WASHINGTON – Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released the following statement regarding the release of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Special Compliance Personnel Program Annual Report.

“Data continue to show that the Private Debt Collection program is working. In fact, this report shows that as a direct result of the success of the program, the IRS will be able to hire 200 additional special compliance personnel by 2020. This is the most recent in a series of reports that have given me confidence in the program’s ability to make the system fairer for law-abiding citizens while also strengthening the effectiveness of the IRS.”

Highlights of the report include:

  • The success of the PDC program will enable the IRS to hire 200 special compliance personnel by 2020;
  • In FY 2018, the PDC program generated more than $82 million in revenue; and,
  • The IRS estimates that the PDC program will generate approximately $114 million in revenue in FY 2019.

Grassley was instrumental in creating the IRS’ bipartisan Private Debt Collection Program as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in 2004. He was also part of the program’s reinstatement in 2015 after the IRS terminated it in 2009 following a flawed review of the program.

The Private Debt Collection program is a public/private partnership that works to bolster the U.S. Treasury, strengthen the effectiveness of the IRS and ensure fairness in the federal tax system.

Earlier this year, the IRS released its second annual Private Debt Collection report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. That report highlighted the successes of the program, including:

  • The program brought in $30 million in revenue, after costs, in less than the first three months of FY2019;
  • The program’s total revenue, taking start-up costs into account, is $53 million; and,
  • The total amount provided to the IRS is more than $23.6 million.

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