Charles Rettig stepped down as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service in November after four years in the role. During this time Rettig oversaw a crackdown on crypto-assets and administered much of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.
Under Rettig, the IRS went after cryptocurrency transactions with expanded reporting requirements, setting the threshold at $10,000. He argued that the crypto market was costing the service around $1 trillion a year in tax revenue.
As part of his efforts to bolster tax collection, Rettig helped modernise the IRS and improve tax enforcement. The Biden administration has awarded $80 billion in funding to the IRS for the next 10 years to build on this work.
The role of IRS commissioner should be non-political and strictly administrative, but the office has been dragged into political rows. Rettig himself came under fire for refusing to release Donald Trump’s tax returns.
He has also faced accusations of a conflict of interest over a stake in two rental units at a Trump-branded hotel in Hawaii. Rettig described the stake as a “Honolulu, Hawaii residential rental property”.
Rettig stepped down as IRS commissioner on November 12 2022. Douglas O’Donnell is serving as acting commissioner until a successor is appointed in 2023.
