Registration Open for Tax Chat! Series on Transforming Tax Administration

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.

The inaugural Tax Chat! will be followed by a group of Tax Chats that we view as foundational to any transformation effort, including discussions of the IRS budget structure and process, information technology challenges, and the IRS workforce.  We will then have a conversation about taxpayer behavior and voluntary compliance, and launch into Tax Chats! about specific areas of tax administration, including the use of big data, artificial intelligence, taxpayer service, audit and collection techniques, penalty administration, administrative burden, and interactions with vulnerable populations.  We’ll close with a look at the IRS’s organizational structure, culture, and how to earn taxpayer trust.

The Tax Chats! will be held over the spring and summer of 2023, culminating in an in-person and virtual day-long conference in September 2023.

All Tax Chats! Are free but attendees must register in order to receive the link for the Chats.  To register for the Tax Chat! series and receive notifications of upcoming Tax Chats! Please click here.

Transforming Tax Administration is funded with a generous grant from Arnold Ventures; we are very grateful for their support of this important endeavor.

All the best,

Nina

Nina E. Olson
Executive Director