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- 1.4 million refunds are on hold right now
1.4 million refunds are on hold right now
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I share the 4-5 most important accounting that actually matter. I scroll so you don’t have to.
So grab your coffee, take a quick break, and lets catch up.
In this issue:
1.4 million refunds are on hold and the number keeps climbing
The IRS is barely auditing large partnerships and everyone knows it
Airlines are quietly shrinking economy seats to sell you upgrades
- Ledger Lowdown Team
WTF of the Day🤯
1.4 Million People Are Waiting on Refunds
Trump signed an executive order last year killing paper checks for federal payments. Now 1.4 million taxpayers got a letter from the IRS saying their refund is on hold until they provide bank account info, and that number is growing by 300,000 every single week. The problem is the IRS phone number on the notice doesn't even connect to a real person. It sends you to a recording that tells you to set up an online account, which a lot of these people don't have.
If your clients are expecting a paper check this year, tell them now. If they don't respond to the notice within 30 days the IRS will eventually mail a check anyway but that's another 4 to 6 weeks on top of the wait they already have. So we're talking 10 weeks total for some people. Congress is already demanding answers from the Treasury and found out the IRS sent lawmakers an altered version of the notice that was missing key information. It's a mess. Get your clients on direct deposit before they find out the hard way.
What’s poppin in accounting🍿
The IRS Is Barely Auditing Large Partnerships
Large partnerships, the ones with $10 million or more in assets, nearly doubled from 140,000 to 335,000 between 2011 and 2023. The IRS audit rate for them went from 2.7% down to below 0.1%. That is not a typo. The agency literally sent 483 warning letters to partnerships with balance sheet problems in 2023, got sketchy or no responses from most of them, and then quietly decided not to follow up because they ran out of time and staff.
The IRS lost 25% of its workforce last year and the team that handles partnership audits lost 20% of its people just in 2025. So right now the IRS is only actively examining 82 of the largest partnerships in the entire country. For your clients with partnership structures, the audit risk is at an all time low. That is good news for them but the report makes clear this is not intentional policy, it is just the IRS being completely overwhelmed. When staffing eventually comes back, these returns are going to be the first ones they go after.
Weekly Trend Chart 📊
Premium Seat Sections Now Make Up A Greater Share Of Major US Airline Cabins
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First and business class seats on domestic flights are up 27% since 2020. Economy is up 10%. Airlines figured out that rich people kept spending no matter what while everyone else cut back, so they just started building planes for rich people. United's new jet layout has 16 more business class seats and 65 fewer economy seats. Delta's premium ticket sales grew 7% last year while regular cabin sales fell 5%.
This is just the K-shaped economy playing out at 35,000 feet. The top half of earners are spending more than ever on travel, hotels, and experiences. The bottom half is cutting back on everything. Airlines read the room and remodeled accordingly. So if your economy seat feels smaller than it used to, it's because it literally is. They took that space and sold it to someone else for 3x the price.
Meme of the Day😂
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