Internal Revenue Service

Internal Revenue Service

The Internal Revenue Service is responsible for the administration of the tax laws of the US and the collection of taxes under those laws.

 

From the website of the IRS we find the following to describe its history:

 

‘Origin
The roots of IRS go back to the Civil War when President Lincoln and Congress, in 1862, created the position of commissioner of Internal Revenue and enacted an income tax to pay war expenses. The income tax was repealed 10 years later. Congress revived the income tax in 1894, but the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional the following year.

 

16th Amendment
In 1913, Wyoming ratified the 16^th Amendment, providing the three-quarter majority of states necessary to amend the Constitution. The 16^th Amendment gave Congress the authority to enact an income tax. That same year, the first Form 1040 appeared after Congress levied a 1 percent tax on net personal incomes above $3,000 with a 6 percent surtax on incomes of more than $500,000.

 

In 1918, during World War I, the top rate of the income tax rose to 77 percent to help finance the war effort. It dropped sharply in the post-war years, down to 24 percent in 1929, and rose again during the Depression. During World War II, Congress introduced payroll withholding and quarterly tax payments.

 

A New Name
In the 50s, the agency was reorganized to replace a patronage system with career, professional employees. The Bureau of Internal Revenue name was changed to the Internal Revenue Service. Only the IRS commissioner and chief counsel are selected by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

 

Today’s IRS Organization
The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 prompted the most comprehensive reorganization and modernization of IRS in nearly half a century. The IRS reorganized itself to closely resemble the private sector model of organizing around customers with similar needs.

 

Commissioners are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The IRS Commissioner and the IRS Chief Counsel are the only appointees within the agency. All other employees are career civil servants. Since the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, commissioners have been appointed to a five-year term.’

 

Organization Design

The Commissioner sits atop the IRS with staff support from the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff. Other support divisions are as follows: Appeals; Communication and Liaison; Office of Compliance Analytics; Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; Office of Research, Analysis, and Statistics; National Taxpayer Advocate; and Chief Counsel.

 

There are 2 operating Sections: Operations Support; and Services and Enforcement. Under Operations Support come 5 divisions: Agency-Wide Shared Services; Chief Technology Officer; Chief Financial Officer; IRS Human Capital Officer; and Privacy, Governmental Liaison and Disclosure. The Services and Enforcement Division has 9 divisions and offices under it: Criminal Investigation; Large Business and International Division; Office of Online Services; Small Business/Self Employed Division; Wage and Investment Division; Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division; Office of Professional Responsibility; Return Preparer Office; and Whistleblower Office.

 

Budget

The costs incurred for the IRS to support its mission for FY2013 were $11,597,560 which was split between personnel at $8,549,759 and other items at $3,047,801. Personnel costs peaked in FY2011 at $9,006,934 and have come down $457,000 since then or 5%. Overall costs also peaked in FY2011 at $12,358,877 and have come down $761,000 or 6%. The costs incurred from FY2008 until FY2013 are shown below. In addition, the split by service line and the split between personnel and other expenses is also shown below.

 

Costs Incurred:	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008
Taxpayer Services	2,414,951	2,415,557	2,408,387	2,417,165	2,344,199
Enforcement	5,301,838	5,510,732	5,497,476	5,113,926	4,791,449
Operations Support	3,991,620	4,081,816	4,121,056	3,885,670	3,910,783
Business Systems Modernization	351,000	335,292	284,403	221,841	245,569
Health Ins Tax Credit Admin	0	15,480	42,022	70,002	15,223
Total	12,059,409	12,358,877	12,353,344	11,708,604	11,307,223
Personnel	8,838,171	9,006,934	8,846,297	8,371,476	7,960,326
Other	3,221,238	3,351,943	3,507,047	3,337,128	3,346,897
Total	12,059,409	12,358,877	12,353,344	11,708,604	11,307,223

 

Personnel

The personnel numbers for FY2013 were 86,974 split into 84,985 permanent full time personnel and 1,989 part timers. Personnel peaked in FY2010 at 94,711 and have come down 7,737 since then or 8%. The personnel numbers for FY2008 through FY2013 are shown below. There are breakouts by full time and part time as well as by activity and by personnel types.

 

Employment Stats	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008
Full Time Permanent	88,308	92,452	93,027	90,446	78,096
Other	1,972	2,257	1,684	2,131	12,551
Total	90,280	94,709	94,711	92,577	90,647
Activity:
Exams and Collections	41,814	44,685	44,802	41,950	41,095
Filing and Account Services	25,041	25,423	25,592	26,530	25,785
Info Services	6,208	6,628	6,432	6,392	6,507
Prefiling Taxpayer Assistance and Ed	5,814	6,180	6,076	6,233	5,995
Shared Services and Support	5,308	5,811	5,862	5,710	5,571
Investigations	4,258	4,197	4,364	4,228	4,162
Regulatory	1,241	1,260	1,234	1,202	1,175
Business Systems Modernization	596	512	337	322	347
Health Insurance Tax Credit Admin	0	13	12	10	10
Total	90,280	94,709	94,711	92,577	90,647

 

Personnel Types	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008
Revenue Agents	13,011	13,969	13,879	12,948	12,587
Seasonal Employees	11,538	10,479	11,158	10,875	10,025
Customer Service Reps	9,472	10,191	18,582	18,200	17,736
Tax Examiners	9,282	9,587
Revenue Officers	5,186	5,621	6,042	5,451	5,496
Special Agents	2,581	2,618	2,739	2,610	2,590
Tax Technicians	1,679	1,808	1,720	1,539	1,496
Attorneys	1,528	1,573	1,571	1,459	1,397
Appeals Officers	851	859	847	785	768
Total	55,128	56,705	56,538	53,867	52,095

 

The Tax Gap

There are substantial sums owed the US Federal Government each year through taxes but remain unpaid. This so called tax gap amounts to an estimated $450 billion per year; i.e., funds owed to the federal government but unpaid because of under-reporting of income ($376 billion), non-filing ($28 billion), and underpayment of taxes ($46 billion).

 

Considerations

 

The considerations put forward for the IRS are many especially with the recent controversies concerning the office including conservative non-profit organization harassment, over expenditure on meetings, and abuse of credit cards.
1. Find and punish the personnel responsible for the conservative non-profit organization harassment.
 
2. Curtail the expenditures on outside meetings.
 
3. Find and punish the personnel responsible for abusing credit cards.
 
4. Cut the costs incurred by the IRS by 33%.
 
5. Close the tax gap estimated to be $450 billion per year by adding personnel to the IRS. This may cost as much as $3 billion more per year. This would include auditing all income tax returns over $1,000,000. This can be accomplished by auditing each of these taxpayers every 3 years for the last 3 years filed. This would include auditing all tax returns over $200,000 but less than $1,000,001 a year. This can be accomplished by auditing each of these taxpayers every 4 years for the last 4 years. This would include doubling the audit rates on all other returns. Further, tax preparers of over aggressive returns should be scrutinized and re-educated, fined, or removed from tax preparation work.
 
6. Solve the ASFR issue. After showing success over 10 years in forcing non-filers to either file a return or accept an IRS generated return (from W-2s, 1099s, and other information the IRS receives directly from other sources), these so called automated substitutes for return (ASFR) have decreased by 54% in 2012. According to the AICPA’s Tax Matters editor Paul Bonner in the Journal of Accountancy (June 2013 page 80), IRS’s explanation was manpower issues and a practice change. The practice change of not generating a ASFR if the taxpayer already has a balance due on another tax return should be reversed. If a taxpayer owes monies, it should be recorded and followed up. The manpower issue is long standing and needs to be addressed. This ASFR program partially addresses the $28 billion non-filing tax gap issue noted in the Tax Gap section above.
 
7. Review the bonus payment structure that existed until FY2013 in the IRS and reestablish such throughout the IRS in FY2015 or FY2016. Incentives done well produce the effort, efficiency, attention, and orientation to accomplish the mission of an organization in an outstanding manner.

 

Proposals

 

United We Stand.
1. Find and punish the personnel responsible for the conservative non-profit organization harassment.

 

2. Curtail the expenditures on outside meetings.

 

3. Find and punish the personnel responsible for abusing credit cards.

 

4. Close the tax gap estimated to be $450 billion per year by adding personnel to the IRS. This may cost as much as $3 billion more per year. This would include auditing all income tax returns over $1,000,000. This can be accomplished by auditing each of these taxpayers every 3 years for the last 3 years filed. This would include auditing all tax returns over $200,000 but less than $1,000,001 a year. This can be accomplished by auditing each of these taxpayers every 4 years for the last 4 years. This would include doubling the audit rates on all other returns. Further, tax preparers of over aggressive returns should be scrutinized and re-educated, fined, or removed from tax preparation work.

 

5. Solve the ASFR issue. After showing success over 10 years in forcing non-filers to either file a return or accept an IRS generated return (from W-2s, 1099s, and other information the IRS receives directly from other sources), these so called automated substitutes for return (ASFR) have decreased by 54% in 2012. According to the AICPA’s Tax Matters editor Paul Bonner in the Journal of Accountancy (June 2013 page 80), IRS’s explanation was manpower issues and a practice change. The practice change of not generating a ASFR if the taxpayer already has a balance due on another tax return should be reversed. If a taxpayer owes monies, it should be recorded and followed up. The manpower issue is long standing and needs to be addressed. This ASFR program partially addresses the $28 billion non-filing tax gap issue noted in the Tax Gap section above.

 

6. Review the bonus payment structure that existed until FY2013 in the IRS and reestablish such throughout the IRS in FY2015 or FY2016. Incentives done well produce the effort, efficiency, attention, and orientation to accomplish the mission of an organization in an outstanding manner.