IRS Compliance Efforts Affected by Budget Cuts and Loss of Personnel

Posted on December 18, 2014

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen recently expressed his concern regarding IRS compliance activities.

Since 2010, the IRS’ budget has been reduced by $850 million dollars which, in turn, reduced the amount of tax revenue that would have been collected. Mr. Koskinen stated that the federal government is losing billions in revenue collection to achieve savings of a few hundred million dollars.

The IRS estimates that for every $1 it spends, it collects $4 in revenue. Mr. Koskinen estimates that the IRS would have collected an additional $2 billion dollars if its budget had not been reduced by $500 million dollars as a result of the sequester. The IRS has also lost nearly 10,000 full-time permanent employees, including more than 3,000 people working in key enforcement positions. As a result of these changes, the IRS has been hampered in its collection activities.

Do you believe in a strong IRS or in a weak IRS?

Although many of our clients do not particularly like the IRS, we feel that a weaker IRS hurts everybody.