During the height of tax season, billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is reportedly aiming to centralize all IRS data around a single portal allowing third parties easier access to taxpayer information, and will begin efforts next week with a “hackathon” to find solutions. DOGE apparently believes it can complete this project in about 30 days. 

As first reported by Wired, the goal is the creation of a central application programming interface, or API, a type of software that lets computer programs communicate with each other, enabling direct passage of data. Any software integration depends on API access to function. 

While the IRS already makes use of APIs—such as those it maintains for e-Services, Income Verification Express Service and Information Return Intake System—the group’s aim is to create a single super API from which one could access all agency data, enabling users to view and manipulate it in one place. Such a move would also facilitate increased cloud connectivity by third party developers. The project will likely need a private sector partner, and Wired said it would likely be surveillance tech company Palentir, run by fellow billionaire Peter Thiel.

Such a move would also serve to take the dozens of disparate systems housed in on-premises data centers, purposely compartmentalized from the cloud, into this new API. It is unknown whether, or how, the new API would account for the numerous special permissions currently required to access certain types of data. Wired said this has led to security concerns, as the IRS has sensitive data that would be of great value to criminals, and centralizing everything under a single API could disrupt the systems of control the service already has in place to safeguard taxpayer information. 

It is unknown how the wave of layoffs at the IRS might affect this project. Of particular note is the fact that the administration has placed 50 senior IRS tech leaders on paid administrative leave. However, overall headcount in the short term seems subject to rapid change, as many of those same IRS employees who were laid off were rehired to help with the tax season load. Nevertheless, last week the IRS shuttered its Office of Civil Rights and Compliance, which had 130 employees, made plans to lay off 20,000 more, and most recently has eyed further staff reductions. 

Meanwhile, the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security have reached an agreement to share IRS information on immigrants with DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit. Under the memorandum of understanding, ICE will be able to ask the IRS for information such as addresses of people who have been ordered to leave the U.S. IRS officials had previously objected to sharing more extensive information such as Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, and the disagreement reportedly led to the departure of the IRS’s former acting chief counsel. 

Musk, via DOGE, has said little about the IRS on his social media but has criticized the agency for its reliance on contractors as well as the slow pace of its modernization program. Recently, the government froze $1.5 billion in modernization contracts, which will either be canceled or be modified along pay-for-performance lines. 

A group of over 100 lawmakers reintroduced legislation in the House to expand and strengthen the Low Income Housing Tax Credit.

Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Illinois, Suzan DelBene, D-Washington, Claudia Tenney, R-New York, Don Beyer, D-Virginia, Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and Jimmy Panetta, D-California, reintroduced the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act on Tuesday along with about 100 cosponsors. The bill has been repeatedly reintroduced in Congress since 2016 without winning final passage. A companion bill in the Senate is slated for introduction soon. Last Congress, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act had 273 bipartisan cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 34 in the Senate.

The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would support the financing of an estimated nearly 2 million new affordable homes across the country by increasing the number of credits allocated to each state by 50% for the next two years and making the temporary 12.5% increase secured in 2018 permanent. The credits have already helped build more than 59,000 additional affordable housing units across the U.S.

The bill would also increase the number of affordable housing projects that can be built using private activity bonds, stabilizing the financing for workforce housing projects built using private activity bonds by decreasing the amount of private activity needed to secure LIHTC funding. Proponents believe that as a result, projects would be able to carry less debt, and more projects would be eligible to receive funding.

“As I travel throughout Illinois’ 16th Congressional District, I frequently hear how the shortage of affordable housing impacts our communities throughout central and northwestern Illinois,” LaHood said in a statement. “To address this growing crisis across the country, Congress must strengthen tools to drive investment into affordable workforce housing and expand housing options for hardworking families nationwide. I am proud to reintroduce the bipartisan Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act alongside Representatives DelBene, Tenney, Beyer, Feenstra, and Panetta to strengthen our communities and support economic development.” 

The bill would also improve the LIHTC program to serve communities such as veterans, victims of domestic violence and rural Americans.

“Too many families are struggling to find a safe, affordable place to call home,” said DelBene in a statement. “This is a pervasive problem across America and in Washington. When people have stable housing, it has a ripple effect throughout other aspects of life. They’re better able to support their families and succeed at work. This overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation makes smart, targeted investments to increase affordable housing supply and help meet the needs of growing communities both in Washington and across the country.” 

Since it was created in 1986, the LIHTC has helped build or restore more than 3.5 million affordable housing units, nearly 90% of all federally funded affordable housing during that time. Approximately 8 million American households have benefited from the credit, according to proponents, and the economic activity that it generated has supported 5.5 million jobs and generated more than $617 billion in wages.

In the previous Congress, over half the membership of the House cosponsored the AHCIA, including majorities of both Republicans and Democrats. Key provisions from the bill passed the House with overwhelming support as part of the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 (H.R.7024): restoring the 12.5% expansion of the LIHTC initially signed into law by President Trump (but allowed to expire in 2021), and easing the private activity bond threshold requirements for accessing four percent credits. This year’s reintroduction of the bill comes as communities across the country struggle with higher housing costs and dwindling supply, according to proponents.

“The overwhelming bipartisan support for the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025 underscores the critical need to increase the supply of affordable rental homes,” said Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition CEO Emily Cadik in a statement. “We thank the bill’s sponsors for their leadership and the more than 100 bipartisan House cosponsors for supporting this commonsense solution to expand and strengthen the Housing Credit.”

“With our nation’s housing crisis reaching record levels, there is a strong imperative for Congress to act,” said Dudley Benoit, president of the AHTCC board of directors and executive vice president of Walker & Dunlop, in a statement. “The affordable housing crisis affects every state and all types of communities. The Housing Credit has proven to be an effective tool in urban and rural areas alike. Without action, this crisis will continue to spiral, leaving more families unable to find affordable housing in their communities and making it more difficult for those communities to support a workforce.”

Change is not at hand; a question for brokerages; the IRS Simple Installment; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Sweet liberty

• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): By cutting funding and staff, Congress and President Trump have largely ended the Biden administration’s plans for “transformational change” at the IRS.
• The Tax Times (https://www.thetaxtimes.com): The IRS may be facing eradication, but it still had long, long arms when it came to a former Florida resident living in Italy who didn’t file tax returns.
• Berkowitz Pollack Brant (https://www.bpbcpa.com/articles-press-releases/): Beneficial ownership information reporting requirements do still apply … to some. A look at the remaining narrow group that still must report.
• Eide Bailly (https://www.eidebailly.com/taxblog): Republicans wished they could focus on extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act before this year runs out. Then came “Liberation Day.”

The end’s in sight

Breaking through the noise

Illogical yet revolutionary

• Current Federal Tax Developments (https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/): The Massachusetts Appeals Court’s decision in Craig H. Welch & Another vs. Commissioner of Revenue provides guidance for navigating the state’s income tax for non-residents, particularly concerning capital gains from the sale of stock.
• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (https://itep.org/category/blog/): Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s proposal to cut the city’s business income and receipts tax, based off the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission’s recommendation, is “illogical and imprudent.”
• Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): South Carolina lawmakers and their governor intend to have the state join the flat tax revolution. “Unfortunately, while the plan would implement a low, flat rate that is highly competitive with other states’ systems, it yields a significant tax increase for many households that have historically had very little liability.”