Priority Open Recommendations: Internal Revenue Service

What GAO Found

In June 2024, GAO identified 30 priority recommendations for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Since then, IRS has implemented five of those recommendations by designating a dedicated unit for addressing business identity theft fraud and assessing how online services may reduce taxpayer burden, among other things. In addition, GAO removed one recommendation related to reporting by third-party service providers, because it no longer warrants priority attention.

In September 2025, GAO identified two additional priority recommendations for IRS, bringing the total number to 26. These recommendations involve the following areas:

• Managing agency transformation,
• Addressing the tax gap,
• Improving the taxpayer experience,
• Ensuring taxpayer data security, and
• Enhancing information reporting.

IRS's continued attention to these issues could lead to significant improvements in government operations.

Why GAO Did This Study

Priority open recommendations are the GAO recommendations that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could save large amounts of money; improve congressional and/or executive branch decision-making on major issues; eliminate mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or ensure that programs comply with laws and funds are legally spent, among other benefits. Since 2015, GAO has sent letters to selected agencies to highlight the importance of implementing such recommendations.

For more information, contact Jessica Lucas-Judy at lucasjudyj@gao.gov or James R. McTigue, Jr. at mctiguej@gao.gov.