New IRS Commissioner to Begin in November

Posted on October 30, 2017

Regular readers of our blog will know that Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen has not had an easy run as the head of the government’s tax enforcement and collection agency.

For the past two years, members of the U.S. House of Representatives have been in various stages of impeaching Koskinen for what they said was his role in destruction of evidence in the case of Lois Lerner. Lerner is the former director of the Exempt Organizations Unit of the IRS who is believed to have led the effort by the IRS to target conservative political organizations.

The effort to impeach Koskinen eventually died, and he is set to finish out his term in November. The end of Koskinen’s career at the IRS means that a new chief will need to take over.

President Trump announced last week that the new acting IRS Commissioner will be David Kautter. Kautter is currently the assistant secretary of Treasury for Tax Policy. He will take over at the IRS on Nov. 13, 2017.

According to reports, Kautter has a long career in tax policy and worked for 30 years at accounting firm Ernst and Young. So far, his nomination to the IRS post has been well received by both Republicans and Democrats.

It is expected that Kautter will work closely with the Trump administration and Congress to overhaul the tax code, which was a significant campaign promise made by then candidate Trump.

“Working together with you and your staffs, I believe we can get tax reform over the finish line,” Kautter said during his confirmation hearings last summer.

We wish Kautter all the very best as he works to reform the tax code. This will undoubtedly be a difficult and contentious task. What do you think? Does the U.S. tax code need to be overhauled?

Do you owe money to the IRS and are you under levy? Contact us, we can help.