IRS not seeking to collect revenue lost during FAA impasse

The Senate ended the partial shutdown on Friday morning by passing an extension of FAA funding, after the two-week stalemate had left 4,000 agency workers on furlough and put the brakes on construction projects that employed tens of thousands of workers.

The IRS had said earlier that those who purchased before but traveled during the spending impasse may have been eligible for a refund. But Keith said Friday that the Senate action took that off the table for those passengers.

The spokesman added that the agency would provide relief to airlines for taxes that would have been collected, but were not because of the FAA deadlock.

The agency’s actions come after the top tax writers in both the House and the Senate urged the IRS not to press to collect taxes that were not gathered during the partial shutdown.

This post was updated at 4:38 p.m.