IRS
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In a recent audit made public Tuesday, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported that between Oct. 1, 2010 and Dec. 31 2012, more than 2,800 employees disciplined within the past year for misconduct collected a total of $2.8 million in monetary awards. That included more than $1 million in cash awards for 1,100 IRS employees who had failed to pay federal taxes.
April 22, 2014 -
Budget cuts and a steep drop in the size of the Internal Revenue Service's workforce have resulted in "uneven" performance by the agency, according to the Government Accountability Office. In the wake of reduced staff and shrinking budgets, IRS service levels decreased, the agency was forced to delay two major IT projects and spending on employee training has been slashed by more than 80 percent, according to GAO.
April 22, 2014 -
A customer service representative at the IRS who repeatedly greeted taxpayers calling a help-line with a chant urging President Barack Obama's re-election in 2012 could now be facing significant disciplinary action, according to the Office of Special Counsel. It's one of three cases of improper political activity at the agency recently uncovered by OSC. Meanwhile, three career officials at Customs and Border Protection are under fire by OSC for allegedly manipulating the hiring process to install job candidates favored by political leadership into career appointments.
April 09, 2014 -
The IRS says six of its 19 information technology programs are running below cost and ahead of schedule. The agency says the others are experiencing cost overruns and schedule delays. But the IRS might not know if that's actually true. Dave Powner, director of Information Technology Management Issues at the Government Accountability Office, told In Depth with Francis Rose that GAO is looking at whether or not the IRS is accurately reporting its progress or lack thereof.
April 08, 2014 -
The former acting chief of the Internal Revenue Service, who led the agency in the aftermath of the political-targeting scandal and who stepped down in December, says he believes the agency is on the right track. In an interview on on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp, Danny Werfel, who recently joined the Boston Consulting Group, cited strong leadership at the agency.
March 31, 2014 -
The IRS is reorganizing its Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division.That's the office at the center of a controversy about whether it targeted conservative groups' applications. Under the new move, technical law specialists and support staff will shift to the IRS Office of Chief Counsel. Marcus Owens, the former head of the Exempt Organizations Division, now with the law firm Caplin and Drysdale, spoke to Federal Drive about how fundamental a change the move is.
March 27, 2014 -
Horace Blackman, a long-time Veterans Affairs IT executive, also leaves for the private sector, joining Lockheed Martin.
March 24, 2014 -
Under the squeeze of sequestration, the size of the Internal Revenue Service's workforce contracted by nearly 6,000 employees by the end of last year, according to new IRS data. At the end of fiscal 2013, the IRS workforce stood at 83,613 employees -- the fewest number in more than decade. That's also 5,938 fewer employees than the agency had on board at the end of fiscal 2012.
March 24, 2014 -
The strange case of Lois Lerner - a federal official pleading the fifth - and the IRS.
March 20, 2014 -
Given the choice, would you choose a date with Justin Bieber, an evening with Beyonce or a $25,000 buyout? Given the odds, chances are you will never have to make a choice, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. But be prepared...
February 28, 2014 -
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government that budget and staffing reductions are impacting the agency's core missions of customer service and tax collection. The agency projects it will only be able to answer 61 percent of phone calls this year, meaning some 20 million phone calls will go unanswered. Meanwhile, taxpayers attempting to reach IRS offices are facing wait times that stretch past 20 minutes.
February 27, 2014 -
John Koskinen, sworn in as IRS commissioner in late December, has been meeting with frontline employees and crunching numbers for the last several weeks. He told Congress Wednesday that every corner of the agency is underfunded, and as a direct result, the Treasury is collecting fewer dollars than it should.
February 06, 2014 -
The Internal Revenue Service and the National Treasury Employees Union reached an agreement that will see the IRS pay frontline employees performance awards starting in the spring. Acting IRS chief Danny Werfel canceled payouts of the awards last July, even though the union said the agency was obligated to pay them.
February 03, 2014 -
The head of the Internal Revenue Service said the agency isn't planning any employee furloughs this year, even though Congress decided not to restore funding to the agency that had been lost due to the across-the-board sequestration cuts. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said the budget crunch, though, would mean taxpayers will see a decline in services.
January 31, 2014 -
Danny Werfel has resigned from his position of controller of the Office of Management Budget and left the federal government. He had served as controller since October 2009.
January 27, 2014