IRS

The past few months have been particularly challenging for the IRS, with budget ups and downs, a long government shutdown and a complex new tax code.

In today’s Federal Newscast, the Office of Government Ethics laid out what kind of aid furloughed employees are allowed to receive during a government shutdown.

The timing of the third shutdown of 2018 and the implementation of 2017 tax reform created major paycheck and cash flow problems for tens of thousands around the nation.

President Donald Trump signed the 2019 spending bill into law, securing a 1.9 percent pay raise for federal employees that will be retroactive to Jan. 1.

In today’s Federal Newscast, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the agency in charge of union relationships, no longer has one with it’s own employees union.

The IRS is still reeling from the effects of the 35-day shutdown that ended last month, according to the agency’s taxpayer watchdog office.

This week’s Your Turn guest is estate attorney Tom O’Rourke, a former IRS attorney who now works exclusively on things such as wills, powers-of-attorney, medical directives and trusts, which some would say most people should have.

In today’s Federal Newscast, there are many Democrats in Congress worried about VA’s new regulations expanding veterans’ access to private care.

The IRS processed “several million” tax returns on Monday in the opening hours of the tax filing season, but the effects of a 35-day partial government shutdown that ended Friday still leaves open questions about the agency’s readiness. 

The IRS recalled more than half of its total workforce to work without pay and help issue tax refunds during the partial government shutdown, but some financially hard-pressed employees remain at home, due to a clause in their union’s contract.