The Investigative Journal’s daily review of notable rulemakings, proposed regulations, and agency notices published in the Federal Register on April 13, 2026. Of 93 documents posted today, the following entries carry the broadest implications for taxpayers, industry, and the federal regulatory landscape.
Treasury finalizes “No Tax on Tips” rules, defining which occupations qualify
The Internal Revenue Service today published a final rule identifying occupations that “customarily and regularly received tips” on or before December 31, 2024, and defining the term “qualified tips” for purposes of the new federal income tax deduction enacted under the 2025 tax package. The regulation is the central implementing document for the administration’s signature “No Tax on Tips” campaign pledge.
Treasury records indicate the rule enumerates a closed list of qualifying occupations, limiting the deduction to workers whose roles fell within a recognized tipped-service classification as of the statutory cutoff date. The agency’s preamble frames the definitional approach as a guardrail against reclassification schemes in which salaried or commissioned workers are recharacterized as tip earners to access the deduction. Filings indicate that the definition of “qualified tips” excludes service charges, mandatory gratuities, and amounts that are not voluntarily determined by the customer.
The rule affects an estimated several million workers across food service, personal care, hospitality, and transportation. Payroll providers, point-of-sale vendors, and state revenue agencies will need to update reporting systems to segregate qualified tip income from wages. The deduction’s interaction with Social Security and Medicare withholding is addressed in a companion guidance document that Treasury has indicated will follow.
IRS proposes regulations for new excise tax on remittance transfers
In a parallel action, the IRS issued proposed regulations implementing the excise tax on certain remittance transfers that occur after December 31, 2025. The tax, enacted as part of the 2025 reconciliation package, applies to cross-border money transfers sent through providers regulated under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act.
The proposed rules define which transfer providers bear collection responsibility, clarify the tax base, and set out rules for transfers routed through multiple intermediaries. Industry filings suggest the rule will have significant operational implications for money-services businesses, bank wire desks, and mobile remittance platforms, which must now build collection, reporting, and remittance mechanisms into existing compliance stacks. The Federal Register notice opens a formal public comment period; TIJ will track the docket as financial industry and immigrant-advocacy commenters weigh in.
The excise tax has been a flashpoint since enactment, with proponents framing it as a revenue offset that encourages documented financial channels and critics warning of disproportionate burdens on low-income households sending support to family members abroad. The proposed regulation represents Treasury’s first detailed articulation of how the tax will operate in practice.
EPA delays start of PFAS reporting submission window
The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule revising the start of the reporting period for the PFAS Reporting and Recordkeeping Rule under Section 8(a)(7) of the Toxic Substances Control Act. Under the revision, the submission period will now begin on January 31, 2027, or 60 days after the effective date of a forthcoming final rule on the substantive reporting requirements, whichever is earlier.
The delay gives manufacturers and importers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances additional time to prepare disclosures covering production, use, and disposal of thousands of PFAS chemicals dating back to 2011. EPA’s preamble indicates the postponement is necessary because the agency intends to modify several substantive elements of the reporting obligation in a separate rulemaking still under development.
Environmental advocates have characterized successive PFAS reporting delays as regulatory backsliding, while chemical industry commenters have argued the original timeline was unworkable for small importers. The rulemaking docket remains one of the most closely watched in EPA’s chemical safety portfolio.
EPA proposes major revisions to coal combustion residuals rules
The Environmental Protection Agency also proposed significant amendments to its coal combustion residuals (CCR) regulations governing disposal of coal ash from electric utilities. The proposal would exempt CCR dewatering structures, modify the “legacy” CCR surface impoundment and CCR management unit provisions adopted in the 2024 rulemaking, and establish a new compliance pathway allowing site-specific considerations during permitting.
The proposed site-specific pathway would let permitting authorities weigh local hydrogeology in setting groundwater monitoring points of compliance, corrective action cleanup levels, closure requirements, and closure timeframes. EPA also proposes revisions to provisions addressing the beneficial use of CCR extracted from impoundments.
The rulemaking revisits one of the most contested elements of the prior administration’s coal-ash program, which had expanded federal jurisdiction over legacy impoundments at retired power plants. Utility commenters will argue the new flexibility is necessary to manage decades-old sites under realistic economic conditions, while public-health groups and environmental justice advocates are expected to push back in the comment period. The Federal Register entry specifies the comment period and hearing schedule.
Education Department finalizes priorities on career pathways and AI
The Department of Education published two companion final priorities for its discretionary grant programs. The first, on Career Pathways and Workforce Readiness, directs grantees to align programs with in-demand occupations, work-based learning, and industry-recognized credentials. The second, on Advancing Artificial Intelligence in Education, sets parameters for grant competitions supporting AI tools in K–12 instruction, teacher professional development, and administrative functions.
The two priorities augment an initial package of three Secretary’s Supplemental Priorities — Evidence-Based Literacy, Educational Choice, and Returning Education to the States — finalized in September 2025. Taken together, the priorities do not themselves award grants but shape how federal discretionary dollars flow across dozens of competitive programs. Records suggest the AI priority includes definitions addressing student data protection, bias auditing, and instructional use cases.
State education agencies and district grant writers should review both definitions closely, as funding competitions released in the coming months will apply these frameworks.
NRC corrects advanced-reactor regulatory framework
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a correction to its March 30, 2026 final rule establishing a risk-informed, performance-based, and technology-inclusive regulatory framework for advanced reactors. The underlying rule, issued in response to the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, creates a new Part 53 licensing pathway designed to accommodate small modular reactors, advanced non-light-water designs, and other next-generation technologies.
Today’s correction addresses errors in the final rule text and resolves conflicting amendatory instructions between the Part 53 rulemaking and the concurrent “Categorical Exclusions From Environmental Review” final rule published the same day. Although technical in nature, the correction matters because Part 53 is expected to be the licensing vehicle for a wave of advanced-reactor applications over the next decade. Filings indicate developers have been awaiting clean regulatory text before finalizing pre-application engagements with the Commission.
USDA Rural Housing aligns income calculations with HOTMA
The Rural Housing Service finalized revisions to the calculation of annual household income and net family assets in the Section 515 Rural Rental Housing and Section 514/516 Farm Labor Housing programs. The rule harmonizes RHS income-certification procedures with the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA), which reshaped how HUD programs treat assets, income exclusions, and self-certification.
The change affects property owners and tenants in rural multifamily and farmworker housing across the country, aligning RHS paperwork with HUD practice and reducing the administrative burden of maintaining parallel income-verification regimes for mixed-finance properties.
USDA restructures internal delegations of authority
The Secretary of Agriculture issued a revised schedule of delegations of authority to USDA general officers, reflecting organizational changes under Secretary Brooke Rollins. The delegation document is the operative reference for which agency officials hold signature authority over rulemakings, grant awards, enforcement actions, and program decisions. Agencies subject to reassignment include components of the Food Safety and Inspection Service, Rural Development, and the Marketing and Regulatory Programs mission area.
FAA proposes airworthiness directives for Airbus aircraft and helicopters
The Federal Aviation Administration proposed two airworthiness directives today. One would require inspections of jettisonable window hinge pins on certain Airbus H160-B helicopters following reports of missing retaining rings. The other would supersede a 2025 AD covering Airbus A319neo, A320neo, and A321neo families to incorporate a software modification for the digital radio and audio integrating management system.
TIJ investigative beat takeaways
For TIJ’s accountability beats, today’s Federal Register is notable on three fronts. First, the Treasury remittance-tax proposal will generate a comment docket of interest to readers tracking cross-border money flows, sanctions compliance, and money-services business regulation. Second, the EPA coal-ash amendments reopen questions about legacy impoundment cleanup at utilities that have consolidated through the post-2020 wave of mergers. Third, the NRC’s Part 53 correction marks another procedural step in clearing the runway for advanced-reactor applications — a sector increasingly intertwined with federal data-center and artificial-intelligence infrastructure policy.
The Investigative Journal will continue to monitor these dockets and report substantive developments as comment periods close and final rules take effect. Links to each document and its supporting regulatory record are embedded above.
Sources: Federal Register (federalregister.gov), individual rulemaking dockets on regulations.gov, and agency press offices. All links direct to primary federal documents.