Social Security:
Taxing Nonqualified Deferred Compensation
T-HRD-90-21: Published: Apr 5, 1990. Publicly Released: Apr 5, 1990.
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GAO discussed taxation of nonqualified deferred compensation. GAO found that: (1) income deferral plans represented employers' promises to provide future income to employees for services they currently rendered; (2) self-employed persons could also defer income through contractual agreements with their clients; (3) deferred incomes provided advantages for persons with current income at or over the social security wage base; (4) self-employed taxpayers used contractual arrangements to defer income, but not extensively; (5) risks associated with collecting deferred income and tax prerequisites were discouraging factors; (6) deferred income tax requirements evolved from concerns about how employee voluntary contributions to qualified deferred compensation plans could escape social security taxes; (7) Congress also changed social security tax rules for employer-sponsored nonqualified plans; (8) limited reporting on nonqualified plans precluded measurement of the effects of the tax requirements on social security revenues; (9) Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials believed that the requirements complicated tax administration and that further regulations on use of the provision were necessary; and (10) IRS did not issue such regulations because of higher priority projects and problems in drafting regulations.
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
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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
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Opportunity Zones:
Improved Oversight Needed to Evaluate Tax Expenditure PerformanceGAO-21-30: Published: Oct 8, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 9, 2020.
Oct 19, 2020
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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
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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
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Abusive Tax Schemes:
Offshore Insurance Products and Associated Compliance RisksGAO-20-589: Published: Jul 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Aug 31, 2020.
Jun 29, 2020
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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
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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
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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
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Priority Open Recommendations:
Internal Revenue ServiceGAO-20-548PR: Published: Apr 23, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 30, 2020.
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