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IRS employees face further staff reductions

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Internal Revenue Service employees are being offered a last opportunity to accept a voluntary buyout offer as the Supreme Court blocked a ruling requiring the Treasury Department and other federal agencies to rehire thousands of fired probationary employees.

The IRS sent a memo to employees announcing a reduction in force and offering employees three voluntary separation programs, according to a copy of the memo that was posted Tuesday to Reddit. Under the Treasury Deferred Resignation Program, the Treasury is offering a second and final deferred resignation program with applications accepted Monday, April 7, 2025, through Monday, April 14, 2025.  The TDRP 2.0 program will mirror the benefits of the original deferred resignation program including paid administrative leave through Sept. 30, 2025. Employees who elect this program will have to offboard no later than Sept. 30, 2025, unless they choose to offboard sooner. 

The IRS is also offering a Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment program to eligible employees, but they will have to depart no later than May 31, 2025, and administrative leave will not be offered to VSIP participants. Employees can elect to resign, optionally retire or take a combination of VSIP plus another program, Voluntary Early Retirement Application, or VERA. Employees who enroll in either the DRP or VSIP can also elect VERA, but they need to be at least 50 years old and have at least 20 years of creditable federal service, or be of any age with at least 25 years of creditable federal service, to be eligible for VERA. 

Last week, after two court rulings in California and Maryland, the IRS’s acting commissioner, Melanie Krause, announced the IRS would be bringing back approximately 7,000 probationary employees who had been fired and then put on paid administrative leave. However, last Friday, the IRS eliminated its Office of Civil Rights and Compliance, laying off approximately 130 employees, while also making plans to eliminate around 20,000 employees, or almost a quarter of its workforce.

“As we announced on Friday, the IRS has begun implementing a Reduction in Force (RIF) that will result in staffing cuts across multiple offices and job categories,” said the IRS memo.

Separately on Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued an order pausing the ruling from the California court ordering the Trump administration to rehire over 16,000 probationary employees who had been fired at the Treasury Department, as well as the Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior  and Veterans Affairs Departments, according to The New York Times. The Supreme Court indicated that the nine nonprofit groups that had filed suit did not have sufficient standing. However, the court ruling in Maryland remains in effect. 

The Times and Fox News also reported that 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. Under the memorandum of understanding, ICE would 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

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Total college enrollment rose 3.2%

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Total postsecondary spring enrollment grew 3.2% year-over-year, according to a report.

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center published the latest edition of its Current Term Enrollment Estimates series, which provides final enrollment estimates for the fall and spring terms.

The report found that undergraduate enrollment grew 3.5% and reached 15.3 million students, but remains below pre-pandemic levels (378,000 less students). Graduate enrollment also increased to 7.2%, higher than in 2020 (209,000 more students).

Graduation photo

(Read more: Undergraduate accounting enrollment rose 12%)

Community colleges saw the largest growth in enrollment (5.4%), and enrollment increased for all undergraduate credential types. Bachelor’s and associate programs grew 2.1% and 6.3%, respectively, but remain below pre-pandemic levels. 

Most ethnoracial groups saw increases in enrollment this spring, with Black and multiracial undergraduate students seeing the largest growth (10.3% and 8.5%, respectively). The number of undergraduate students in their twenties also increased. Enrollment of students between the ages of 21 and 24 grew 3.2%, and enrollment for students between 25 and 29 grew 5.9%.

For the third consecutive year, high vocational public two-years had substantial growth in enrollment, increasing 11.7% from 2023 to 2024. Enrollment at these trade-focused institutions have increased nearly 20% since pre-pandemic levels.

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Interim guidance from the IRS simplifies corporate AMT

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Jordan Vonderhaar/Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar/

The Internal Revenue Service has released Notice 2025-27, which provides interim guidance on an optional simplified method for determining an applicable corporation for the corporate alternative minimum tax.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 amended Sec. 55 to impose the CAMT based on the “adjusted financial statement income” of an “applicable corporation” for taxable years beginning in 2023. 

Among other details, proposed regs provide that “applicable corporation” means any corporation (other than an S corp, a regulated investment company or a REIT) that meets either of two average annual AFSI tests depending on financial statement net operating losses for three taxable years and whether the corporation is a member of a foreign-parented multinational group.

Prior to the publication of any final regulations relating to the CAMT, the Treasury and the IRS will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking. Notice 2025-27 will be in IRB: 2025-26, dated June 23.

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Accounting

In the blogs: Whiplash | Accounting Today

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Conquering tariffs; bracing for notices; FBAR penalty timing; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Whiplash

Number-crunching

  • Canopy (https://www.getcanopy.com/blog): “7-Figure Firm, 4-Hour Workweek: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself.”
  • The National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): This week’s “You Make the Call” looks at Sarah, a U.S. citizen who moved to London for work in 2024. On May 15, 2025, it hit her that she forgot to file her 2024 U.S. return. Was she required to file her 2024 taxes by April 15?
  • Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): Anteing up with Uncle Sam: The World Series of Poker is back, and one major change this year involves players from Russia and Hungary. After suspension of tax treaties with those nations, players will have 30% of winnings withheld. 
  • Parametric (https://www.parametricportfolio.com/blog): Direct indexing seems to come with a common misunderstanding: On the performance statement, conflating the value of harvested losses with returns. 

Problems brewing

  • Taxing Subjects (https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog): No chill is chillier than the client’s at the mailbox when an IRS notice appears out of the blue. How you can educate — and warn — them about the various notices everybody’s that favorite agency might send.
  • Dean Dorton (https://deandorton.com/insights/): Perhaps because they can be founded on trust, your nonprofit clients are especially vulnerable to fraud.
  • Global Taxes (https://www.globaltaxes.com/blog.php): When it’s your time, it’s your time: The clock starts on FBAR penalties when the tax forms are due and not when penalties are assessed — and even the death of the taxpayer doesn’t extend the deadline.
  • TaxConnex (https://www.taxconnex.com/blog-): Your e-commerce clients can muck up sales tax obligations in many ways. How some of the seeds of trouble might hide in their own billing system.
  • Sovos (https://sovos.com/blog/): What’s up with the five states that don’t have a sales tax?
  • Taxjar (https://www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): Humans are still needed to handle sales tax complexity, with real-world examples.
  • Wiss (https://wiss.com/insights/read/): A business — and business-advising — success story from a California chicken eatery.

Almost half done

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