The Thursday Lowdown ⬇️

If you're new around here, every day I share the 4-5 best accounting insights I saw in the past 24 hours.

I scroll. so you don't have to.

💎 WTF of the Day

New Jersey catfished accountant blows $1.5M in bitcoin

Of course this happened in New Jersey. A CPA who’s probably been lonely since dial up, meets a “hot blonde” online who says she needs help moving money out of Thailand. Naturally, this financial professional thinks this is his moment. So he sends her $1.5 million... in Bitcoin. But wait…. it gets dumber. It wasn’t even his money. It was his client’s.

Now the client’s suing, and the accountant’s out here acting like he’s the victim of some tragic love story. No dude, you’re just the kind of guy who wires millions to a stock photo.

Source

💎 What’s poppin in accounting

IRS Direct File reportedly ending next year

The IRS finally did something people liked, a free, no middleman way to file your taxes. It worked. People were happy. So naturally, it’s getting killed. The Trump team’s reportedly pulling the plug next year, because why let Americans do anything without needing a lawyer, a CPA, and a bottle of Xanax?

Some people say Direct File shouldn’t exist because there are already free filing options run by private companies. Others think ending it is a step backwards, something that made taxes easier and cheaper, and now it’s getting scrapped. No one knows what’ll replace it, if anything.

Source

 📊 Weekly Trend Chart

Meta tried to settle for $450M

Mark Zuckerberg, our alien lizard overlord in court this week over its old acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The FTC says Meta bought its way into monopoly status, building a "moat" to kill competition. So what did Zuck do? Got on the phone with the FTC and offered $450M to settle it quietly. The FTC laughed it off, they’re pushing for $30B and maybe even a forced breakup.

Why’s Meta so desperate? Because 98% of its revenue still comes from its family of apps. Losing Insta or WhatsApp would be like Amazon giving up Prime. And Reality Labs? you mean that $60B science fair project with cartoon legs and no users? Yeah, that’s not paying the bills.

Take away Insta and WhatsApp and Meta’s just a tax write off with a WiFi signal.

#😂 

😂 😂 

P.S. What'd you think of today's edition? Hit 'reply' to this email and lemme hear it!