Internal Revenue Service: Assessment of the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Request

The fiscal year 2009 budget request for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is a road map for how IRS plans to allocate resources and achieve ambitious goals for improving enforcement, improving taxpayer service, increasing research, and continuing to invest in modernized information systems. One complicating factor in implementing IRS's plans in the immediate future is the recent passage of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which creates additional, unanticipated workload for IRS. GAO was asked to (1) assess how the President's budget request for IRS allocates resources and justifies proposed initiatives; (2) determine the status of IRS's efforts to develop and implement its Business Systems Modernization (BSM) program; and (3) determine the total costs of administering the economic stimulus legislation. To meet these objectives, GAO drew upon and updated recently issued reports.