TIGTA: IRS Is Not Doing Enough to Ensure its Employees Are Paying Their Taxes

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration today released Employees Are Provided Sufficient Information on Their Tax Responsibilities, but Additional Actions Are Needed to Detect All Noncompliant Employees (2011-10-047):

The IRS redesigned and centralized the Employee Tax Compliance (ETC) Program in Calendar Year 1995 to ensure that employees are held to a high standard of compliance with the tax laws. The IRS has developed processes to educate employees on their tax responsibilities and detect employees who may not have timely filed or timely paid their taxes; however, not all potential employee misconduct concerning noncompliance with tax laws is being assessed, and additional analyses are needed to periodically reevaluate the direction of the Program.  ...

TIGTA independently reviewed IRS computer files over a 2-year period and identified 133 employees who were potentially noncompliant with their taxes and were not detected by the ETC computer application. ... TIGTA determined the IRS significantly reduced the focus of the ETC Program from its original mission and goals partially based on a study it conducted showing that IRS employees were more compliant compared to the general taxpaying public. While TIGTA understands the IRS’s decision to use resources as efficiently as possible, the IRS should document this change and conduct three additional analyses to periodically reevaluate the Program’s direction to ensure proper oversight of employees’ compliance with their tax obligations.

• Forbes, IRS Employees In Tax Trouble
• Fox News, IRS Watchdog: Tax Agency Failed to Detect 133 Employees Behind on Tax Filings
• Going Concern, Some IRS Employees Living by the Motto ‘Do as I Say, Not as I Do’
• Market Watch, Some Tax Cheats Work at the IRS
• Wall Street Journal, IRS Must Beef Up Oversight of Its Own Workers, Report Finds