The Messenger
•69% Informative
IRS suspends pandemic tax credit for small businesses because it's being abused by fraudsters.
The employee retention credit was created in early 2020 as incentive for small and mid-sized businesses to keep employees on their payrolls when the pandemic first unfolded and ground economic activity to a halt.
Thousands of businesses that claimed the payments are now under audit, and the IRS ’s criminal investigation division has launched 252 investigations involving more than $2.8 billion of potentially fraudulent claims.
Since 2021 , around 550 childcare businesses nationwide have received $145 million in benefits.
The Congressional Budget Office said the tax credit would cost $55 billion .
The Treasury Department , which oversees the IRS , wants to regulate paid tax preparers, an initiative that could get a boost thanks to the credit's shady promoters.
VR Score
61
Informative language
56
Neutral language
13
Article tone
formal
Language
English
Language complexity
54
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Hate speech
not hateful
Attention-grabbing headline
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Known propaganda techniques
not detected
Time-value
short-lived
External references
4
Source diversity
2
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