Crypto Exchanges, ERC, and Tax Refunds

Tax Policy/News:

June 10: Why the SEC is going after crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance

The Securities and Exchange Commission unveiled a barrage of charges against two of the world's largest crypto exchanges - Coinbase and Binance - kicking off a legal battle that will help define the future of cryptocurrencies.

Although these two lawsuits are different in many ways, at their heart, Coinbase and Binance are both being accused of failing to register their exchanges with the SEC. Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao poses during an interview at a technology startups and innovation fair in Paris on May 16, 2022.

What many crypto companies want are new rules of the road that are crypto-specific.

If the SEC prevails in the courts, it could potentially force crypto companies to register with the SEC, which would be a sea change.

Coinbase and Binance join a list of crypto companies against which the SEC has taken action, including Kraken, Genesis and Gemini.

In crypto, sentiment is critical, and the industry has had a rough ride since last year, with the collapse of FTX. Its now-former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried faces civil charges from the SEC and the CFTC, and the Justice Department has also brought criminal charges against him.

June 8: IRS budget cuts not stopping ERC crackdown

Congress' recent move to shift $21.4 billion in funding away from the Internal Revenue Service as a condition for increasing the debt limit isn't deterring the tax agency from moving ahead with its strategic plans to hire more employees, improve taxpayer service and modernize its technology, but it could slow down efforts to close the tax gap and audit more high-income taxpayers and corporations.

And IRS officials are still emphasizing one of their priorities: preventing fraudulent claims for the widely advertised Employee Retention Credit.

As part of the debt limit deal negotiated by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, and President Biden and passed earlier this month to avert an unprecedented default by the federal government, lawmakers agreed to rescind $1.4 billion of the $80 billion allocated to the IRS over 10 years under last year's Inflation Reduction Act, and to make another $20 billion of the funding available to other non-defense programs over the next two years.

June 8: IRS has $1.5 billion in unclaimed tax refunds: Do you qualify?

Over a million Americans could miss out on their share of an estimated $1.5 billion in unclaimed tax refunds, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday. The refunds are for tax year 2019, so if you didn't file for some reason in 2020, you could be owed part of those unclaimed funds.

"Time is running out for more than a million people to get their tax refunds for 2019," said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel in a news release. "Many people may have overlooked filing a 2019 tax return due to the pandemic. We don't want people to miss their window to receive their refund."

By law, taxpayers usually have three years to file their taxes and claim their refund, but if they miss the deadline that money goes to the U.S. Treasury instead. Usually, the deadline falls around the April tax deadline, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the 2020 filing deadline to July 15.

The average tax refund that year was $893, but taxpayers who haven't filed could stand to receive thousands of dollars more if they qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

One thing to keep in mind is that checks may be held if taxpayers have not filed tax returns for 2020 and 2021, according to the IRS. Also, refund money will be used first to pay off any outstanding debts to the IRS or a state tax agency.

Economic News/Policy:

June 7: Yellen: Some bank consolidation ‘wouldn’t surprise me’

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday it wouldn't surprise her to see some bank consolidation in the near future.

"I see strength in the banking system that has a diverse set of financial institutions capable of satisfying different needs across our economy," Yellen said on CNBC's "Squawk Box," adding, "We do have a diverse banking system with strong community banks, regional banks, larger banks that are involved in global business, and I wouldn't want to see that threatened."

She continued, "Certainly in this environment, some banks are experiencing pressure on earnings and there is motivation to see some consolidation and it wouldn't surprise me to see some of that going forward."

Yellen's comments come after several mid-sized banks were seized by federal regulators earlier this year. Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed within days of each other in March, becoming the biggest bank failures since the 2008 financial crisis.

ICYMI: 

June 12: Are Canadian Wildfires Under Control? Here's What To Know.

The thick smoke and haze that turned the New York City skyline orange and brought some of the worst air quality levels the Northeast has seen in decades was spawned by a series of wildfires burning in Canada. 

According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, there are currently 450 active fires across the country, with one new fire reported Monday. That number was up from 417 active fires tracked nationwide on Friday. 

Of those fires, 220 were labeled "out of control" on Monday — only a slight increase from the 218 fires marked the same late last week. Just 127 are marked as "under control," up from 108 several days ago, while another 103 are "being held." A fire being held means it is not moving but still not considered under control, and its status can fluctuate. 

The country is currently at "national preparedness level 5," meaning Canada has committed all national resources to fight wildfires across the country. International firefighters are also flying in: Chris Stockdale, a wildland fire research officer with the Canadian Forest Officer, told CBS News that when smoke from earlier fires affected some central and western states, that "international liaison officers" from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa would be flying in to help fight the fires. 

For Fun: 

June 12: Astronomers Discover BEBOP-1c: Tatooine-Like Exoplanet Orbits Twin Stars In A Multiplanetary System

An international team of astronomers has announced the second-ever discovery of a multiplanetary circumbinary system.

Astronomers at the University of Birmingham have discovered a second planet, named BEBOP-1c, in the rare multiplanetary circumbinary system BEBOP-1 or TOI-1338. This discovery, made using the Doppler method, is essential in expanding our knowledge about planetary creation around two stars.

Circumbinary systems contain planets that orbit around two stars in the center instead of just one, like in our Solar System. Circumbinary planets orbit around both stars at once. The discovery, led by researchers at the University of Birmingham, is reported in today’s issue of the journal Nature Astronomy.

The newly discovered planet is called BEBOP-1c, after the name of the project that collected the data. BEBOP stands for Binaries Escorted By Orbiting Planets. The BEBOP-1 system is also known as TOI-1338.