“Overtime-tax claims top expectations” was the headline of an April 6 Wall Street Journal article, followed by the message “Some payers may be claiming deductions beyond law limits, preparers suggest.”

But who is to blame for all that? That’s easy. It’s Congress, the Internal Revenue Service and the federal government in general.

It’s the same culprits who failed to calculate the terrible impact on certain casino employees nationwide who are being hit hard this year — and presumably will be hit hard beyond this year — because of Congress’ shortsighted action changing the slot-machine jackpot threshold to $2,000 from $1,200.

Slot attendants who depend on tips to “survive” financially will be — and now are — losing thousands of dollars of tip revenue as the result of the “financial dagger” that Congress inflicted.

Many such workers’ pay will end up being just above minimum wage — not enough to raise a family comfortably.

Meanwhile, Congress, reportedly kowtowing to the Las Vegas casino industry and other special interests, failed to realize — or acknowledge — initially how much the threshold move would negatively impact federal incoming revenue, although lawmakers softened that blow by decreasing the amount of gambling losses gamblers could claim —

90% rather than 100%.

Thus, gamblers aren’t totally happy either but at least the provision presumably isn’t casting them into or near minimum wage.

But, back to the topic of overtime pay and consider the following paragraph from the Journal’s April 6 article:

“In the race to implement the tax cuts, the government didn’t force employers this year to track whether their workers were receiving overtime that could qualify for the break, and it didn’t require employers to tell their workers or the Internal Revenue Service how much they paid. That information reporting is a cornerstone of tax compliance, and without it, confusion and fudging can take hold. The income and dollar limits may be the only meaningful constraints this year.”

One attorney quoted in the Journal article told the newspaper that “I think people truly believe that overtime is 100% deductible even though clearly it’s not.”

Because the deduction was new for the 2025 tax year, some errors regarding the estimated price tag of the tax break could not initially be ruled out and can be afforded understanding at this time. For 2026, employer reporting can be expected to be more complete, so the government will be able to put forth better estimates going into the next tax-return-preparation season.

More importantly, though, taxpayers and preparers will be better equipped with information and familiarity to avoid unintentional errors like they might have made during 2025 tax preparation.

It’s also important to note that the deduction is supposed to expire after 2028 unless Congress votes to extend it.

More interesting than whether the extension is granted will be a report — if one is issued — on the estimated amount of revenue the federal Treasury will have lost due to confusion or fudging of numbers due to the apparent inadequate guidance issued for the 2025 tax year.

On the subject of fudging of numbers, does the IRS feel it is capable of uncovering overtime dishonesty that might have occurred? Does the agency have enough manpower to do that?

That’s a “chapter” that needs to be written.