IRS Generally Does a Good Job When Abating Civil Penalties--And Has Made Recent Improvements
GGD-84-21: Published: May 22, 1984. Publicly Released: May 22, 1984.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
In response to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) administration of the penalty abatement process by reviewing a random sample of abatements that were granted by IRS in six districts during fiscal year 1981.
Based on its sample, GAO estimated that 92 percent of the abatements granted in these districts were appropriate and concluded that IRS did a good job when abating civil penalties. However, it noted that IRS could improve its performance with regard to analyzing abatement requests in which the taxpayers claimed reasonable cause for failing to pay enough taxes or file required tax information. GAO determined that 26 percent of this type of abatement was incorrect. GAO found that IRS should provide clearer guidance for employees to use in considering abatements based on reasonable cause. In addition, IRS needs to: (1) improve its penalty abatement training; (2) provide for management review of penalty abatement decisions; and (3) distribute its guidelines on reasonable cause to employees who make such decisions.
Jan 14, 2021
Tax Administration:
Better Coordination Could Improve IRS's Use of Third-Party Information Reporting to Help Reduce the Tax GapGAO-21-102: Published: Dec 15, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 14, 2021.
Nov 18, 2020
-
IRS Reorganization:
Planning Addressed Key Reform Practices, but Goals and Measures for the Plan Have Not Been FinalizedGAO-21-18: Published: Oct 19, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 18, 2020.
Nov 9, 2020
-
Opportunity Zones:
Improved Oversight Needed to Evaluate Tax Expenditure PerformanceGAO-21-30: Published: Oct 8, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 9, 2020.
Oct 19, 2020
-
Tax Administration:
Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight of Hospitals' Tax-Exempt StatusGAO-20-679: Published: Sep 17, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 19, 2020.
Sep 23, 2020
-
Taxpayer Service:
IRS Could Improve the Taxpayer Experience by Using Better Service Performance MeasuresGAO-20-656: Published: Sep 23, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 23, 2020.
Aug 31, 2020
-
Abusive Tax Schemes:
Offshore Insurance Products and Associated Compliance RisksGAO-20-589: Published: Jul 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Aug 31, 2020.
Jun 29, 2020
-
Taxpayer Compliance:
More Income Reporting Needed for Taxpayers Working through Online PlatformsGAO-20-366: Published: May 28, 2020. Publicly Released: Jun 29, 2020.
Jun 16, 2020
-
Tax Exempt Organizations:
IRS Increasingly Uses Data in Examination Selection, but Could Further Improve Selection ProcessesGAO-20-454: Published: Jun 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Jun 16, 2020.
May 1, 2020
-
Management Report:
Improvements Are Needed to Enhance the Internal Revenue Service's Internal Control over Financial ReportingGAO-20-480R: Published: May 1, 2020. Publicly Released: May 1, 2020.
Apr 30, 2020
-
Priority Open Recommendations:
Internal Revenue ServiceGAO-20-548PR: Published: Apr 23, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 30, 2020.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here
Explore our Key Issues on Tax Policy and Administration
Explore our other Key Issues here
