Grassley, Finance Committee Republicans to GAO: IRS Needs Unbiased, Robust Oversight for Massive Funding Boost

BUTLER COUNTY, IOWA – Finance Committee member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and his Republican colleagues on the committee are requesting information from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) regarding outstanding issues at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). With $80 billion in Democrat-passed funding heading to the agency, the senators are asking GAO to provide Congress with more information on outstanding, high-risk issues at the IRS that were identified in a previous audit.

 

“If the near-$80 billion is spent out evenly over time, for FY 2023 the IRS will be receiving a supersized 57 percent boost relative to FY 2022. Such an outsized boost to agency funding, derived from legislation developed and passed in partisan fashion, in our view represents a high risk for waste, fraud, abuse, and improper politicized utilization of taxpayer resources,” the senators wrote.

 

As the IRS prepares to spend $80 billion, the senators argue the agency should prioritize cleaning up existing problems – including lack of taxpayer privacy protections in light of IRS data leaks.

 

“We ask that GAO provide initial guidance to Congress on its plans to help provide all of the American people eyes into what will transpire with the massive new IRS funding,” the senators continued. “With supersized IRS funding having been set in place by P.L. 117-169, it is essential that oversight of the IRS be increased commensurate with the outsized boost in resources provided to the IRS.”

 

Specifically, the senators are requesting information on what high-risk IRS issues previously identified by GAO remain outstanding; details of the “significant deficiencies in internal controls” identified in GAO’s recent audit of IRS’s fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2020 financial statements; details of the “unresolved information system security control deficiencies” identified in that audit; and a list of outstanding GAO recommendations to the IRS for agency improvements and adherence to the law.

 

Full text of the letter is available HERE.

 

Last week, Grassley and his Finance Committee Republican colleagues sent a similar letter to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), urging the office to implement a comprehensive oversight plan for the new $80 billion in Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding. Read more about Grassley’s IRS concerns and oversight work HERE.

 

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