The Forest Service sells timber that can be used to build homes and make paper products, among other things. This Q&A report looks at how the Forest Service manages timber sales. The Forest Service manages several types of timber sales. In some sales, buyers bid on contracts that give them rights to harvest timber in certain areas. The agency may also exchange timber for services...
Published: Dec 19, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 19, 2024 .
IRS is offering a new, free service to help taxpayers prepare and file tax returns electronically. It piloted Direct File in 2024 for taxpayers with simple tax returns in 12 states and will make it a permanent option starting in 2025. Taxpayers said it was easier to prepare and file returns. IRS plans to offer Direct File in 12 more states in 2025 but is...
GAO-25-106822
Published: Dec 19, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 19, 2024 .
Our Q&A report examines U.S. Coast Guard efforts to expand its polar icebreaker fleet. But can it afford to do so? The Coast Guard doesn't know—because it is: Building heavy polar icebreakers and planning for a new class of medium polar icebreakers, but has yet to determine the necessary mix of the two. So, it doesn't know how many of each it needs to build...
GAO-25-107328
Published: Dec 19, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 19, 2024 .
Demand for water is increasing as U.S. droughts are expected to get more frequent and intense. "Cloud seeding" is an 80-year-old technology that adds tiny particles—usually silver iodide crystals—to clouds to trigger rain or snow. But the benefits of this technology are unproven. Some states are using cloud seeding, but there is little federal involvement. This technology assessment looks at how policies might address challenges...
GAO-25-107098
Published: Dec 19, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 19, 2024 .
The State Department spent about $3.1 billion on pay, benefits, and allowances for employees serving overseas in FY 2023. Most of this spending went to basic compensation, housing, and federal benefits like the employer's contribution toward retirement and health insurance. Cost-of-living allowance—which include reimbursement for dependents' education and extra pay in areas with high living costs—accounted for about 10% of State's spending. The amount State...
GAO-25-106867
Published: Dec 19, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 19, 2024 .
The Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review holds immigration hearings to determine whether noncitizens will be removed from the country. As of July 2024, there's a backlog of about 3.5 million pending cases. Noncitizens are expected to attend their hearings. Failing to show up could result in removal from the U.S.—unless a judge waives their appearance. But the Office's case management system doesn't...
GAO-25-106955
Published: Dec 19, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 19, 2024 .
Partnerships and trusts can be created without naming the people who own and control them. This lack of transparency can be attractive to criminals laundering money or hiding illegal activities. The Corporate Transparency Act requires certain businesses to report ownership information to Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). But some partnerships and trusts are not subject to this reporting requirement. As a result, illegal activities...
GAO-25-107140
Published: Dec 19, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 19, 2024 .
Research using animals can lead to a better understanding of human health and treatments for diseases. To achieve these advancements, it is important for research results to be replicated and shown to apply to humans. However, this is challenging to do. The National Institutes of Health has taken steps to address the challenges in research it conducts or supports. But it hasn't fully followed best...
GAO-25-106862
Published: Dec 18, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 18, 2024 .
Wildfires have increased in size and severity in recent decades. There are also more new homes and other buildings in fire-prone areas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency provided over $3.8 billion in wildfire-related assistance in FY 2019-2023. That paid for work such as debris removal and utility repairs. We interviewed officials from 22 state, local, and tribal governments about their experiences with FEMA assistance. They...
GAO-25-107368
Published: Dec 18, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 18, 2024 .
Most people who receive vaccines or treatments for certain public health threats, such as COVID-19 vaccines, have no serious problems as a result. But with any medicine, there is a rare chance of injury or death. To encourage the development of these vaccines and treatments, legislation limited industry liability. It also authorized a compensation program for serious injuries or deaths. The program: Received a surge...
GAO-25-107435
Published: Dec 18, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 18, 2024 .
Artificial intelligence is complex and evolving. It could be used to improve the systems that operate critical infrastructure, like water and energy. But it could also make them more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Federal agencies that protect critical infrastructure had to assess AI risks to infrastructure sectors. But the Department of Homeland Security's guidance for assessments didn't have agencies fully measure how much harm an attack...
GAO-25-106048
Published: Dec 17, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 17, 2024 .
The National Nuclear Security Administration plans to invest more than $60 billion in programs to modernize the nation's aging nuclear weapons stockpile. These programs face significant challenges, such as making sure that critical technologies are fully developed in time to meet production deadlines. We found that NNSA does not have a formal process to identify which technologies are most critical, which could help it keep...
Published: Dec 17, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 17, 2024 .
This technology assessment examines systems that are implanted in the brain or worn on the head that let people control electronic devices using brain signals. In clinical trials, these brain-computer interfaces helped people with severe disabilities. Businesses are also investing in developing the technology for entertainment and other uses. We identified challenges with this fast-moving technology. These include uncertainty over: Who owns sensitive brain data...
GAO-25-106347
Published: Nov 12, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 17, 2024 .
This Q&A report examines federal assistance for farmers and ranchers who feed livestock. The money is to help them maintain operations when livestock prices are down and revenues decline. From 2018-2023, four USDA programs provided a majority of the assistance to the top 10,000 livestock feeding operations. These operations house a single species in a confined setting such as a building or a pen. We...
GAO-25-107174
Published: Dec 17, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 17, 2024 .
We reviewed U.S. Department of Agriculture programs that provide financial assistance to farmers and ranchers. We found that USDA provided $161 billion in assistance from FY2019-2023. Of that, 42% went to those affected by international trade disruptions, the pandemic, and natural disasters. Additionally, about 1 million farmers and ranchers received assistance each year. The number of those who are part of historically underserved groups—e.g., new...
GAO-25-106749
Published: Dec 17, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 17, 2024 .
The Navy spent billions to modernize its cruisers to extend their service lives rather than retire them. But the effort has been plagued with problems like schedule delays, wasted costs, and poor-quality work. Only 3 of 11 cruisers will complete the modernization process and won't spend as much time at sea as intended. Weak oversight is also contributing to this issue. Navy leadership discouraged the...
GAO-25-106972
Published: Dec 17, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 17, 2024 .
Recently, federal agencies have been buying more zero emission vehicles for their fleets. We examined the costs and benefits of using zero emission vehicles in the federal fleet. The autos and charging stations generally cost more than gas vehicles, but they emit fewer greenhouse gases. As of last year, most agencies were still buying gas vehicles. Three federal agencies are leading the fleet transition—providing training.
GAO-25-106944
Published: Dec 17, 2024 . Publicly Released: Dec 17, 2024 .
Nearly 100,000 people in the U.S. died of drug overdoses from July 2023-June 2024. A vast majority of those deaths—about 75%—involved opioids. Since FY 2018, the lead federal health agency for the opioid crisis awarded about $8.1 billion to states and $307.5 million to tribes to address it. Grant recipients funded prevention, treatment, and other services. But: The agency hasn't collected data on subrecipients that...
GASB
20 Dec 2024
19 Dec 2024
19 Dec 2024
IR-2025-01, Jan. 3, 2025 — The Internal Revenue Service today reminded disaster-area taxpayers who received extensions to file their 2023 returns that, depending upon their location, their returns are due by Feb. 3 or May 1, 2025.
IR-2024-315, Dec. 20, 2024 — The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service today issued proposed regulations to update the rules for certain tax professionals who can practice before the IRS; these rules are contained in Treasury Department Circular 230.
IR-2024-314, Dec. 20, 2024 — As part of continuing efforts to help taxpayers, the Internal Revenue Service today announced plans to issue automatic payments later this month to eligible people who did not claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns.
IR-2024-313, Dec. 20, 2024 — The Internal Revenue Service today announced the release of draft Instructions for Form 6765, Credit for Increasing Research Activities, also known as the research credit.
IR-2024-312, Dec. 19, 2024 — The Internal Revenue Service today announced that the optional standard mileage rate for automobiles driven for business will increase by 3 cents in 2025, while the mileage rates for vehicles used for other purposes will remain unchanged from 2024.
IR-2024-311, Dec. 19, 2024 — With the 2025 filing season quickly approaching, the Internal Revenue Service encouraged taxpayers to take key steps now to prepare for filing their 2024 federal income tax returns next year.
NYC
December 20th, 2024
NYS
2024-212
Washington D.C., Dec. 20, 2024 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Tai Mo Shan Limited with misleading investors about the stability of Terra USD (UST), a purported “algorithmic stablecoin” issued by Terraform Labs PTE Ltd. (Terraform), when UST dropped from its purportedly fixed exchange rate of 1 UST to $1, known as a peg.
2024-211
Washington D.C., Dec. 20, 2024 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted amendments to Rule 15c3-3 (the customer protection rule) to require certain broker-dealers to increase the frequency with which they perform computations of the net cash they owe to customers and other broker-dealers (known as PAB account holders) from weekly to daily.
2024-210
Washington D.C., Dec. 20, 2024 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against two private companies and one registered investment adviser for failing to timely file Forms D for several unregistered securities offerings in violation of Rule 503 of Regulation D.
2024-209
Washington D.C., Dec. 20, 2024 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged registered investment adviser Silver Point Capital L.P. with failing to establish, implement, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of material nonpublic information (MNPI) relating to its participation on creditors’ committees.
Washington D.C., Dec. 20, 2024 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged registered broker-dealer Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG, for failing to file certain Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in a timely manner. Deutsche Bank Securities has agreed to pay a $4 million civil penalty to settle the SEC’s charges.
Washington D.C., Dec. 20, 2024 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC and LPL Financial LLC for failing to provide complete and accurate securities trading information, known as blue sheet data, to the SEC. Wells Fargo and LPL each agreed to pay a $900,000 civil penalty to resolve the SEC's charges.
2024-206
Washington D.C., Dec. 20, 2024 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Entergy Corporation, a Louisiana-based utility company, agreed to pay a $12 million civil penalty to settle charges that it failed to maintain internal accounting controls to ensure that its surplus materials and supplies were accurately recorded in its books and financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
2024-205
Washington D.C., Dec. 19, 2024 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Illinois-based AAR CORP., a global provider of aviation services and products, agreed to resolve Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) charges in connection with two bribery schemes. AAR agreed to pay approximately $30 million to settle the SEC’s charges. Deepak Sharma, a former executive of a wholly owned AAR subsidiary, also settled SEC charges related to the same bribery schemes.
2024-204
Washington D.C., Dec. 18, 2024 — The Securities and Exchange Commission voted today to approve the 2025 budget of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the related annual accounting support fee.
2024-203
Washington D.C., Dec. 17, 2024 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Ohio-based Express, Inc., a multi-brand American fashion retailer, for failing to disclose executive compensation it paid to its now former CEO.
2024-202
Washington D.C., Dec. 16, 2024 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted amendments to require the electronic filing, submission, or posting of certain forms, filings, and other submissions that national securities exchanges, national securities associations, clearing agencies, broker-dealers, security-based swap dealers, and major security-based swap participants make with the Commission.
2024-201
Washington D.C., Dec. 16, 2024 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Becton, Dickinson and Company, a New Jersey-based medical device manufacturer known as BD, for repeatedly misleading investors about risks associated with its continued sales of its Alaris infusion pump and for overstating its income by failing to record the costs of fixing multiple software flaws with the pump. BD agreed to pay a $175 million civil penalty.
TIGTA