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IRS Commissioner Nominee Daniel Werfel Testifies Before Senate Finance Committee

Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.24.23

On February 15th, Daniel Werfel, the nominee for IRS Commissioner, testified before the Senate Finance Committee during his nomination hearing. As expected, Werfel faced tough questioning about how he would oversee the use of $80 billion in new funding coming to the IRS over the next decade. The Inflation Reduction Act, which passed late last year, appropriated the additional funding for the IRS to increase compliance and provide better customer service to taxpayers. 

Republicans have criticized the additional funding, citing fears that the investment in the IRS will increase audits of individual and small business taxpayers. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen addressed this concern, stating that the new funding will not be used to increase the audit rate for households making under $400,000 a year. Werfel committed during his nomination hearing to following Secretary Yellen’s directive.

Werfel testified that, if confirmed, “the audit and compliance priorities will be focused on enhancing the IRS’ capabilities to ensure that America’s highest earners comply with applicable tax laws.” As a result, we expect to see more coordinated and potentially more aggressive audits of high-earning individuals and corporations.

Werfel also testified that, if confirmed, he would focus on modernizing the IRS, improving taxpayer service, overhauling the agency’s technology systems, and adding additional IRS employees in customer service roles and with expertise in complex tax matters. The tax community has lamented the IRS’s customer service capabilities and outdated systems for years and these proposed modernization efforts are a welcome, much needed change.

We will continue to follow the IRS’s enforcement efforts as they develop and provide updates.

Insights

Client Alert | 8 min read | 10.01.25

BIS Issues “Affiliates Rule” to Dramatically Expand Applicability of Entity and Military End-User Lists

On September 29, 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced a sweeping Interim Final Rule (IFR), (the “Affiliates Rule”) expanding which entities qualify as Entity List or Military End-User entities, thereby subjecting those entities to elevated export control restrictions under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). U.S. export restrictions applicable to entities on the Entity List, Military End-User (MEU) List, and Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List) now apply to foreign affiliates that are, in the aggregate, owned 50% or more by one or more of the aforementioned entities. An entity that becomes subject to these restrictions because of its ownership structure will be subject to the most restrictive controls that attach to any of its parent entities, regardless of ownership stakes....