IRS "Math" Act and Failed Credit Companies


Romeo Razi, CPA

Oct 19th

🕵Congress Passes the IRS Math Act

Oh boy, your favorite topic: "Maths".

If you believed that the IRS understood Maths, you'd be wrong.

At least, that’s what Congress decided last week when they passed the Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act of 2025 (a.k.a. the MATH Act.)

So, what's this about Romeo?

Picture this: you get a letter from the IRS saying something on your tax return “changed.” No explanation. No clue what line. Just vibes.

You either send it to your CPA (hi 👋) or call the IRS to find out what’s wrong (and waste an hour of your life on hold. Welcome to my life 🤦🏻‍♂️.)

Well, not anymore baby.
Congress said that they have to explain themselves (oh, how the tables have turned!)

💡Here's what's new

🧾 Line-by-line clarity
↳ The IRS now has to tell you which exact line on your return triggered the math error. No more “figure it out yourself buddy".

🧮 IRS Must show their work
↳ Every letter the IRS sends must include a computation (Karma's real)

📞 IRS Contact info
↳ The letter must list the phone number for follow ups (sure, you'll still be on hold for an hour, but at least now you’ll know exactly where to call so they can waste your time efficiently.)

Abatement deadlines
↳ They must spell out the exact deadline for disputing or abating an error. No more surprise wins for the IRS when you miss it by a day.

📬 Separate abatement notice
↳ You’ll now get a stand-alone letter about what changed.

✉️ Certified mail pilot program
↳ The IRS will start sending notices by certified or registered mail. Translation: you can’t claim you never got it, and they can’t claim you did.

🧠My take

Honestly, it's about time. The number of times they'd send letters with no explanations of what's going on were too many (and lots of time, is wasted calling them on the phone.)

----

🧮💸P.S.
Congress thinks they're clever
using this acronym, but the American people are still doing the real MATH, the kind that involves watching inflation.


🚗Three Strikes and you're bankrupt

In case you missed it, lenders are getting smoked!

Two used car financiers and an auto parts supplier just hit the 🧱 wall.

PrimaLend just joined the "distressed-debt disco" with Tricolor and First Brands.

What do they all have in common? Bankruptcy (i.e. don't pass "Go", and don't collect $200.)

While Powell plays Hamlet with interest rates (to raise, or not to raise), the real tragedy is on the balance sheets.

In other words, private credit deals that looked genius in 2021 now look like a Jenga tower build on margin. Too much leverage. Not enough cash. Zero discipline.

The three that became no more:

🧨 PrimaLend: collapses after missing interest payments
🧯 Tricolor: went up in flames lending to high-risk borrowers (and higher egos)
💸 First Brands: the canary in the coal mine: overleveraged, undercapitalized, and out of time.

Moral of the Story: if you see another 15% yield on a "safe" private debt fund, run faster than a WeWork investor in 2023.


🏠 Housing Corner

Check out what's happened here:

For the first time ever, the number of 6%+ mortgages is more than 3% mortgages. And the spread is only going to get wider from here.

The rest of housing corner:

💹

Interest Rates


6.87%

🏡 🏡 🏡
Inventory


844,011

🧊

Days on Market


63 days

Here's a quick list of the housing stats over the last 1 weeks:

🏠 Mortgage rates: 6.87% (up a few bps)
📈 Inventory: 844,011 homes (up sellers, less buyers)
📉 Price reductions? 39.57% (more people lowering their prices)
💰 Median list price? $449,900 (same)
🕰️ Median days on market? 63 (longer on the market).


Market Highlights

Flat Market this week


~ S&P $6,841 (-0.16%)
~
NASDAQ $23,577 (+0.70%)
~
BTC $92,088 (-1.35%)
~ Gold $4,244 (+0.17%)

fdsaf


What's been going on with your Favorite CPA

This week I attended the Rhodium Summit, an event that brings together entrepreneurs and investors building online businesses.

For those who may not remember, before I became a CPA, I got my first degree in Comp. Science, and still keep one foot in that community.

I go to this event every year, and at the end of the event there is usually a group networking activity, and this year it was DARTS!

But not any type of Darts. Imagine Darts merged with TopGolf at a place called ✈️Flight Club.

About 40 of us showed up, and we had a blast!

You should definitely check it out.

Also, if you're in e-Commerce, or have an online business, you should consider joining Rhodium (email me if you want the deets!)


Until next week, ❤️

Romeo Razi, CPA

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A weekly newsletter for people who want to understand money without needing therapy afterward. I cover accounting, tax, and finance the way they should be taught. Simple, sharp, and with a sense of humor. If knowledge is power, this one’s your caffeine shot.

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