After more than 30 years with IRS Criminal Investigation (CI), Chief Guy Ficco is stepping down, closing out a tenure marked by transition within the agency. During his time as chief, CI faced hiring freezes and the reassignment of a substantial portion of its workforce to immigration enforcement, even as it pushed forward with technology and AI-driven investigative tools. Despite those challenges, in an exit interview with Forbes, Ficco emphasized a return to CI’s core mission—following the money in tax and financial crimes—and expressed confidence that incoming Chief Jarod Koopman will continue that focus with a still-committed workforce.

Of course, tax authorities often advance cases built on solid tips. The House Ways and Means Committee has voted to unanimously advance the IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act (WPIA), signaling strong bipartisan support to strengthen and modernize the program. The legislation aims to address long-standing issues, including delays in award payments, by incentivizing timelier processing and enhancing protections such as anonymity and access to de novo judicial review (meaning the court looks at the issue from scratch without deferring to the prior decision). Building on a program that has already generated more than $7.5 billion in collections, the proposed reforms are designed to improve fairness, encourage participation, and help the IRS more effectively target noncompliance, with the bill now moving toward consideration by the full House.

While enforcement efforts are key, most taxpayers will file and pay their taxes in full and on time (more on that later). But this year, with April 15 just days away, tens of millions of taxpayers still haven’t filed their 2025 tax returns. The IRS expects to receive 164 million individual income tax returns by April 15. So far, the IRS has received 99,802,000 individual income tax returns, compared to 101,422,000 at the same point in 2025, a 1.6% decline. Notably, that gap has persisted throughout the filing season rather than narrowing as the deadline draws closer—usually, the difference between current and prior-year filings begins to tighten by this time of year.

If you’re one of those taxpayers still hoping to get your tax return in on time, be sure to take a breath and review it for potential errors. Common filing mistakes can cause delays and frustration for taxpayers. Many of these issues are easy to miss, like transposing Social Security numbers or name mismatches, while others (like choosing the wrong filing status) may reflect a misunderstanding of the rules. Even small discrepancies can result in rejected returns, denied credits, or processing delays. So, don’t rush through your return. Put aside some time to check (and double-check) it before filing.

Of course, if you haven’t filed yet because you’re not ready (like me), you can always request an extension.

There’s more good stuff to come, so check back with Forbes for Tax Day-related information, including a list of freebies and deals to ease the pain of writing that check (trust me, you deserve it).

Kelly Phillips Erb (Senior Writer, Tax)

This is a published version of the Tax Breaks newsletter, you can sign-up to get Tax Breaks in your inbox here.

This week, a reader asks:

My neighbor brags that he hasn’t filed taxes in years. Why can’t the IRS find everyone who hasn’t filed their taxes?

The IRS doesn’t “find everyone” who hasn’t filed because the system is built on voluntary compliance, and most taxpayers do comply. The IRS’s latest data shows a voluntary compliance rate of about 85% for tax year 2022, meaning roughly 85 cents of every dollar owed is paid on time without enforcement.

That........

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