WRITTEN STATEMENT OF
TREASURY INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR TAX
ADMINISTRATION
J. RUSSELL GEORGE
BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON
APPROPRIATIONS
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY,
THE JUDICIARY, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES
HEARING ON THE
INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE’S FISCAL YEAR
2006 BUDGET REQUEST
APRIL 7, 2005
Introduction
Chairman
Bond, Ranking Member Murray, and Members of the subcommittee, I thank you for
the opportunity to testify as you consider the fiscal year 2006 appropriations
for the Internal Revenue Service. As the
relatively new Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration – having been
on the job for 16 weeks – my observations are based on the body of work my
organization has developed through audits and investigations of the IRS. I will focus on the major challenges facing
the IRS to assist you in your consideration of the IRS’ fiscal year 2006
budget.
Though
I have been the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) for
only a few short months, my first experience conducting oversight of the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) dates back a number of years. In 1995, one of the initial charges I
received as staff director of the House Subcommittee on Government Management,
Information and Technology was to examine inefficiency at the IRS. Under then Chairman Stephen Horn’s
leadership, we reviewed several issues such as the IRS’ tax systems
modernization program, as well as ways to improve Federal debt collection
practices. A decade later, I am
disappointed to report that some of the same concerns Chairman Horn reviewed
ten years ago continue at the IRS today.
While
the IRS faces longstanding challenges, it deserves credit for making marked
progress in an area that will always be a challenge: providing quality customer service to the
American taxpayer. Commissioner Everson’s
guiding principle for the IRS is Service
+ Enforcement = Compliance. Over the
past few years, TIGTA audits have shown the accuracy of information provided by
the IRS to taxpayers with tax law questions has generally improved, the average
time spent by taxpayers waiting for IRS assistance on the phone or in person
has declined, and the general professionalism with which taxpayers were treated
by the IRS has increased. Since most interactions
between the IRS and taxpayers involve these types of customer services, it is
encouraging to see that the IRS’ focus on customer service has made headway.
Challenges Facing the IRS
Despite
such progress in customer service, improvements need to be made in this and
other areas where significant challenges face the IRS in accomplishing its
mission. The Treasury Inspector General
for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has identified the following management and
performance challenges that confront the IRS:
Each of these
areas presents its own unique challenges, which will be addressed individually
in the remaining portion of my testimony.
Modernizing IRS Systems
Modernizing
the IRS’ computer systems has been a persistent challenge for many years, and will
likely remain a challenge for the foreseeable future. As I noted above, back in 1995, under
Chairman Stephen Horn’s leadership, the House Subcommittee on Government
Management, Information and Technology began reviewing what was then referred
to as tax systems modernization.
The
IRS initiated the tax systems modernization program in 1986. The purpose of the tax systems modernization
program was to replace the antiquated computer systems that the IRS still
relies on today to conduct tax administration.
The tax systems modernization program intended to create a tax
processing environment that was virtually paper-free, an environment where
taxpayer information would be readily available to IRS employees to update
taxpayer accounts and respond to taxpayer questions.[2] The program, however, was plagued by
management and technical weaknesses.[3] After spending over $3 billion on tax systems
modernization,[4]
the program was scrapped and a new effort was begun under a fresh moniker, Business
Systems Modernization (BSM) program.
This
latest effort to modernize the IRS’ systems, the BSM program, began in fiscal
year 1999. The purpose of the BSM
program is to modernize the IRS’ technology and related business processes. According to the IRS, this effort will
involve integrating thousands of hardware and software components. Through March 2005, the IRS has
received appropriations of approximately $1.8 billion to support the BSM program,
and the fiscal year 2006 budget requests an additional $199 million. It is
estimated that the BSM program will last up to 15 years and cost over $8 billion.[5]
Succeeding
in the modernization effort is critical – not only because of the amount of time
and money at stake – but also to improve the level of service provided to
taxpayers. To accomplish the
modernization effort, the IRS hired the Computer Sciences Corporation
(CSC) as the PRIME[6]
to design, develop, and integrate the modernized computer systems.
The joint effort between the IRS and CSC has
shown progress. In July 2004, the IRS
released the first part of the Customer Account Data Engine (CADE) project. The CADE is the foundation for managing
taxpayer accounts in the modernization plan.
The CADE will replace the IRS’
existing Master File.[7] Once fully operational, the capabilities of
the CADE will far surpass those of the Master File.[8]
The first release
of the CADE allowed the IRS to process some of the simplest tax returns, Form 1040EZ,
using a new database of taxpayer accounts.
The IRS has also deployed projects that provide value to taxpayers, such
as “Where’s My Refund?,” the web-based application that allows taxpayers to
check the status of their refunds. In
addition, the IRS and its contractors have built the infrastructure needed to
support these projects and have developed an enterprise architecture to guide
the Business Systems Modernization (BSM) program.
Although progress
is being made, the modernization program is behind schedule, over budget, and
is delivering less functionality than originally planned. TIGTA, GAO and the IRS Oversight Board have
expressed concerns over the IRS’ ability to effectively manage its portfolio of
BSM projects. Both TIGTA and
GAO have recommended that the IRS slow the pace of the BSM program due to some of
the risks that have surfaced. Specifically,
the imbalance between the number and pace of the BSM projects and available
management capabilities has added significant cost, schedule, and performance
risks that have continued to escalate.
In addition,
TIGTA has identified four primary challenges that the IRS must overcome for
modernization to be successful:
1) The IRS must implement
planned improvements in key management processes and commit necessary resources
to succeed;
2) The IRS must manage
the increasing complexity and risks of the modernization program;
3) The IRS must maintain
continuity of strategic direction with experienced leadership; and,
4) The IRS must ensure
that CSC’s performance and accountability are effectively managed.
Without these four challenges being addressed, modernization will not
succeed.[9] In addition, IRS is reassessing its relationship
with the PRIME contractor. For the past
six years, the PRIME contractor has performed the role of system integrator and
program manager for the BSM effort. In
the new operating model, the IRS assumes responsibility for overall program
management. The IRS must demonstrate
that it can effectively manage the BSM program before its chances for success
improve.
Ensuring Tax
Law Compliance
The IRS continues to face challenges in
ensuring that taxes owed are paid on time.
The importance of this issue cannot be overstated. The nation’s ability to provide for the
general welfare and protect its citizens is based on the ability to raise
revenue through taxes. Yet, the tax gap,
which the IRS defines as the difference between what taxpayers are supposed to
pay and what is actually paid, is at staggering levels.[10] On March 29, 2005, the IRS released updated estimates
of the tax gap. For tax year 2001, the
IRS estimated the annual gross tax gap[11] to be between $312 and
$353 billion.[12]
For some time, the IRS, the Congress,
and other stakeholders have been concerned about the slow erosion of voluntary
tax compliance. IRS tax compliance
programs must ensure that noncompliant taxpayers who do not meet their tax
obligations are identified and penalized.
The undermining of voluntary compliance begins when honest taxpayers
believe that others are not paying their fair share.[13]
To improve tax compliance, the IRS must
fully exercise its authority under the law.
The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 enables the IRS to use private
contractors to collect unpaid taxes.
While the use of private collection agencies could result in significant
recoveries of unpaid taxes, the potential for abuse exists. TIGTA has developed a three phase audit
strategy to monitor this initiative. In
the first phase, TIGTA will review the IRS’ planning and initial implementation
of the program. In the second phase,
TIGTA will review the initiative after full implementation, which may not occur
until fiscal year 2007. In the third
phase, TIGTA will review the effectiveness of the program. The goal of this audit strategy is to ensure
that the IRS effectively uses its new authority to use private debt collectors,
while also ensuring that taxpayers’ due process and privacy rights are
protected.
Congress has provided other statutory
tools to the IRS to increase tax compliance.
The IRS has the legal authority to charge a monetary penalty, called the
Failure to Pay (FTP) tax penalty, against taxpayers who fail to pay their taxes
on time.[14] The law also requires the IRS to charge
interest on FTP tax penalties.[15] A recent TIGTA report found that the IRS computer
system would assess the FTP tax penalty on taxpayers’ accounts, but would not
officially charge these assessments to accounts. By not assessing these penalties
periodically, the IRS has foregone the interest associated with them. If the IRS had assessed all penalty accruals
at least quarterly, TIGTA estimates that for calendar year 2002 alone, over $817
million in interest on accrued penalties would be due to the IRS.[16] This is one example of how the IRS could
better use the tools at its disposal.
In addition to more fully exercising
authority provided by Congress, the IRS must obtain timely and reliable data on
the tax gap to improve tax compliance. To
collect such data, the IRS launched the National Research Program, a study of
individual taxpayer reporting compliance for tax year 2001. The National Research Program is intended to
produce timely and reliable data that will allow the IRS to better target its
limited enforcement resources on taxpayers who are not complying with the tax
law instead of law-abiding individuals.
While timely and reliable data will
help the IRS quantify noncompliant segments of the population, different approaches
are also needed to determine how to most effectively address
noncompliance. The Taxpayer Advocate’s
2004 Annual Report to Congress depicts some of the complexities involved in
structuring an enforcement program to address the tax gap. The Taxpayer Advocate also describes the
efforts the IRS still needs to make to analyze the effectiveness of various
compliance techniques.[17] Similarly, in two recent audit reports, TIGTA
identified examination programs that the IRS implemented nationwide before
obtaining results on their possible effectiveness or before implementing an
effective strategy to measure the results of the program.[18]
Accurate measures of the effectiveness
of actions taken to reduce the tax gap are critical to the IRS for strategic
direction, budgeting, and staff allocation.
The Department of the Treasury also needs such measures for the purpose
of creating tax policy. Additionally,
the Congress could use this information to develop legislation that improves
the efficacy of the tax system.
In
addition to gathering better compliance data, TIGTA, other oversight groups,
and interested stakeholders have made a number of recommendations to close the
tax gap. These recommendations include: reducing the complexity of the tax code;
instituting withholding on non-employee compensation; improving compliance with
estimated tax payments; using document matching to verify business income;
addressing escalating levels of late filed returns; increasing resources in the
IRS enforcement functions; and addressing delays in systems modernization. While reducing the complexity of the tax code
lies outside the authority of the IRS, the remaining recommendations are within
the IRS’ discretion and should be acted upon to further tax compliance.
Reducing Tax Law
Complexity
The scope and complexity of the United States Tax Code
make it virtually certain that taxpayers will face procedural, technical, and
bureaucratic obstacles before meeting their tax obligations. The IRS has consistently sought to ease the process
for all taxpayers, but each tax season brings new challenges, and old problems
sometimes resist solution.
According to the Taxpayer Advocate’s 2004 Annual Report to Congress, the most
serious problem facing taxpayers and the IRS is the complexity of the Internal
Revenue Code.[19]
The Joint Committee on Taxation
conducted a study in 2001 that demonstrates the vastness of the tax code. The study found that, in 2001, the tax code
consisted of nearly 1.4 million words.
There were 693 sections of the code applicable to individuals, 1,501
sections applicable to businesses, and 445 sections applicable to tax exempt
organizations, employee plans, and
governments.[20]
The complexity of the code hampers the ability of the
IRS to administer the nation’s tax system and confuses
most taxpayers.
The IRS has attempted to provide assistance to taxpayers with questions
about the tax code through toll-free telephone lines, Taxpayer Assistance
Centers (TACs), kiosks, and the IRS internet web site. TIGTA has performed numerous audits of the
accuracy of IRS responses to taxpayer questions submitted via these
methods and found that even some IRS employees cannot apply the tax code
correctly.
Our most recent audit of the accuracy of responses
provided to tax law questions received via the toll-free telephone lines during
the 2004 Filing Season found that 62 percent of the answers given were correct.[21] The IRS conducted its own tests and found an
accuracy rate of 79 percent. Both of
these figures were well below the IRS’ accuracy goal of 85 percent for this
service. Tax law complexity contributes
to the IRS’ challenges in reaching these accuracy goals, as well as to taxpayer
frustration with attempting to decipher the tax code.
Besides adding to the burden on the taxpayer and the IRS,
tax law complexity also may inadvertently contribute to the tax gap. Complexity has given rise to the latest
generation of abusive tax avoidance transactions, with taxpayers attempting to
take advantage of the tax code’s length and complexity by devising intricate
schemes to illegally shelter income from taxation. Administering such a complex tax code makes the
job of pursuing these abusive tax avoidance schemes challenging and costly to
the IRS. For example, in 2004, the hours
revenue agents spent per return on examinations increased by 23 percent for
individual tax returns and 19 percent for corporate tax returns compared to
2003 figures.[22]
As part of its
goal to improve service to taxpayers, the IRS includes simplifying the tax
process as an objective in its new Strategic Plan. Simplification could incorporate a range of
actions from developing legislative recommendations to clarifying tax
instructions or forms. Changing tax laws,
however, can be a lengthy process since the IRS only administers the tax code
that is passed by the Congress. Thus,
the IRS must work extensively with these stakeholders, as well as the
Department of the Treasury, to identify and develop legislative recommendations
that would reduce tax law complexity and taxpayer burden.
Preventing Erroneous and Improper Payments
One of the goals of The President’s Management Agenda is to
reduce erroneous payments.[23] Further, the Improper Payments Information
Act of 2002[24] greatly expanded the Administration’s efforts to
identify and reduce erroneous and improper payments in Government programs and
activities. While the Administration has
pushed to prevent erroneous and improper payments, stewardship over public
funds remains a major challenge for IRS management.
Improper and erroneous
payments include inadvertent errors, payments for unsupported or inadequately
supported claims, payments for services not rendered, payments to ineligible
beneficiaries, and payments resulting from outright fraud and abuse by program
participants or Federal employees. For
the IRS, improper and erroneous payments generally involve improperly paid refunds, tax
return filing fraud, or overpayments to vendors or contractors.
Some tax credits,
such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), provide opportunities for taxpayer
abuse. The EITC is a refundable
credit available to taxpayers who do not exceed a certain amount of income per
year. The EITC was intended to provide
significant benefits to the working poor, but some taxpayers have abused the
credit, which has resulted in a significant loss of revenue to the Federal
Government. An IRS compliance study of
tax year 1999 returns estimated between $8.5 and $9.9 billion (27 to
32 percent) of the $31 billion in EITC claimed for tax year 1999 should
not have been paid.[25] A TIGTA review of EITC claimed for tax year
2002 estimated that the IRS allowed over $16 million in potentially erroneous
credits because
the claimed qualifying “child” was significantly older than the primary
taxpayer.
In addition to
erroneous payments of credits, contract expenditures represent a significant
outlay of IRS funds and are also susceptible to mistakes or abuse. The IRS approved payment of nearly a billion
dollars for the Business Systems Modernization contract. Initially, neither the IRS nor the contractor
could provide proper supporting documentation for approximately $9.5 million
(approximately 54 percent of the $17.6 million sampled) in direct
charges.[26] The contractor subsequently provided
additional documentation, and TIGTA was able to verify all but approximately
$52,200. Nevertheless, to assure that
its billings are adequately justified and to facilitate timely independent
reviews, the IRS should strengthen its invoice review process by routinely
requesting and reviewing a sample of supporting documents.
Providing
Quality Customer Service
Providing quality
customer service to the taxpayer is not only a primary goal of the IRS, but it
is also one of its major management challenges.
The Commissioner has frequently stated that service combined with
enforcement will result in compliance. Quality
taxpayer service includes helping the taxpaying public understand their tax
obligations while making it easier to participate in the tax system.
Since the passage of
the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA 98),[27] the IRS’ focus on
customer service has led to many improvements.
Taxpayer satisfaction rates with the IRS have increased since the Act’s
passage, growing almost 2 percent in 2004 alone.[28] Every year, the IRS helps millions of
taxpayers understand their tax obligations by answering questions on its
toll-free telephone lines or in person at local offices, making information
available on its Web site, and responding to correspondence.
The IRS internet
site, www.IRS.gov, is an excellent source for forms, publications, and other
guidance. Taxpayers visited the site
over 139 million times last year.[29] The site also received an award for being the
nation’s most reliable government internet site.[30] Electronic filing of tax returns continues to
grow, and the ability to check the status of tax refunds online has been a
successful IRS project that is helpful to taxpayers.[31]
As for the toll-free
telephone system, access by taxpayers to the IRS via telephone has
improved. Callers were able to connect
with the IRS more easily and received better, quicker service. Surveys of callers during the 2004 filing season
showed that the vast majority of taxpayers were satisfied with the services they
received.[32] While the IRS exceeded its goals in
professionalism and timeliness, the accuracy of answers provided to taxpayers
on tax law questions slipped in one year from 73 percent to 62 percent. TIGTA attributed this decrease to IRS
employees not always using the required Probe and Response Guide to obtain
sufficient information from taxpayers or the employees were not correctly
interpreting the tax law.
The IRS has
obviously made strides in customer service over the past seven years. TIGTA is concerned, however, that the IRS may
disrupt the balance between customer service and enforcement by closing many of
its Taxpayer Assistance Centers. The
TACs are walk-in sites where taxpayers can receive answers to both account and
tax law questions, as well as receive assistance preparing their returns. Over the past few years, customer service at
Taxpayer Assistance Centers has shown improvement.[33] Yet, the IRS is considering
closing nearly a quarter of its approximately 400 TACs nationwide. TIGTA is skeptical that the IRS has adequate
data to assess the impact that closing TACs will have on customer service.
From the information provided by the IRS to TIGTA, the IRS is using the
following criteria to select TACs to close:
location, labor cost, facility cost, workload, and demographics. The last criterion, demographics, falls short
of capturing the information needed to make a well-informed decision. To compile information on the demographics of
a particular TAC location, the IRS is collecting data, by zip code, on
population size, income level, age, unemployment, and percent of population who
e-file. TIGTA believes this information
is insufficient to draw conclusions on the capability and likelihood that
taxpayers who have used these centers in the past will be willing to use
alternative methods of seeking help, such as the internet or telephone. I strongly recommend that the IRS further
research these issues before closing TACs.
Protecting Taxpayers and Taxpayer Rights
Congress realized the importance
of protecting taxpayers and taxpayer rights when it passed RRA 98. This legislation required the IRS to devote
significant attention and resources to protecting taxpayer rights. The RRA 98 and other legislation require
TIGTA to review IRS compliance with taxpayer rights provisions. Our most recent audit results on some of these
taxpayer rights provisions are:
·
Notice of Levy – TIGTA reports have
recognized that the IRS has implemented tighter controls over the issuance of systemically
generated levies, and TIGTA testing of these controls indicated that they continue to
function effectively. However, revenue
officers who issue levies manually still are not always properly notifying
taxpayers of their appeal rights.[34]
·
Restrictions on the Use of
Enforcement Statistics to Evaluate Employees – The IRS is complying with the
law. A sample review of employee
performance and related supervisory documentation revealed no instances of tax
enforcement results, production quotas, or goals being used to evaluate
employee performance.[35]
·
Notice of Lien – The IRS did not completely comply with the
law. For example, the IRS did not always
timely mail lien notices. In other
cases, the IRS could not provide proof of mailing. In addition, the IRS did not always follow
its guidelines for notifying taxpayer representatives and for maintaining
certified mail listings.[36]
·
Seizures – The IRS did not always comply
with legal provisions and internal procedures when conducting seizures. The TIGTA review did not identify any instances
where taxpayers were adversely affected, but not following legal and internal
guidelines could result in abuses of taxpayer rights.[37]
·
Illegal Tax Protestor
Designations – The IRS is prohibited by law
from designating taxpayers as “illegal tax protestors” but may refer to
taxpayers as “nonfilers.” TIGTA has
reviewed the Master File for illegal tax protestor designations. We found that the IRS has not reintroduced such
designations on the Master File, taxpayer accounts that were formerly coded as
illegal tax protestor accounts have not been assigned similar designations, and
current IRS publications do not refer to illegal tax protestors. However, a few illegal tax protestor
references still exist in manuals, job aids, computer systems, and isolated
case files.[38]
·
Denials of Requests for
Information – The IRS improperly withheld
information from requesters in 4.4 percent of the Freedom of Information Act[39] and Privacy Act of 1974[40] requests, and 14.6 percent
of the 26 U.S.C. § 6103 requests reviewed.[41]
·
Collection Due Process –
IRS
Appeals Officers and Settlement Officers substantially complied with the
requirements of the law when conducting collection due process hearings. However, the Settlement Officers did not
always address all the issues raised by the taxpayers.[42]
Neither
TIGTA nor the IRS could evaluate the IRS’ compliance with three RRA 98
provisions since IRS information systems do not track specific cases. These three provisions relate to: restrictions
on directly contacting taxpayers instead of authorized representatives,
taxpayer complaints, and separated or divorced joint filer requests.
Securing IRS Employees, Facilities, and
Information Systems
As the nation’s primary
revenue collector and an integral part of the nation’s critical infrastructure,
the IRS is a prime target for anti-government protestors, international
terrorists, and other extremists. Millions
of taxpayers entrust the IRS with sensitive financial and personal data, which
are stored and processed by IRS computer systems. The risks that sensitive data or computer
systems could be compromised and that computer operations could be disrupted
have increased over the last few years due to the external threats noted above
and the increased connectivity of computer systems. In addition, IRS systems and data are vulnerable
to unhappy taxpayers and disgruntled employees, as well as natural
disasters. Although many steps have been
taken to limit risks, IRS systems and taxpayer information remain susceptible
to threats that could impact the confidentiality, integrity, and availability
of data and information systems.
For the past four years, TIGTA assessments have concluded that the
security infrastructure and the applications that guard sensitive data are weak
because of inadequate accountability and security awareness, as well as
insufficient training for key security employees. The IRS has focused on technical solutions to
this issue, but the primary causes are managerial and operational factors. For example, in 2004, TIGTA found that while
security roles and responsibilities have been defined, we continue to identify
significant security weaknesses throughout the IRS that can be attributed to
employees not fulfilling their responsibilities.[43] This results in the IRS failing to establish an
organizational culture that strongly emphasizes the security and privacy of
taxpayer data. In addition, some
disaster recovery plans require additional development, testing, or personnel
training to ensure that the IRS can quickly recover in the event of a disaster.
TIGTA has also identified security weaknesses in a number of IRS
systems. For example, the IRS envisions
the Security Audit and Analysis System (SAAS) as the audit trail collection and
reporting system for the IRS’ modernized applications. To date, no modernization applications are
employing the SAAS for this purpose.
This failure to employ the SAAS for audit trail collection and reporting
results in at least two weaknesses.
First, the IRS could deploy modernization applications without proper
audit trail controls in place. Second, the
IRS may spend additional resources to employ an application-specific audit
trail that is not consistent with the IRS’ architecture and would, in essence, represent
a double investment in audit trail controls.
Furthermore, the SAAS was accepted by the IRS despite the fact that it
did not meet performance requirements.[44]
The IRS has taken several
positive steps toward improving security in the IRS. In October 2003, the IRS combined key
security activities into a single organization to promote better performance
and consistent customer focus. Adequate
security policies and procedures have been established and, in most cases, the
IRS has the necessary hardware and software to provide adequate system security. While the IRS has become a leader in
Government under this management structure, it must emphasize the importance of
security to its employees.
For the IRS to make the
largest strides in improving computer security at a relatively low cost, managers
and employees must be aware of the security risks inherent in their positions
and consider security implications in their day-to-day activities. Thus, IRS business unit managers should be
held accountable for the security of their systems and key security employees
should be adequately trained to carry out their responsibilities. It is also vital that the IRS continues to
refine its plans and capabilities to manage emergency situations in a manner
that protects employees and allows restoration of business operations in a
timely manner. In addition, aggressive
network control, monitoring, and incident response capabilities are necessary
to prevent incursions into IRS systems from external and internal sources.
Integrating Performance and Financial
Management
The President’s Management Agenda aims to place a
greater focus on performance by formally integrating it with budget
decisions. In addition, without accurate
and timely financial information, it is not possible to accomplish the
President’s agenda to secure the best performance and highest measure of
accountability for the American people.
The IRS has made some progress; however, integrating performance and
financial management remains a major challenge.
The IRS has achieved mixed success in establishing
long-term goals to integrate performance and financial management. During the FY 2005 budget formulation
process, the IRS took the important step of aligning performance and resources
requested. The IRS also modified its
budget and performance plans to include more customer-focused and “end result”
measures. However, TIGTA believes the
IRS must continue to integrate performance into its decision-making and
resource allocation processes to completely achieve an integrated performance
budget.
The IRS also continues to analyze the critical data
needed to develop long-term enforcement outcome measures. For example, the IRS released the first
results from its National Research Program and they provide fresh data on
taxpayer voluntary compliance levels – the first in more than a decade. Such data is essential to establishing
enforcement measures and effectively allocating resources to related
activities. The IRS, however, needs to
develop a more strategic approach to the entire tax administration system. Such an effort would better identify the
characteristics of an effective and efficient tax administration system, help pinpoint
desired outcomes, and create a road map for the next decade that would
complement the IRS’ strategic, budget, and annual performance plans.
The IRS’ financial statements and related activities
also continue to be of concern to IRS stakeholders. The GAO audits the IRS’ financial statements
annually. The audit determines whether
the IRS: 1) prepared reliable financial statements; 2) maintained
effective internal controls; and, 3) complied with selected provisions of
significant laws and regulations, including compliance of its financial systems
with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA).[45]
In audits of the IRS’ financial statements, the GAO has concluded
that the records were fairly presented in all material respects.[46] The GAO, however, identified some continuing
serious deficiencies in the IRS’ financial systems, including control weaknesses
and system deficiencies affecting financial reporting, unpaid tax assessments,
tax revenue and refunds, and computer security.
However, the IRS again had to rely extensively on resource-intensive
compensating processes to prepare its financial statements. Without a financial management system that
can produce timely, accurate, and useful information needed for day-to-day
decisions, the IRS’ financial stewardship responsibilities continue to be one
of the largest challenges facing IRS management.
Managing Human
Capital
Like much of the Federal
Government, managing the extensive human capital resources at the IRS remains a
serious concern. Workforce issues,
ranging from recruiting to training and retaining employees, have challenged
Federal agencies for years. The GAO, the
Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Personnel Management have
all made the strategic management of human capital a top priority. Specifically for
the IRS, recent reorganization and modernization efforts, such as the focus on e-filing, have made many jobs dealing
with processing paper tax returns redundant.
The Large and Mid-Size Business
Division reported in its FY 2006 strategic assessment that it will
continue to lose substantial experience in the Revenue Agent position through
attrition. Similarly, in the Small
Business/Self-Employed Division, the human capital crisis continues to
intensify as employees in key occupations increasingly become eligible for
retirement, are lost through attrition, or migrate to other areas. Stagnant funding allocations have impacted
the ability to attract new hires and retain existing employees. Thus, potential losses in critical
occupational groups (e.g., Revenue Agents, Revenue Officers, Tax Compliance
Officers), coupled with concerns regarding grade and competency gaps, further
emphasize the need to strategically manage human capital.
The Tax-Exempt/Government Entities
Division is already understaffed to handle the current volume of customer
calls. The Division’s toll-free service
is still maturing and acquiring new customers; however, without additional
staffing or system enhancements, the level of service will deteriorate. This issue requires immediate attention
because the Division relies on quality toll-free customer service to help
ensure voluntary compliance among its customers, since it has very limited
resources for more traditional compliance activities like examinations.
In contrast, the Wage and
Investment Division has reported that it has made significant progress in the
human capital area. Examples include
increased employee use of electronic learning and training by demand, and
improved technical assessments for identifying skill levels and training needs
of employees. In addition, the Division
effectively planned and realigned its workforce as the result of reduced
workload demands and technological improvements. Even so, more work needs to be completed to
attract and retain high-quality employees, to increase productivity and
quality, and to provide equal employment opportunities for all.
The Criminal Investigation
function has also moved forward in this area.
The function is implementing a computer-based knowledge management
program, which can immediately identify current subject matter experts. Skill transfer programs will be implemented
to provide continuity of technical subject matter expertise, and continuing
education programs will provide updated training on emerging issues,
strategies, and operational priority subjects.
The President’s fiscal year 2006
budget may offer some relief in staffing shortages; however, the overall
training and acclimation process will take some time. The IRS must devote significant attention to
managing human capital to overcome the challenges noted above.
Processing Returns and Implementing Tax
Law Changes During the Tax Filing Season
Each filing season tests the ability of the IRS to
implement tax law changes made by the Congress during the year. It is during the filing season that most
individuals file their income tax returns and call the IRS if they have
questions about specific tax laws or filing procedures. Correctly implementing tax law changes is a
continuing challenge because the IRS must identify the tax law changes; revise
the various tax forms, instructions, and publications; and reprogram the computer system used in processing
returns.
This year’s filing season includes significant tax
law changes created by the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004.[47] One significant tax law change for the 2005
filing season that many taxpayers are familiar with is the ability to deduct
sales tax instead of State and local income tax. Changes to the tax law can have a major
effect on how the IRS conducts its activities, how many resources are required,
and how much progress can be made on strategic goals. Generally, the Congress makes changes to the
tax law each year, so some level of change is a normal part of the IRS
environment. However, certain kinds of
changes can significantly impact the IRS in terms of the quality and
effectiveness of service and in how taxpayers perceive the IRS.
To date, we have seen no significant problems during the 2005 filing season. During the 2004 filing season, most of the 123.1 million individual income tax returns received through May 28, 2004, (including over 60 million received electronically, an increase of nearly 16 percent from 2003) were timely and accurately processed. TIGTA determined that the IRS correctly implemented the key tax law changes that affected 2003 returns. However, TIGTA has previously identified tax law changes that have not yet been effectively implemented and could result in loss of taxpayer entitlements and erroneous tax reductions. For example, TIGTA identified taxpayers that are continuing to receive erroneous deductions for student loan interest, taxpayers with potentially unclaimed Additional Child Tax Credits, and taxpayers that were allowed questionable “dual benefits” for the tuition and fees deduction and the education credit.[48] These tax law changes must be effectively implemented to fairly apply the law to all taxpayers.
I hope this discussion of the major challenges facing the IRS aids you in your consideration of the IRS’ appropriation for fiscal year 2006. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you for allowing me to share my views. I would be pleased to answer any questions you might have at this time.
[1] The filing season
refers to the period from January through mid-April when most individual income
tax returns are filed.
[2] See General Accounting Office Report GAO/AIMD/GGD-98-54, Tax Systems Modernization: Blueprint Is a Good Start But Not Yet Sufficiently Complete to Build or Acquire Systems (Feb. 1998).
[3] See General Accounting Office Report
GAO/T-GGD-97-79, IRS Management: Improvement Needed in High-Risk Areas
(Apr. 14, 1997).
[4] See General Accounting Office Report T-GGD-97-52, Modernization of Processes and Systems Necessary to Resolve Problems (Mar. 4, 1997).
[5] The
Internal Revenue Service Has Appropriate Processes to Accept Modernization
Software From Developers (Reference Number 2005-20-028, February 2005).
[6] The PRIME stands for Prime Systems Integration Services Contractor.
[7] The Master File is the IRS database for storing taxpayer account information on individuals, businesses, employee retirement plans, and exempt organizations.
[8]
The
CADE will
include applications for daily posting, settlement, maintenance, refund
processing, and issue detection for taxpayer account and return data. In conjunction with other applications, the CADE will allow employees to post transactions and update taxpayer account
and return data on-line from their desks.
Updates will be immediately available to any IRS employee who accesses
the data and will provide a complete, timely, and accurate account of the
taxpayer’s information. In contrast, the
current Master File processing system can take up to two weeks to update
taxpayer accounts, and IRS employees may need to access several computer
systems to gather all relevant information related to a taxpayer’s account.
[9] Annual Assessment of the Business Systems Modernization Program (Reference Number 2004-20-107, dated June 2004).
[10] See written statement of Commissioner of Internal Revenue Mark Everson before the Committee on Finance United States Senate Hearing on “Bridging the Tax Gap,” (July 21, 2004).
[11] The amount of
tax that is imposed for a given tax year, but is not paid voluntarily and
timely.
[12] It is worth noting that
the recently released tax gap figures noted above did not update key segments
of the tax gap that are at least 15 years old, such as nonfiled tax returns and
underreported corporate income tax for large corporations.
[13] The IRS
fiscal year 2006 budget requests a significant increase in enforcement
funds. As the IRS attempts to increase
enforcement, it is worth considering the results of a 2003 GAO report. GAO found that the IRS’ frontline enforcement
employees understood – but feared – section 1203 of the Internal Revenue
Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998.
Section 1203 outlines conditions for firing IRS employees for committing
any of 10 acts of misconduct. These
enforcement employees also reported that, because of section 1203, their work
takes longer and the likelihood of their taking an enforcement action, such as
recommending a seizure has decreased.
See General Accounting Office Report GAO-03-394, IRS and TIGTA Should Evaluate Their Processing of Employee Misconduct
under Section 1203 (February 2003).
[14] 26 U.S.C. §
6651 (2004).
[15] 26 U.S.C. § 6601(e)(2)(A) (2004).
[16] This report
also found that the IRS’ current practice results in inconsistent treatment of
taxpayers. Some taxpayers in hardship
situations, such as victims of natural disasters or military personnel serving
in combat zones, have accounts that are administered by the IRS manually rather
than by computer. IRS personnel
periodically calculate and manually assess penalties on these accounts. Because the manually computer FTP penalties
are periodically assessed, interest is charged to these taxpayer accounts but
not charged to taxpayer accounts administered by computer. Procedures
Regarding the Failure to Pay Tax Penalty Result in Inconsistent Treatment of
Taxpayers and Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Lost Revenue (Reference
Number 2005-30-052, dated March 2005).
[17] National Taxpayer Advocate 2004 Annual
Report to Congress (Dec. 31, 2004).
[18] In TIGTA’s judgment, the IRS implemented the High-Income Taxpayer Strategy, designed to target individuals with the financial resources to use sophisticated methods of tax avoidance, without a method and specific baselines to measure the strategy’s success. In addition, the IRS introduced the Limited Issue Focused Examination (LIFE) process t