News

The IRS will stay fully staffed for the first five working days of a possible Saturday shutdown, a lapsed appropriations contingency plan posted late Friday shows — temporarily easing concerns that the IRS would furlough employees during tax filing season.

As the nation faces the possibility of another government shutdown, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) has urged the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to release a contingency plan excepting 100 percent of IRS employees in the event of a shutdown. In a letter to the Agency, the AICPA highlighted the severe impact a failure to do so would have on the 2026 filing season.

The Internal Revenue Service today issued frequently asked questions in Fact Sheet 2026-02 PDF to help taxpayers, businesses, and other stakeholders understand the changes under Executive Order 14247: Modernizing Payment To and From America’s Bank Account.

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) is expressing its support for the Fiscal State of the Nation Act, introduced by Representatives Andy Barr (R-KY) and Scott Peters (D-CA). This bipartisan legislation will promote greater fiscal transparency and require the Comptroller General of the United States to make an annual presentation before a joint hearing of the House and Senate Budget Committees to help key policymakers focus on some of the most important aspects of the consolidated financial statements, including financial and sustainability measures.

Under a new U.S. Postal Service (USPS) rule effective December 24, 2025, the USPS has clarified that a machine-applied postmark indicates the date the item is first processed by USPS using an automated sorting machine, which may be later than the day it was received by the post office. That means a document received by the post office on time could end up with a postmark dated after the deadline.

We wrapped up our annual Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments last week, and it’s hard to pick a single theme or highlight from the sheer volume of information presented and professional networking packed into a few days.

The AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC) voted Friday to issue the exposure draft of Proposed Revisions Related to Alternative Practice Structures, which features updated guidelines related to independence rules and private-equity investments.

Reversing a district court, the Eleventh Circuit held Tuesday that the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which mandated beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting, is constitutional and remanded the case for further proceedings.

The recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act (“OBBB Act”) ushers in some of the most significant tax law changes since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. While many provisions are designed to simplify or stimulate economic activity, they also create traps for the unwary. CPAs need to remain alert to compliance challenges, client misperceptions, and liability exposures as the IRS and state taxing authorities continue to issue implementing guidance.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) today announced the availability of the 2026 GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy (GRT), the 2026 SEC Reporting Taxonomy (SRT), and the 2026 GAAP Employee Benefit Plan Taxonomy (EBPT). The FASB also announced the availability of the 2026 DQC Rules Taxonomy (DQCRT) and the 2026 GAAP Meta Model Relationships Taxonomy (MMT), which, together with the GRT, SRT, and EBPT, is collectively referred to as the “FASB Taxonomies.”

The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service today issued Revenue Procedure 2026-6 PDF allowing States, including the District of Columbia, to make an Advance Election to participate in a new tax credit for calendar year 2027. This new credit, established under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, is for contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations that serve elementary and secondary school students from low- and middle-income families.

The CTCPA, AICPA, and other state CPA societies wrote to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon imploring the department to include accounting as a professional degree.

President Trump signed the Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act into law, requiring the IRS to provide a clear explanation of tax-filing errors to taxpayers on its math error notices, identify the item that's being changed, and explain why a tax refund is higher or lower than expected.

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) strongly opposes the U.S. Department of Education’s implementation of new student-loan policies that reclassify accounting degrees as “non-professional.”

The IRS will provide penalty relief to about 1 million taxpayers automatically starting next year, the national taxpayer advocate (NTA) said during a session at the AICPA National Tax Conference.

An AICPA letter in response to a Treasury and IRS call for recommendations related to the “all or nothing” approach to dual consolidated losses (DCLs) asked Treasury and the IRS to consider allowing an exception so companies aren’t unnecessarily penalized.

The AICPA and state CPA societies are calling on the U.S. Department of Education to explicitly include accounting programs in the regulatory definition of “professional degree programs.”

With New York, at least 24 states have eased education requirements needed to become a certified public accountant in a bid to address a talent shortage.

President Donald Trump is considering pressuring states to stop regulating artificial intelligence in a draft executive order obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, as some in Congress also consider whether to temporarily block states from regulating AI.

The IRS just came out of the longest government shutdown, but the deal that ended the stalemate funds the agency only through Jan. 30, just as filing season is about to begin. And that’s a concern for taxpayers and tax practitioners, two former IRS commissioners told reporters Tuesday at the 2025 AICPA National Tax Conference.