The IRS is screeching toward the 2026 filing season with a gutted workforce and a host of new provisions from last year’s major tax bill to implement. Experts warn that the combination of these two things will create a challenging year for the agency and for organizations filing taxes.

“Taxpayers and tax pros alike, I think, need to anticipate some bumps in the road ahead,” Jessica Jeane, director of tax policy with Baker Tilly’s national tax practice, told CFO Brew.

“The IRS is entering this filing season under intense operational strain and there’s, rightfully so, shared concern among most in the tax world that the year of OB3 implementation…coinciding with the IRS’s significant workforce reduction isn’t exactly a recipe for success.”

It’s been a steady rollout…so far. Last year, lawmakers passed major legislation known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” (OB3), and it included more than 100 changes to US tax law, according to a recent report from the IRS Advisory Council. Those changes require the agency to issue guidance, train workers, and update its systems and processes to reflect all the tax code changes, the report continued.

Keep reading.—AZ

Ten years ago, Portland Gear was an apparel maker focused on celebrating the Pacific Northwest city. Now after two years of explosive growth, founder Marcus Harvey, who’s the CEO and runs finance, said he hopes 2026 revenue hits “mid-eight figures” with its new product offerings: travel bags.

Harvey is confident in the nearly 50-person company’s ability to reach its revenue goals, he said, because of the close attention he gives to balancing inventory and sales and having enough working capital.

Harvey recently explained to CFO Brew how he decided to shift the business to bags, why he’s starting to think hiring a CFO may be a good idea, and how he’s juggled the dual role for over a decade.

How did Portland Gear make the choice to go all-in on bags?

We were just really methodical about inventory management, just-in-time inventory, and trying not to sell out. But inventory and projections are 100% guaranteed to be wrong; you can never get projections right, so you just do your best with as much data [as you have to] get as close to it as possible.

Keep reading.—DL

Not too long ago, electric vehicles were on a fast track to take over the US. But lately, the industry has hit a pothole the size of the Grand Canyon.

Stellantis is the latest car wreck, with shares careening off a cliff by 23.85% today after the automaker announced a write-down of $25.9 billion, including $20 billion for its EVs and $4.1 billion in warranty fees. As if that weren’t bad enough, the company slammed the brakes on dividends in 2026, “in recognition of the 2025 net loss.”

The problem, according to CEO Antonio Filosa, boils down to “over-estimating the pace of the energy transition.” In plain English: They bet too big, too fast on the US’s appetite for EVs.

To be fair, so did Ford (which took a $19.5 billion EV write-down in December) and General Motors (which took a $7.1 billion EV write-down in January). Even EV OG Tesla has hit a rough patch—slashing prices, canceling two of its models, and refashioning one of its US factories to build robots instead.

Keep reading on Brew Markets.—JD

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