In the news.

After steep increases for 2024, the HSA maximum contribution amounts allowed by the IRS still increase for 2025, but not by as much, as the rate of inflation slowed.

The proposed regulations implement Secs. 643(i), 679, 6039F, 6048, and 6677, which were added or modified to prevent efforts by U.S. taxpayers to use foreign trusts and offshore arrangements to avoid U.S. taxes.

The final regulations, which the IRS issued Friday, also provide rules regarding the critical mineral and battery component requirements for the new clean vehicle credit, and they add a new test for mineral content.

The IRS aims to improve service on the tax practitioner phone line and build a better online account for tax professionals, Commissioner Danny Werfel said Thursday.

The IRS on Tuesday provided a comprehensive list of changes in tax accounting methods to which the automatic change procedures in Rev. Proc. 2015-13 apply. The list includes 21 changes described as significant.

The IRS issued final regulations regarding the election to transfer certain clean energy tax credits. The regulations include specific rules for partnerships and S corporations as eligible taxpayers and transferee taxpayers.

The draft form, which when finalized will be used by brokers to report digital asset transactions, reflects the language of the proposed regulations, including a broad definition of “broker.”

The IRS had mixed success in its first efforts to find employers who evade taxes, doing better in its criminal pursuit than on the civil side, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in a recent report.

The FAQs from Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said access to beneficial ownership information will be phased in, beginning this spring with a pilot program for some federal agency users and concluding in spring 2025, when financial institutions with customer due-diligence requirements will be able to review BOI.

IRS commissioner Danny Werfel told the Senate Finance Committee that a tax bill passed by the House in January would help the IRS combat fraud in employee retention credit claims.