New IRS Plan: Promises, Promises

Thursday April 6, 2023 – The Internal Revenue Service released its Inflation Reduction Act Strategic Operating Plan today. The plan is more of a “Wish List” or fantasy in my view.

All that was wrong with the IRS will now be made right.

According to the IRS Plan:

The Plan is structured to achieve five objectives, which will be accomplished through a series of initiatives
and projects aligned to each.

1. Dramatically improve services to help taxpayers meet their obligations and receive the tax incentives
   for which they are eligible
2. Quickly resolve taxpayer issues when they arise
3. Focus expanded enforcement on taxpayers with complex tax filings and high-dollar noncompliance to
   address the tax gap
4. Deliver cutting-edge technology, data, and analytics to operate more effectively
5. Attract, retain, and empower a highly skilled, diverse workforce and develop a culture that is better
   equipped to deliver results for taxpayers

The new Commissioner, Danny Werfel, calls it “a vision for the future of Federal tax administration.”

The purpose of the plan was to lay out how the IRS was going to spend the $80 Billion from the Inflation Reduction Act. But the plan doesn’t include any numbers until page 131. And then only in a high level, general, and abstract way.

Let’s not forget the IRS scandals of the 2010’s. Not only the targeting of conservative organizations, but the capricious waste of taxpayer money for lavish conferences that included 10s of thousands of dollars for video parodies of Star Trek and Gilligan’s Island.

Attorney Steven A. Leahy critiques the new IRS report on Today’s Tax Talk.

https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/irs-inflation-reduction-act-strategic-operating-plan

https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-business/irs-pledges-better-customer-service-no-new-agents-with-guns/

https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/06/politics/congress-irs-waste/index.html

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