What Is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)? Definition & History

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The Internal Revenue Service has its own group of enforcers whose responsibility is to ensure that the tax code is upheld.

What Is the Internal Revenue Service?

The Internal Revenue Service, better known as the IRS, is the U.S. government agency responsible for collecting taxes from individuals and businesses, enforcing tax laws, and processing tax filings each year. It is also one of the oldest bureaus in operation, tracing its origins to the formative years of the republic.


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How Economic Data Is Impacting the Stock Market

Between earnings season and the ongoing discussion of recession probabilities, there’s a lot of factors contributing to the current market environment. 

And, let’s face it, that can cause a fair amount of anxiety. 

As Real Money’s Stephen Guilfoyle has pointed out, the macroeconomic data that the market has received  in the past month hasn’t helped to ease that anxiety. 

But perhaps the weekly initial jobless claims paired with the fourth quarter gross domestic product print will be enough to help ease at least some anxiety.


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GE Has Been One of the Best Stocks of 2023. Can It Continue?

It’s been a tough start to the year, although the bulls are starting to gain some momentum. 

For General Electric  (GE) – Get Free Report though, it hasn’t been a contest: The bulls are dominating.

A year that started off with Apple  (AAPL) – Get Free Report making new 52-week lows and concern that still surround inflation, the Fed and a recession have not made things easier.

For GE stock, though, it’s been the complete opposite. The shares have rallied in every session so far in 2023 and have climbed in 12 straight sessions. The stock is up more than 24% so far this year and 27% in the current win streak.


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Peloton Has a New Hope In Its Turnaround Battle

Tech layoffs were big news in the fourth quarter, with more than 97,000 jobs being axed in 2022, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. 

That is a 649% increase from the 13,000 tech jobs that were cut in 2021. 

But the flip side of the equation is that 72% of laid off tech employees found new jobs within three months, according to an analysis by Revelio Labs, Business Insider reported


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Iconic American Brand Goes Green in a Surprising Way

The fashion industry is a well-known culprit when it comes to industry effects on Mother Nature. An incredible amount of our clothing — 85% to be exact — eventually makes its way to landfills in our own backyards and across the world only to be dumped in foreign landfills. Our old outfits are most often left to be buried in piles of trash. And all that trash contributes to the emissions of harmful methane gas. Add to that the environmental effects of sewing, dying, packaging, and shipping, and you’ve got a lot of varied factors that have real-world consequences for our planet and its inhabitants. 


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Why Property & Casualty Insurance Should Not Be Optional

The U.S. property & casualty insurance industry pays out more than $790 billion in policy benefits, according to the Treasury Department.

The industry also employs more than half a million people, making property & casualty (or “P&C,” as insurance insiders call it) one of the more important spokes in the insurance industry wheel.


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This Tweet Led to a Lawsuit Against Elon Musk

Tesla  (TSLA) – Get Free Report CEO Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter on Oct. 27 for $44 billion, has a history of tweeting on the social media site long before he owned the company.

Musk, who refers to Twitter as the town square of our time, has been controversial in many of his tweets, and one particular message back on Aug. 7, 2018, already cost him millions in Securities and Exchange Commission fines and forced him to step down as Tesla chairman.


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The 25 Best Cities for Snowbirds

Birds don’t have supermarkets, so when you see geese flying south for the winter, they’re looking for food. In winter, all the plants and bugs they like to eat are gone.

But face it, the geese probably really like the warmer weather, too.

For human snowbirds, it’s all about climate. Retirees (and some remote workers) who head to warmer states in winter, such as Florida, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Georgia or South Carolina, can continue to enjoy their outdoor activities year-round. All that golf, tennis, swimming, kayaking, walking and fresh air is good for your health, and you don’t have to shovel snow or worry about skidding off the road in an ice storm or your pipes getting frozen.


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Off-Las Vegas Strip Cannabis Hotel Has Another Adult Surprise

Las Vegas and the state of Nevada have been working to sort out their confusing cannabis laws. Currently, recreational marijuana smoking is legal, but you can only actually do it in a private residence.

That creates a problem for visitors to Sin City because you can’t go visit Planet 13  (PLNHF) , MedMen, or any other legal dispensary and then head back to your hotel room to smoke it. In fact, casino operators including Strip leaders MGM Resorts International  (MGM) – Get Free Report and Caesars Entertainment  (CZR) – Get Free Report can’t allow marijuana smoking at all because they’re also beholden to federal law (which has not legalized cannabis).


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I Bonds Start to Lose Attractiveness, As Inflation Slows

Series I savings bonds have received a lot of hype over the past two years, and they certainly have performed well.

The I bonds currently being sold carry an interest rate of 6.89%. But the rate may not be as attractive going forward. There are two components to the total interest rate for I bonds: a fixed rate and a rate that’s adjusted every six months to match inflation.

The bonds available now through April have a fixed rate of 0.4%. The inflation-matching rate is 6.49%. That rate is calculated each May 1 and Nov. 1, using the consumer-price index for the past six months. Combining the two interest rates gives you 6.89%.


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