

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Elon Musk urges Americans take action to ‘kill’ Trump tax cut bill

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Tech titan Elon Musk ratcheted up his offensive against Donald Trump’s signature tax bill on Wednesday, urging that Americans contact their lawmakers to “KILL” the legislation.

“Call your Senator, Call your Congressman,” Musk wrote in a social media post. “Bankrupting America is NOT ok!”

The post came one day after Musk lashed out at the tax bill, describing it as a budget-busting “disgusting abomination” as Republican fiscal hawks stepped up criticism of the massive fiscal package. 

Trump hasn’t publicly responded to Musk’s comments, but the White House put out a statement Wednesday saying the legislation “unleashes an era of unprecedented economic growth.” 

And House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that Musk is “dead wrong” about the bill and that the tax cuts will pay for themselves through economic growth.

Musk’s public condemnation pits him against the president at a critical time as Trump is personally lobbying holdouts on the bill. His campaign against the legislation threatens to stiffen resistance and delay enactment of the tax cuts and debt ceiling increase. 

Musk has attacked the legislation days after leaving a temporary assignment leading the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative to cut federal spending. The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer’s high-profile role in the Trump administration eroded his business brand and sales of his company’s electric vehicles plunged. 

The House-passed version of the tax and spending bill would add $2.4 trillion to U.S. budget deficits over the next decade, according to an estimate released Wednesday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO’s calculation reflects a $3.67 trillion decrease in expected revenues and a $1.25 trillion decline in spending over the decade through 2034, relative to baseline projections. The score doesn’t account for any potential boost to the economy from the bill, which Johnson and Trump argue would offset the revenue losses. 

Musk, the world’s richest man with a net worth of about $377 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, has become a crucial financial backer of the Republican party. After making modest donations most years, Musk became the biggest U.S. political donor in 2024, giving more than $290 million.

Johnson said Musk had promised to help reelect Republicans just a day before savaging Trump’s bill. Musk did not respond to a request for comment. 

Most of Musk’s giving was aimed at electing Trump but he also supported congressional candidates. America PAC, the super political action committee that Musk largely funded, spent $18.5 million in 17 separate House races. Though that total pales in comparison to the roughly $255 million he spent backing Trump, the spending means a lot in a congressional election, where challengers on average raise less than $1 million.

Control of the House will likely be decided by the outcome of fewer than two dozen close races in the 2026 midterm elections. The GOP’s chances of holding their majority would suffer a major blow if Musk were to withdraw his financial support.

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