{
  "id": "RL30899",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL30899",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 100336,
      "date": "2001-03-22",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:26:09.161941",
      "title": "IRS: Status of Restructuring and Reform at the Opening of the 107th Congress",
      "summary": "Passage in July 1998 of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act ( H.R. 2676 ,  P.L. 105-206 )\nrequired a number of significant changes in the way the service operates as well as a fundamental\nchange in its culture. After two years of intensive work, IRS is well along in the process of\nconverting itself to a user-friendly institution, which is one of the most difficult tasks the\nRestructuring Act (RRA) requires of it. The RRA was based fundamentally on the report of the\nNational Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service. This commission was created\nby Congress in its FY1996 appropriations legislation ( P.L.104-52 ) and funded for 15 months. The\nreport of the commission,  A Vision for   a New IRS , recommended the\nestablishment of an IRS\noversight board, a change in the organizational structure of the service, and the encouragement of\nincreased electronic filing, but it especially recommended intensified training for staff and more\naccess to them for the public. \n  The service has completed most of the requirements of the RRA. The geographic structure of\nthe agency has been changed to a functional one. The Oversight Board is in place. A list of 71\ntaxpayer protections and rights are being applied, although with difficulty in some cases, particularly\nin the case of relief for innocent spouses. The Office of the Taxpayer Advocate has opened the IRS\ndoor to negotiation of those tax obligations that impose hardship. IRS' staff has been assured that\nthe sanctions for taxpayer abuse will not result in their removal unless they commit illegal acts\nwillfully. The intent of this assurance was to prevent employees from being inhibited in doing their\njobs for fear of loss of employment. Electronic filing is growing in acceptance among individual\nfilers, but slowly. The matching grants for low-income tax clinics reached the cap of $6 million in\n2001. The century date change (Y2K) was handled without incident, supported by an appropriation\nof $1.3 billion specifically for that purpose. The Joint Committee on Taxation has completed\ncomplexity analyses on 10 bills since passage of RRA, and is preparing a report on the general\ncomplexity of the tax code.\n  Some projects, however, will require more time to reach completion. Planning for any program\nis based on agency assumptions about how much funding it is likely to receive. The Commission on\nRestructuring recommended that funding be appropriated for the IRS every three years to make\nadvance planning possible, but Congress has taken no action on this issue. The problem which 10\nyears ago precipitated the journey toward the restructuring law--inadequate computer technology--\nremains a problem for the agency, although work is in progress to replace the least useful computers. \nPerhaps the most urgent initiative underway at IRS is training. Every initiative taken under RRA\nrequires retraining of experienced staff and new training for newcomers, the public, and tax preparers. \n  This report will not be updated.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "Economic Policy"
  ]
}