The IRS has issued a 5 year strategic plan aimed at closing the tax gap, increasing voluntary compliance with the federal tax laws and cracking down on unscrupulous and fraudulent tax preparers.
The 38 page report is a reaction to the anticipated trends that are or will be affecting the IRS over the next five years, including, “growing human capital challenges, the explosion in electronic data, online interactions and related security risks, accelerating globalization, the expanding role of tax practitioners and other third parties in the tax system and accelerating changes in business models.”
Commissioner Doug Shulman (pictured) says the IRS has two overarching goals for 2009 through 2013:
Our first goal is to improve service to taxpayers to make voluntary compliance easier. We will work harder to incorporate taxpayer perspectives, expedite resolution of taxpayer issues, and provide timely guidance to help all taxpayers pay their fair share of taxes. We will also strengthen our partnerships with tax practitioners, preparers, and other third parties in the system.
Our second and equally important goal is to enforce the law to ensure everyone meets their obligation to pay taxes. We will be timely in our enforcement actions and expand the approaches and tools we use in compliance activities. We will meet the challenges of globalization by improving our expertise and coordinating better with international organizations.
Here’s what the IRS says it wants to do over the next five years to close the tax gap and increase taxpayer compliance:
- Proactively enforce the law in a timely manner while respecting taxpayer rights and minimizing taxpayer burden
- Expand enforcement approaches and tools
- Meet the challenges of international tax administration
- Allocate compliance resources using a data-driven approach to target existing and emerging high-risk areas
- Continue focused oversight of the tax-exempt sector
- Ensure that all tax practitioners, tax preparers, and other third parties in the tax system adhere to professional standards and follow the law
Watch out, folks. The government has to pay for these bailouts somehow and going after delinquent taxpayers is probably the most politically palatable way to do it.
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1 Op-Ed on Tax Increases: The Government Doesn’t Deserve a Raise // May 7, 2009 at 12:02 pm
[...] instance, he has vowed to close the tax gap which would recover for the government about $300 billion per year and he
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