The Internal Revenue Service has over 8,700 spots for new employees. They aim to reduce the backlog worth tens of millions in tax lying in the agency. There are spots in every department in the agency for people to work on the backlogs. The recruiting will rapidly fill 80 open positions, from graduate-level workers to clerical staff, advanced engineers, and tax lawyers. Other roles include highly skilled IT workers to build updates on the agency infrastructure. However, the details of this scheme have not been publicized. However, the article got its information from an anonymous source with connections with the project.
The IRS plans to fund this scheme with the funds gathered from the Covid-19 stimulus. The money will cater to the new hires for two years. The recruitment aims to increase their workforce by 14%. The president, however, has budgeted 80 billion dollars for the scheme for the next decade, but according to the IRS, the plan costs more than the presented amount.
Surely the recruitment of new staff will lead to auditing of some accounts. But the confusion remains if the audit will only circulate between low and middle incomers. A Government Accountability Office published that low-income earners experience high audit rates from the IRS. Another FY data of 2021 shows that more people earning below 25,000 dollars a year experience five times the audit rate of high-income taxpayers. However, the Treasury Department assures low- and middle-income earners and small businesses won’t be the target under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Ultimately, the IRS is hiring staff to sort out the 600-billion-dollar tax gap, which represents the actual debt to pay and the subsidiary amount paid by most taxpayers. The agency is investing more in corporations, complex partnerships, and high-income earners to make this possible. As a result, you are off the hook with less than 400 thousand dollars a year. But wealthy individuals may experience a high audit rate in the coming tax years. However, the IRS has a limited audit rate.
The IRS plans to modernize its business infrastructure with the contribution made by the Inflation Reduction Act. The plan included updating phone systems and technology to reduce congestion on customer service. This update is due to the problem faced during the coronavirus, where millions of tax returns and refunds caused a massive backlog. The amount contributed by the Inflation Reduction act is about 3.2 billion dollars. The IRS receives more than 200 million calls during the tax season. This relief will reduce the millions of unprocessed returns accumulated each tax season.
The information above has clarified why the IRS is willing to fill these empty positions and what they budget to do with the 80 billion dollars within ten years. Now, there are rumors that the agency plans to have armed IRS agents to render certain services.
The IRS runs a department called the IRS CI tasked with enforcing and dealing with cases concerning tax crimes. The agents are permitted to carry arms in certain circumstances since only 2,100 of them are working on cases that can result in arrest.
The IRS Commissioner clarifies the rumor, assuring taxpayers of peace and concerns over the Inflation Reduction Act for agents. The Commissioner also sent a letter to the IRS informing them of a review. The review is on their agents, laws, and safety and security measures implementation methods. So there is no worry about the arm employed by the IRS, but be ready for the agency’s services, operations, and activities in the coming years.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TIFFANY GASKIN CAN BEST HELP YOU WITH YOUR TAX FILING NEEDS, PLEASE CLlICK THE BLUE TAB ON THIS PAGE.
THANKS FOR VISITING.
Tiffany Gaskin