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As of May 3, 2024, there are 5130 open recommendations that still need to be addressed. 412 of these are priority recommendations, those that we believe warrant priority attention. Learn more about our priority designation on our Recommendations page.

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5101 - 5120 of 5130 Recommendations, including 412 Priority Recommendations

Flood Insurance: Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight of the WYO Program

GAO-09-455
Orice Williams Brown
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of Homeland Security To provide transparency and accountability over the payments FEMA makes to WYOs for expenses and profits, the Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the Under Secretary of Homeland Security, FEMA, to determine in advance the amounts built into the payment rates for estimated expenses and profit.
Open

According to FEMA officials, FEMA planned to respond to this recommendation as part of its development of a final rule on WYO compensation practices, required by the Biggert-Waters Act. FEMA's current payment rates do not explicitly consider WYO insurers' actual expenses and profit. FEMA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on July 8, 2019 seeking comments by September 6, 2019 regarding possible approaches to incorporating actual flood insurance expense data into the WYO payment methodology. As of February 2021, FEMA officials completed reviewing comments received in

Medicare Physician Payments: Fees Could Better Reflect Efficiencies Achieved When Services Are Provided Together

GAO-09-647
James Cosgrove
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Congress To ensure that savings are realized from the implementation of an MPPR or other policies that reflect efficiencies occurring when services are furnished together, Congress may wish to consider exempting these savings from budget neutrality.
Open – Partially Addressed

Congress has exempted savings from the implementation of multiple procedure payment reductions (MPPR) for certain diagnostic imaging and therapy services from the budget neutrality requirement, as GAO suggested in July 2009. For example, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 revised the payment reduction for the professional component of multiple diagnostic imaging services from 25 percent to 5 percent beginning on January 1, 2017, and exempted the reduced expenditures attributable to this MPPR from the budget neutrality provision. (Pub. L. No. 114-113, 129 Stat. 2242 (2015)). However

Real Estate Tax Deduction: Taxpayers Face Challenges in Determining What Qualifies; Better Information Could Improve Compliance

GAO-09-521
James R. White
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Internal Revenue Service To improve IRS's guidance to its examiners auditing the real-estate tax deduction, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue should revise the guidance to indicate that evidence of deductibility should not rely on mortgage escrow statements, Forms 1098, and cancelled checks (which can be evidence of payment), and may require more than reliance on a real-estate tax bill.
Open

No executive action taken. IRS has not addressed this action and had no plans to do so as of March 2024. IRS did not agree with GAO's May 2009 recommendation and the agency maintains that existing examination guidance provides examiners with sufficient information to properly examine this deduction. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2016, section 11042 of Public Law 115-97 caps the deduction for state and local taxes, including real estate taxes, at $10,000. GAO maintains that examiners are continuing to rely on guidance that is inadequate to properly examine this deduction and that
Internal Revenue Service To improve IRS's guidance to its examiners auditing the real-estate tax deduction, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue should revise the guidance to require examiners to ask taxpayers to substantiate the deductibility of the amounts claimed whenever they are examining the real-estate tax deduction and they have reason to believe that taxpayers have claimed nondeductible charges that are large, unusual, or questionable.
Open

No executive action taken. IRS has not addressed this action and had no plans to do so as of March 2024. IRS did not agree with GAO's May 2009 recommendation and the agency maintains that existing examination guidance provides examiners with sufficient information to properly examine this deduction. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2016, section 11042 of Public Law 115-97 caps the deduction for state and local taxes, including real estate taxes, at $10,000. In its 2009 review, GAO found that some examiners were not confirming that taxpayers were entitled to deduct real estate charges

Tax Gap: IRS Could Do More to Promote Compliance by Third Parties with Miscellaneous Income Reporting Requirements

GAO-09-238
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Congress To simplify the burden that the corporate exemption places on payers to distinguish payees' business status and also provide greater information reporting, Congress may wish to consider requiring payers to report payments to corporations on the form 1099 MISC, as we previously suggested and as proposed in the Bush Administration's budget.
Open

No legislative action has been taken, as of March 2024, to require payers engaged in a trade or business to report on payments to corporations for services, thereby reducing these payers' burden to determine which payments require reporting, as GAO recommended in January 2009. Reporting of third-party information is a powerful compliance tool, and eliminating the reporting exemption for payments to corporations would be a cost-effective way to improve voluntary compliance, resulting in increased revenue.

Radio Communications: Congressional Action Needed to Ensure Agencies Collaborate to Develop a Joint Solution

GAO-09-133
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Congress Congress may wish to consider requiring the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Treasury to collaborate on the development and implementation of a joint radio communications solution. Specifically, Congress may wish to consider requiring the departments to (1) establish an effective governance structure that includes a formal process for making decisions and resolving disputes, (2) define and articulate a common outcome for this joint effort, and (3) develop a joint strategy for improving radio communications.
Open – Partially Addressed

Legislation has been enacted to provide funding for, among other things, the development of a nationwide, interoperable broadband network that is aimed at improving interoperable radio communications among public safety officials. However, the use of the broadband network by public safety users is voluntary. In addition, as of February 2024, officials from the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and the Treasury stated that they currently do not expect to use the nationwide public safety broadband network to fully support their mission-critical voice operations. As a result, this

Tax Administration: IRS's 2008 Filing Season Generally Successful Despite Challenges, although IRS Could Expand Enforcement during Returns Processing

GAO-09-146
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Congress Given the potential for improving compliance now and in the future, Congress may wish to provide IRS with the authority to use math error checks to identify and correct returns with ineligible (1) IRA "catch-up" contributions, and (2) contributions to traditional IRAs from taxpayers over age 70-1/2.
Open

In December 2019, the SECURE Act of 2019 removed the 70-1/2 age limit for contributions to traditional IRAs. Therefore, math error authority to verify ineligible contributions by age is no longer necessary in this case. As of March 2024, Congress had not provided IRS math error authority for IRA "catch-up" contributions. GAO maintains that providing IRS with math error authority to identify and correct ineligible claims for taxpayers contributing to IRAs would enable IRS to correct obvious noncompliance and would be less intrusive and burdensome to taxpayers than audits.

Highway Safety: Foresight Issues Challenge DOT's Efforts to Assess and Respond to New Technology-Based Trends

GAO-09-56
Nancy R. Kingsbury
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation In order to develop an approach to decision making and the development of evidence on high-clockspeed trends affecting highway safety that are characterized by uncertainty, the Secretary of Transportation should consider and evaluate practices and principles for making decisions under conditions of uncertainty and for using data in such decision making and, on that basis, develop an approach to guide decision making on high-clockspeed trends that, although somewhat uncertain, may affect highway safety.
Open

In GAO-09-56, GAO recommended the Secretary of Transportation consider and evaluate practices and principles for making conditions under uncertainty and for using data in light of issues encountered in developing evidence on high-clockspeed trends affecting highway safety that are characterized by uncertainty. GAO had studied driver distraction involving electronic devices, in particular cell phones with texting capability and identified these evolving electronic devices as a high clockspeed trend. DOT reports several actions on distracted driving, specifically: (1) an Executive Order to

Tax Gap: Actions That Could Improve Rental Real Estate Reporting Compliance

GAO-08-956
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Congress To provide clarity for which taxpayers with rental real estate activity must report expense payments on information returns and to provide greater information reporting, Congress may wish to consider amending the Internal Revenue Code to make all taxpayers with rental real estate activity subject to the same information reporting requirements as other taxpayers operating a trade or business.
Open

No legislative action had been taken, as of March 1, 2024, to make owners of rental real estate subject to the same payment reporting requirements regardless of whether they engaged in a trade or business under current law, as GAO recommended in August 2008. Changing reporting requirements and holding taxpayers with rental real estate to the same filing requirements as taxpayers whose activities are considered a trade or business would provide clarity about who is required to file, which would improve tax compliance and result in increased revenue.

Tax Expenditures: Available Data Are Insufficient to Determine the Use and Impact of Indian Reservation Depreciation

GAO-08-731
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Congress Given the lack of information on IRD users and where property claimed under IRD is placed in service, Congress may wish to consider requiring IRS to collect information identifying which taxpayers use IRD and the reservation and/or address where they have placed the property into service. In deliberating additional requirements, Congress should weigh the need for more IRD information with the associated costs of collecting and analyzing the information as well as the effects on IRS's other priorities.
Open

As of March 2024, no legislative action has been taken to direct IRS to collect more information about taxpayer use of the accelerated depreciation incentive for projects in tribal communities. The provision expired as of January 1, 2022, and taxpayers cannot use this accelerated depreciation for Indian reservation property placed into service after December 31, 2021. The provision has previously expired and been extended retroactively, so GAO continues to monitor the issue.

Surface Transportation: Restructured Federal Approach Needed for More Focused, Performance-Based, and Sustainable Programs

GAO-08-400
Phillip R. Herr
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Congress To improve the effectiveness of the federal investment in surface transportation, meet the nation's transportation needs, and ensure a sustainable commitment to transportation infrastructure, Congress may wish to consider reexamining and refocusing surface transportation programs to be responsive to these principles so that they institute tools and approaches to that emphasize the return on the federal investment.
Open

In November 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. No. 117-58) was enacted to reauthorize surface transportation programs, among other actions. In doing so, the Act made changes to existing programs as well as created new programs to address emerging concerns. However, the Act did not make changes to the nation's surface transportation's system and the federal government's role in it that would broadly incorporate tools and approaches that emphasize the return on the federal investment. As of March 2024, Congress has not taken any additional action in this area. GAO will
Congress To improve the effectiveness of the federal investment in surface transportation, meet the nation's transportation needs, and ensure a sustainable commitment to transportation infrastructure, Congress may wish to consider reexamining and refocusing surface transportation programs to be responsive to these principles so that they address the current imbalance between federal surface transportation revenues and spending.
Open

In November 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. No. 117-58) was enacted to reauthorize surface transportation programs, among other actions. In doing so, the Act transferred $118 billion in general fund revenue to the Highway Trust Fund to support authorized transportation spending. However, the Act did not contain provisions designed to establish a sustainable, long-term approach to funding surface transportation that would address the imbalance between federal revenues and spending. Without the transfer of general revenues to the Highway Trust Fund enacted as part of

Tax Policy: Tax-Exempt Status of Certain Bonds Merits Reconsideration, and Apparent Noncompliance with Issuance Cost Limitations Should Be Addressed

GAO-08-364
James R. White
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Congress As Congress considers whether tax-exempt governmental bonds should be used for professional sports stadiums that are generally privately used, it may also wish to consider whether other facilities, including hotels and golf courses, that are privately used should continue to be financed with tax-exempt governmental bonds.
Open

No legislative action as of March 2024. GAO suggested in February 2008 that as Congress considers whether tax-exempt governmental bonds should be used for professional sports stadiums that are generally privately used, it also should consider whether other privately used facilities, including hotels and golf courses, should continue to be financed with such bonds. Reconsidering the tax-exempt status of certain bonds could generate billions of dollars in additional federal revenue over a ten year period.

Medicaid Demonstration Waivers: Recent HHS Approvals Continue to Raise Cost and Oversight Concerns

GAO-08-87
Katherine Iritani
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Congress Congress may wish to consider requiring increased attention to fiscal responsibility in the approval of section 1115 Medicaid demonstrations by requiring the Secretary of HHS to improve the demonstration review process through steps such as (1) clarifying criteria for reviewing and approving states' proposed spending limits, (2) better ensuring that valid methods are used to demonstrate budget neutrality, and (3) documenting and making public material explaining the basis for any approvals.
Open – Partially Addressed

As of March 2024, Congress has not passed legislation requiring HHS to improve the Medicaid demonstration review process. However, HHS has taken some action to address some of GAO's concerns. CMS established new policies that addressed certain problems GAO had identified, resulting in estimate benefits to the federal government in the tens of billions of dollars. CMS also issued written guidance on the process and criteria used to approved states' proposed spending limits. Not all problems identified by GAO were addressed by CMS's new policies, thus legislation to require HHS to improve the
Congress Congress may wish to consider addressing whether demonstrations that allow states to operate public managed care organizations and retain excess revenue to support programs previously funded by the state--including the Vermont demonstration--are within the scope of the Secretary of HHS's authority under section 1115 of the Social Security Act.
Open

As of March 2024, Congress had not passed legislation in response to our matter for congressional consideration.

Tax Gap: A Strategy for Reducing the Gap Should Include Options for Addressing Sole Proprietor Noncompliance

GAO-07-1014
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of the Treasury The Secretary of the Treasury should ensure that the tax gap strategy includes (1) a segment on improving sole proprietor compliance that is coordinated with broader tax gap reduction efforts and (2) specific proposals, such as the options we identified, that constitute an integrated package.
Open

As of February 2024, Treasury had taken no action to address this recommendation and had not provided GAO with plans to do so. To spur IRS action, we raised a matter in our October 2023 report (GAO-24-105281) for Congress to direct Treasury to implement this recommendation. In May 2021, Treasury officials said that the Administration's May 2021 plan to improve tax compliance and its budget proposal references compliance options that could affect sole proprietors. However, the May 2021 plan did not reference a strategy that includes a segment on improving sole proprietor compliance. Treasury

Medicaid Financing: Federal Oversight Initiative Is Consistent with Medicaid Payment Principles but Needs Greater Transparency

GAO-07-214
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services To enhance the transparency of CMS oversight and clarify and communicate the types of allowable state financing arrangements, the Administrator of CMS should provide each state CMS reviews under its initiative with specific and written explanations regarding agency determinations on the allowability of various arrangements for financing the nonfederal share of Medicaid payments and make these determinations available to all states and interested parties.
Open

CMS has taken steps to provide states with specific and written explanations regarding agency determinations on whether various arrangements for financing the nonfederal share of Medicaid payments are allowable and making those determinations available to states and interested parties. In December 2020, Congress passed and the President signed into law legislation requiring additional state reporting on Medicaid supplemental payments, including requiring states to describe how these payments are consistent with economy and efficiency. The effectiveness of these new reporting requirements will

Highway Emergency Relief: Reexamination Needed to Address Fiscal Imbalance and Long-term Sustainability

GAO-07-245
Katherine (Kate) Siggerud
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Congress In order to put the Emergency Relief program on a sound financial footing, Congress may wish to consider the expected future demands on the program and reexamine the appropriate level and sources of funding--including whether to increase the $100 million annual authorized funding and whether the Highway Trust Fund, the General Fund, or some combination would allow the program to accomplish its purpose in a fiscally sustainable manner.
Open – Partially Addressed

Several recent appropriations acts - passed in September 2021 and December 2022 - demonstrate that Congress reexamined the appropriate level and sources of funding by continuing to provide supplemental, one-time funding for the Emergency Relief program. However, as of March 2024, Congress has not considered a more fiscally sustainable solution for the Emergency Relief program, such as increasing the annual authorization of $100 million for this program. As a result, concerns remain about shortfalls between the annual authorization and the actual amounts needed for the Emergency Relief program

Drinking Water: EPA Should Strengthen Ongoing Efforts to Ensure That Consumers Are Protected from Lead Contamination

GAO-06-148
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Environmental Protection Agency The Administrator, EPA, should take a number of steps to further protect the American public from elevated lead levels in drinking water. Specifically, to improve EPA's ability to oversee implementation of the lead rule and assess compliance and enforcement activities, EPA should ensure that data on water systems' test results, corrective action milestones, and violations are current, accurate, and complete.
Open

As of May 2023, we are keeping this recommendation open awaiting progress with the Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) modernization and the extent to which EPA can assess whether SDWIS data are current, accurate and complete. In December 2022, EPA indicated that it expects states to begin transitioning to SDWIS by the end of 2024 and to involve the primacy agencies in establishing data quality goals for monitoring violations and other information.

Government Performance and Accountability: Tax Expenditures Represent a Substantial Federal Commitment and Need to Be Reexamined

GAO-05-690
James (Jay) R. McTigue, Jr
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget To ensure that policymakers and the public have the necessary information to make informed decisions and to improve the progress toward exercising greater scrutiny of tax expenditures, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, should resume presenting tax expenditures in the budget together with related outlay programs to show a truer picture of the federal support within a mission area.
Open

As of March 2024, OMB does not plan to implement this recommendation. OMB did not present tax expenditures in the fiscal year 2025 budget with the related outlay programs, as GAO recommended in September 2005. OMB did not agree that GAO's recommendation was necessary and stated that presenting information on tax expenditures together with related outlay programs was not useful for budgeting, and that such a presentation is not part of the congressional budget process. However, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 requires a list of tax expenditures, including special tax credits, deductions
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