During its audit of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) fiscal years 2019 and 2018 financial statements, GAO identified new control deficiencies in IRS's internal control over financial reporting that although not considered a material weakness or significant deficiency, nonetheless warrant IRS management's attention. These control deficiencies concern IRS's (1) transporting taxpayer receipts, (

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made considerable progress issuing guidance to taxpayers for Public Law 115-97—commonly known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA)—but has additional work remaining to issue all planned guidance, as shown in the figure. To improve efficiency of TCJA guidance development, IRS internally collaborated earlier and more frequently than during more rout

In accordance with the authority conferred by the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, as amended, GAO annually audits IRS's financial statements to determine whether (1) the financial statements are fairly presented and (2) IRS management maintained effective internal control over financial reporting. GAO also tests IRS's compliance with selected provisions of applicable laws, regulations, cont

The Department of Labor (DOL) has a process to grant administrative exemptions for individual retirement account (IRA) transactions that would otherwise be prohibited by law, such as an IRA buying investment property from the IRA owner. DOL evaluates applications using statutory criteria and follows administrative procedures codified in regulations. Applications for proposed transactions that are

During its audit of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) fiscal years 2018 and 2017 financial statements, GAO identified continuing control deficiencies related to IRS's accounting for federal taxes receivable and other unpaid assessments that collectively represent a significant deficiency in IRS's internal control over unpaid tax assessments as of September 30, 2018. GAO also identified new con

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) documented objectives and proposed measures for its private debt collection (PDC) program for sending tax debt cases to private collection agencies, but the objectives are not clearly defined and their linkages with program measures are unclear. For example, one objective is to provide taxpayers an opportunity to understand and resolve their tax debts, but the p

A U.S. multinational corporation (MNC) operating in a foreign country is subject to taxes in that country as well as in the United States. The U.S. MNC's tax return may be audited by the United States or the other country. Such audits can result in an adjustment to the U.S. MNC's taxable income that may result in income being subject to tax in both countries. If the U.S. MNC disagrees with the ad

In GAO's opinion, the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) fiscal years 2018 and 2017 financial statements are fairly presented in all material respects, and although controls could be improved, IRS maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2018. GAO's tests of IRS's compliance with selected provisions of applicable laws, regulations

Prior to February 9, 2018, when Congress enacted a statutory change requiring the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to include penalties for Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) violations in calculating whistleblower awards, IRS interpreted the whistleblower law to exclude these penalties from awards. However, GAO found that some whistleblowers provided information about FBAR noncom

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has identified over 100 interactions requiring taxpayer authentication based on potential risks to IRS and individuals. IRS authenticates millions of taxpayers each year via telephone, online, in person, and correspondence to ensure that it is interacting with legitimate taxpayers. IRS's estimated costs to authenticate taxpayers vary by channel. IRS has made pro