Highlights of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-31 – 7/28/2025

Posted by Lee Reams Sr., BSME, EA on

The IRS outlines disciplinary actions, revokes a digital asset rule under the CRA, updates W-2/W-3 printing specs, and provides new pension mortality tables for 2025.

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The Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB) is the authoritative instrument for announcing official rulings and procedures of the IRS and for publishing Treasury Decisions, Executive Orders, Tax Conventions, legislation, court decisions, and other items of general interest.

ADMINISTRATIVE
Announcement 2025-20, page 271. 

The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) announces recent disciplinary sanctions imposed on attorneys, certified public accountants, enrolled agents, enrolled actuaries, enrolled retirement plan agents, and appraisers. The OPR also announces when certain unenrolled, unlicensed tax return preparers (individuals who are not enrolled to practice before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and are not licensed as attorneys or certified public accountants) have been disciplined. Licensed or enrolled practitioners are subject to the regulations governing practice before the IRS, which are set out in Title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, Subtitle A, Part 10, and which are released as Treasury Department Circular No. 230. The regulations prescribe the duties and restrictions relating to such practice and prescribe the disciplinary sanctions for violating the regulations. Unenrolled/unlicensed return preparers who choose to participate in the IRS’s voluntary Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP) are subject to the guidance in Revenue Procedure 2014-42, which governs a preparer’s eligibility to represent taxpayers before the IRS in examinations of tax returns the preparer both prepared for the taxpayer and signed as the preparer. Additionally, unenrolled/unlicensed return preparers who participate in the AFSP agree to be subject to the duties and restrictions in Circular 230, including the restrictions on incompetence or disreputable conduct.

Rev. Proc. 2025-24, page 273.

This revenue procedure provides specifications for the private printing of red-ink substitutes for the 2025 Forms W-2 and W-3. This revenue procedure will be produced as the next revision of Publication 1141. Rev. Proc. 2024-27 is superseded.

Revocation of T.D. 10021, page 264.

Pursuant to its authority under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), Congress passed a joint resolution disapproving the final rule titled “Gross Proceeds Reporting by Brokers that Regularly Provide Services Effectuating Digital Asset Sales,” and the President signed the resolution. Under the joint resolution and by operation of the CRA, this final rule has no legal force or effect. The Department of the Treasury (Treasury Department) and the IRS hereby remove this final rule from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and revert the relevant text of the CFR back to the text that was in effect immediately prior to the effective date of this final rule.

EMPLOYEE PLANS
Notice 2025-40, page 266. 

This notice specifies updated static mortality tables to be used for defined benefit pension plans under § 430(h)(3)(A) of the Code and section 303(h)(3)(A) of ERISA. This notice also specifies a mortality table for use in determining minimum present value under § 417(e)(3) of the Code and section 205(g)(3) of ERISA for distributions with annuity starting dates that occur during stability periods beginning in the 2026 calendar year.