The Plan envisions that “the first wave” of new enforcement personnel will be hired and onboarded this fiscal year and that, during fiscal 2024, the IRS will develop proposals to change its organizational structure and establish a “entralized compliance planning and strategy function” aimed at “identify potential high-risk compliance cases using existing systems and analytics.” Ultimately, the Plan envisions “enforcement and risk identification through better use of data analytics, technology, and centralized operations” and “increas the expertise and capacity necessary to examine highly complex returns and issues more effectively.” Perhaps in response to concerns raised by some politicians and commentators that the IRS would use the funds allocated under the IRA to hire gun-toting agents who would hound ordinary Americans, Secretary Yellen committed “that audit rates will not rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000 annually.” This commitment is reflected in the Plan and Commissioner Werfel has made clear that the IRS will use the funds devoted to increasing enforcement to hire accountants, attorneys, and data scientists who will focus on high-net-worth individuals, large corporations, complex partnerships, and other groups that historically have had low audit rates relative to other groups due to the greater complexity of their filings. Noting the exponential increase in returns filed by these groups as well as the complexity of their returns, Commissioner Werfel further emphasized that “it makes sense to focus implementation efforts exclusively on increasing our capacity to assess compliance of high-income and high-wealth individuals, complex partnerships, and large corporations.” More importantly, the Plan envisions updating the IRS’s antiquated technology and anticipates that technological improvements will enable taxpayers to “access their relevant account data, as well as information to help them meet their tax obligations,” “identify credits and deductions for which they are eligible,” “understand and claim appropriate credits and deductions,” and experience “real-time status updates on returns, refunds, and other IRS processes and decisions.” The IRS expects that by providing these services through updated technology and systems, more IRS employees will be available to focus on complex tax filings that require individual attention.Īfter describing the initiatives aimed at improving customer service, the Plan recognizes that “ven with improved taxpayer service, some taxpayers will not comply” and acknowledges that “he rising breadth and complexity of tax administration, coupled with the sophisticated ways that some taxpayers attempt to evade tax, have outpaced resources and ability to monitor compliance and close the gap between taxes owed and collected.” In remarks accompanying the release of the Plan, Commissioner Werfel explained that the long-term reduction in staffing and resources negatively affected the IRS’s ability to maintain sufficient audit coverage of wealthy individuals, large corporations and big partnerships.

The first two objectives identified in the Plan are aimed at increasing compliance by “mak it easier for taxpayers to meet their tax responsibilities and receive tax incentives for which they are eligible” and “dedicat more resources to helping taxpayers get it right the first time.” In this regard, the Plan proposes to improve customer service by hiring more employees who will be available to answer taxpayer questions as early as this year.

2020 irs tax tables forbes