Dear Friends,

We’re pleased to announce that registration is now open for a 15-part series of free online Tax Chats! on Transforming Tax Administration: Toward an Effective, Trusted, and Inclusive IRS.  The first Tax Chat will be held on Thursday March 23 at noon EDT; our guest will be Charles Rossotti, former Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  You can register for the first Tax Chat! here.

By way of background, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Public Law 117-169, enacted August 16, 2022, provides for $80 billion in funding over a ten year period to enhance Internal Revenue Service (IRS) resources and improve taxpayer compliance.  The funding is allocated as follows:

• $3.1 billion for taxpayer services;
• $45.6 billion for enforcement;
• $25.3 billion for operation support; and
• $4.75 billion for business systems modernization.

The last major reform effort for the IRS was pursuant to the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA 98), Public Law 105-206.  RRA 98 was preceded by a bipartisan National Commission on Restructuring the IRS, which held public hearings around the country and heard from scores of tax professionals, academics and government officials on how to improve the agency.  The National Commission’s report provided the basis for approximately nine months of congressional hearings.  The Ways & Means Committee originated the legislation and prepared an extensive committee report, followed by the Senate Finance Committee amending the bill and preparing its own committee report; the bill finally went to conference, which also generated a conference report.  RRA 98, then, has extensive legislative history which lays out the clear intent and expectations of Congress in its efforts to reform and restructure the IRS.  Not surprisingly, as a result of all this effort, RRA 98 passed the House with a 402 to 8 vote and the Senate with a 96 to 2 vote.

The Inflation Reduction Act, on the other hand, was a reconciliation bill and preceded by very little legislative background work.  There are no committee reports, much less a national commission with recommendations on how to transform the IRS.  Although the IRS has established transformation offices and Treasury is holding various roundtables with specific stakeholder groups, the IRA does not have the bipartisan in-depth exploration of what is needed to transform the IRS into a tax agency that meets the needs of its diverse taxpayer population while ensuring those taxpayers comply with the law.

To provide some record and public discussion, the Center for Taxpayer Rights is holding a series of 15 or so virtual “Tax Chats” with experts from the private, academic, nonprofit, and government sectors on various aspects of tax administration.  The format of the 1 ½ to 2-hour discussions will be informal and allow for viewer questions.  All the Tax Chats! are free of charge but you must register in order to receive the link and notifications of future Tax Chats! in the series. 

The inaugural Chat of this series will be held on Thursday, March 23 at noon with Charles Rossotti, IRS Commissioner during and immediately after the enactment of RRA 98.  You can register for this Tax Chat! by clicking the link below.