Nina Olson

The IRS implemented hundreds of recommendations Nina Olson made for administrative change, and 15 bills to implement her recommendations were signed into law.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson says response times to incoming calls at the IRS remains the biggest challenge the agency has in dealing with the public.

In today’s Federal Newscast, a new study from the RAND Corporation shows it would cost the military more money to create new pilots, rather than trying to retain the ones it currently has.

The five-week partial government shutdown couldn’t have come at a worse time for the IRS, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson had told Congress, but following a House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee hearing Thursday, she said she remains uncertain as to whether the shutdown’s impact would warrant pushing back this year’s filing season deadline.

Innovation of federal IT springs up all over the government, including the IRS’ most recent move to provide more wireless options.

The IRS is looking at ways to make paying back delinquent debts as easy as making a purchase through commonplace tools like Venmo, or Square’s credit-card readers that plug into smartphones.

Agency leadership held a conference call with members of the IRS Advisory Council on Feb. 13, a volunteer group 75 tax professionals, to get their input on tax administration issues. That session made up for a January meeting postponed under the lapse in funding.

The past few months have been particularly challenging for the IRS, with budget ups and downs, a long government shutdown and a complex new tax code.

In today’s Federal Newscast, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the agency in charge of union relationships, no longer has one with it’s own employees union.

The IRS is still reeling from the effects of the 35-day shutdown that ended last month, according to the agency’s taxpayer watchdog office.