After more than a year of research and feedback, the IRS submitted the Taxpayer First Act Report to Congress (the “Report”), a comprehensive set of recommendations that will reimagine the taxpayer experience, enhance employee training, and restructure the IRS to increase collaboration and innovation.
The Report was in response to The Taxpayer First Act, signed into law July 2019, which was designed to improve service to taxpayers and tax professionals and to ensure the IRS enforces the tax law in a fair and impartial manner. The Report includes multiple recommendations from the tax professional community, and the IRS pledged to continue conversations with key stakeholders and congressional committees to secure funding and begin to work toward implementation of these recommendations over the next several years.
The Report contains three integrated sets of recommendations, including:
- A taxpayer experience strategy that focuses on creating a proactive, convenient, seamless, personalized and effective interaction with taxpayers and the tax professional community;
- A comprehensive training strategy that is a multi-faceted approach to empowering the workforce and equipping them with the skills and tools they need to advance their careers, provide high-quality service to taxpayers and enhance the taxpayer experience, and
- A recommended organizational design that will increase collaboration, coordinate strategic implementation of large-scale initiatives, enhance innovation, strengthen communications and prioritize taxpayer rights, all with the aim of improving the taxpayer experience.
The IRS will begin to implement several of the recommendations in the report as early as 2021, building upon work already underway to expand digital services, reach underserved communities and improve proactive outreach.
For questions about the Taxpayer First Act, the current state of the IRS, or any other issues related to the IRS, contact Brian Moore, Director of Tax Services Leader.
