A bill to require the Internal Revenue Service to issue a report on the tax gap, to establish a fellowship program within the Internal Revenue Service to recruit mid-career tax professionals to create and participate in an audit task force, and for other purposes.

12/31/2022, 5:35 AM

This bill requires the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to report to Congress on projections of the estimated tax gap (i.e., the difference between tax liabilities owed to the IRS and those liabilities that the IRS actually collects). The IRS may use artificial intelligence and related data analysis tools to calculate a tax gap projection. The bill also requires the Joint Committee on Taxation to issue periodic reports to the congressional tax committees on the tax gap projection.

The bill restricts IRS funding to FY2021 levels for audits and enforcement until it publishes an updated tax gap projection. Funding is also restricted for certain purposes, including (1) targeting U.S. citizens who exercise their First Amendment rights, (2) targeting a group for regulatory scrutiny based on its ideological beliefs, and (3) auditing individual taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of less than $400,000.

The bill directs the IRS to establish a fellowship program to recruit private sector tax experts to join the IRS to create and participate in the audit task force. The purposes of the tax force include performing audit case selection, educating IRS employees on emerging issues, auditing selected taxpayers, addressing offshore tax evasion, and identifying, mentoring, and training IRS junior employees with respect to audits.

Congress
117

Number
S - 2721

Introduced on
2021-09-13

# Amendments
0

Sponsors
+5

Cosponsors
+5

Variations and Revisions

9/13/2021

Status of Legislation

Bill Introduced
Introduced to House
House to Vote
Introduced to Senate
Senate to Vote

Purpose and Summary

This bill requires the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to report to Congress on projections of the estimated tax gap (i.e., the difference between tax liabilities owed to the IRS and those liabilities that the IRS actually collects). The IRS may use artificial intelligence and related data analysis tools to calculate a tax gap projection. The bill also requires the Joint Committee on Taxation to issue periodic reports to the congressional tax committees on the tax gap projection.

The bill restricts IRS funding to FY2021 levels for audits and enforcement until it publishes an updated tax gap projection. Funding is also restricted for certain purposes, including (1) targeting U.S. citizens who exercise their First Amendment rights, (2) targeting a group for regulatory scrutiny based on its ideological beliefs, and (3) auditing individual taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of less than $400,000.

The bill directs the IRS to establish a fellowship program to recruit private sector tax experts to join the IRS to create and participate in the audit task force. The purposes of the tax force include performing audit case selection, educating IRS employees on emerging issues, auditing selected taxpayers, addressing offshore tax evasion, and identifying, mentoring, and training IRS junior employees with respect to audits.

Alternative Names
Official Title as IntroducedA bill to require the Internal Revenue Service to issue a report on the tax gap, to establish a fellowship program within the Internal Revenue Service to recruit mid-career tax professionals to create and participate in an audit task force, and for other purposes.

Policy Areas
Taxation

Potential Impact
Accounting and auditing
Computers and information technology
Congressional oversight
Department of the Treasury
Employee hiring
Executive agency funding and structure
First Amendment rights
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Political movements and philosophies
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers

Comments

Recent Activity

Latest Summary10/26/2021

This bill requires the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to report to Congress on projections of the estimated tax gap (i.e., the difference between tax liabilities owed to the IRS and those liabilities that the IRS actually collects). The IRS may u...


Latest Action9/13/2021
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.