The recession (officially) started in February. The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research determined that monthly economic activity peaked in February 2020. That  marked both the end of the economic expansion that began in June 2009 and the beginning of a recession. The dating committee may well decide the economy hit bottom in April, making the COVID-19 recession the steepest, and shortest, in history.

CBO: Federal budget deficit approaches $2 trillion for this fiscal year. The Congressional Budget Office   reports the federal budget deficit was about $1.9 trillion through the first eight months of fiscal year 2020. That’s $1.2 trillion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last year. The federal budget deficit for  May alone was $424 billion, about twice last year’s amount. The big deficit was the result of sharply declining tax revenues and large increases in spending in response to  the coronavirus pandemic.

With every economic crisis comes the fraud. The IRS is warning against an uptick in fraud due to the pandemic and the economic impact payments. The scams include everything from soliciting donations to fake charities to phishing scams aimed at ID theft.

CBO Director Phil Swagel talks budget and the economy at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s (virtual) Economic Forum Series. This morning at 11:30 Swagel will talk with  Foundation CEO Michael Peterson about the complex fiscal and economic landscape and legislative responses to the pandemic. To register and for more information click here.

Next week: The 10th Annual IRS/TPC Joint Research Conference on Tax Administration. The Internal Revenue Service and the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center invite you to virtually attend the only annual conference focused exclusively on tax administration research. Researchers from the IRS, other government agencies, academia, and private organizations will discuss ways  to make tax administration as effective as possible. The  conference will be streamed via Zoom Webinar. To  learn more and register, click here.

For the latest tax news, subscribe to the Tax Policy Center’s Daily Deduction. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekdays at 8:00 am (Mondays only when Congress is in recess). We welcome tips on new research or other news. Email Renu Zaretsky at [email protected].