Author: Press Room

(This April 6 story has been corrected to reflect an IRS clarification that full-time-equivalent hiring figures for FY 2024 are cumulative with FY 2023 figures, not in addition to FY 2023 figures) By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Internal Revenue Service plans to hire nearly 20,000 new employees and deploy new technology over the next two years as it ramps up an $80 billion investment plan to improve tax enforcement and customer service, it said on Thursday . The tax agency, in its long-awaited Strategic Operating Plan, said it will obligate about $8.64 billion of the new funding…

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) – The dollar advanced on Wednesday, recovering from two-month lows hit the previous session, as investors lightened their short positions to book profits ahead of the all-important U.S. non-farm payrolls report on Friday. The underlying trend though for the dollar remained tilted to the downside and Wednesday’s U.S. private sector jobs numbers affirmed that. The jobs data supported the view that the Federal Reserve may not need to raise rates much further. Investors are looking to Friday’s non-farm payrolls report for March, with economists polled by Reuters expecting new jobs of about 240,000. In…

By Barani Krishnan Investing.com — Natural gas storage in the United States fell just a shade below forecast levels last week as cooler-than-normal weather from a historical perspective led to steadier heating demand, government data showed. Utilities pulled 23 billion cubic feet, or bcf, from natural gas for the week ended March 31, leaving a balance of 1.83 trillion cubic feet, or tcf, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, said in its latest inventory reading on gas. Industry analysts tracked by Investing.com had forecast a draw of 21 bcf instead for the week. Temperature analysis from Reuters-associated data provider…

© Reuters. People are seen inside the First Republic Bank branch in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., March 13, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar (Reuters) – First Republic Bank (NYSE:) said in a regulatory filing on Friday that it will suspend payments of quarterly cash dividends on its preferred stock “as a measure of prudent oversight.” Last month, the bank suspended its dividend on common stock after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Large U.S. banks injected $30 billion in deposits into First Republic Bank last month to rescue the lender caught up in a widening crisis triggered…

Key takeaways Gold prices are nearing all-time highs amid economic uncertainty, a weaker dollar and inflation Gold mining companies and ETFs are also up so far in 2023 The precious metal is sensitive to macroeconomic factors, so it could dip in the future – but so far, so good for gold this year Gold: the oldest valuable commodity in the world, the subject of many songs and a solid investment option during a recession. The price of gold has rallied in recent months, breaking the $2,000 per ounce barrier this week for the first time since 2020. The ‘safe haven’…

When the Federal Reserve launches its real-time payments network, FedNow in July, it will be a major catalyst for growth in instant payments, said ACI Worldwide in a recent announcement. Real-time transactions in North America are expected to grow from 3.9 billion in 2022 to 13 billion by 2027, a compound annual growth rate of 27.3%, it added. But that will still leave North America well behind the rest of the world. “As a proportion of electronic payments, RTPs are forecast to be just 5% by 2027 in North America — lower than in all other global regions: Europe (13%),…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has just released its Employment Situation Report for March 2023. The numbers are mostly in line with what economists expected, and show a labor market that is softening but still exhibits substantial growth. The household survey shows that the unemployment rate dropped to 3.5%, still close to a record low. Labor force participation, which has been inching up for each of the past three months, rose once again to 62.6%. This is good news for employers who still struggle to regain workers. The payroll survey shows an increase of 236,000 jobs — very close to…

Most ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Users Have Credit Card Debt Federal data shows Americans are using “Buy Now, Pay Later” services at ten times the rate they did in 2019. However, that doesn’t mean these consumers are staying out of debt. A new study shows that 69% of ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ users have ‘revolving’ credit card debt that carries over from month to month. Buy Now, Pay Later services like Affirm, Shop Pay and Afterpay allow users to break up a large payment into several smaller payments. However, that often comes with high interest rates and/or late fees. [Fox…

New government projections estimate significant increases in both overall and out-of-pocket costs for home care, nursing facilities, and continuing care communities (CCRCs) through this decade. The projected steep rise in costs will lead to tough decisions for both consumers and government. The latest annual projections, by analysts at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) forecast overall health cost increases will moderate through the decade as the affects of the Covid-19 pandemic wane. However, the costs of long-term supports and services as well as post-acute care such as physical therapy are expected to rise more steeply than in…

So I spent a couple of hours, that I will never get back, watching coverage of the arraignment of our once and aspiring future President Donald Trump. Sensible tax oriented CPAs were probably for the most part more productively occupied what with that deadline coming up in a couple of weeks. The most interesting thing I took away from the coverage was the remark by DA Alvin Bragg that in Manhattan prosecuting people for falsifying business records happens a lot. Then I read the indictment and the supporting statement of facts and got a bit of a shock as I…