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Recommendations Database

GAO’s recommendations database contains report recommendations that still need to be addressed. GAO’s priority recommendations are those that we believe warrant priority attention. We sent letters to the heads of key departments and agencies, urging them to continue focusing on these issues. Below you can search only priority recommendations, or search all recommendations.

Our recommendations help congressional and agency leaders prepare for appropriations and oversight activities, as well as help improve government operations. Moreover, when implemented, some of our priority recommendations can save large amounts of money, help Congress make decisions on major issues, and substantially improve or transform major government programs or agencies, among other benefits.

As of October 25, 2020, there are 4812 open recommendations, of which 473 are priority recommendations. Recommendations remain open until they are designated as Closed-implemented or Closed-not implemented.

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Results:

Subject Term: "Tax refund"

2 publications with a total of 6 open recommendations
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Management Report: Improvements Are Needed to Enhance the Internal Revenue Service's Internal Control over Financial Reporting
GAO-20-480R, Apr 30, 2020
Director: Clark, Cheryl E
Phone: (202)512-9377

4 open recommendations
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Recommendation: We recommend that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue update and implement policies and procedures for developing a courier contingency plan to prohibit managers responsible for overseeing the preparation of taxpayer receipts for deposits from also transporting them to financial institutions. (Recommendation 20-01)

Agency: Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue Service
Status: Open

Comments: The IRS agreed with this recommendation and stated that the Wage and Investment organization will update the Courier Contingency Plan polices and procedures to provide for appropriate segregation of duties or other curative measures.
Recommendation: We recommend that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue establish and implement manual refund procedures to direct (1) initiators to document (e.g., record on the taxpayers' accounts or annotate on the related manual refund forms) the justification for bypassing the IAT tool warning related to potential duplicate tax refunds on taxpayers' accounts and (2) managers to monitor whether such warnings were bypassed and review the justifications for reasonableness prior to approving manual refund forms. (Recommendation 20-02)

Agency: Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue Service
Status: Open

Comments: The IRS agreed with this recommendation and stated that the Wage and Investment organization agrees that actions need to occur to address duplicate tax refund conditions through improved manual refund procedures to require (1) initiator to document the justification for bypassing the Integrated Automated Technologies (IAT) tool warning related to potential duplicate tax refunds on taxpayers' accounts and (2) managers to review the justification documented for bypassing the IAT tool warning for reasonableness prior to approving manual refund forms. However, IRS also stated that it was unable to commit to implementing a corrective action plan at this time due to budgetary constraints on system enhancements.
Recommendation: We recommend that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue establish and implement actions to provide reasonable assurance that business units record the acceptance of goods and services in a timely manner in accordance with IRS policies and procedures. (Recommendation 20-03)

Agency: Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue Service
Status: Open

Comments: The IRS agreed with this recommendation and stated that the CFO organization will determine the reasons for business unit(s) non-compliance with established policies and procedures related to timely recording of receipts and acceptance of goods and services and, based on this evaluation, develop an action plan that once completed will provide additional tools to aid the business units in reasonably ensuring compliance with established requirements.
Recommendation: We recommend that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue establish and implement actions to provide reasonable assurance that the future lease payment amounts for non-cancellable operating leases are calculated correctly. (Recommendation 20-04)

Agency: Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue Service
Status: Open

Comments: The IRS agreed with this recommendation and stated that the CFO organization will update policies and procedures to include additional instructions needed to calculate the future lease payments due on the non-cancelable leases with terms greater than one year and will also create an automated calculation to determine the number of remaining months of lease payments.
Identity Theft: Improved Collaboration Could Increase Success of IRS Initiatives to Prevent Refund Fraud
GAO-18-20, Nov 28, 2017
Director: Jessica Lucas-Judy
Phone: (202) 512-9110

2 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue should ensure that the Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) pilot better aligns with leading practices for effective pilot design. This should include (1) establishing criteria for assessing whether the pilot's objectives have been met before making decisions about its scalability and whether, how, and when to when to proceed to full implementation; and (2) developing a data analysis plan that identifies data sources and criteria necessary for effectively evaluating the pilot. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue Service
Status: Open

Comments: IRS transitioned the Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) from a pilot to full implementation in October 2018. As of June 2020, we have requested documentation from IRS related to this transition to determine if it is consistent with the recommendation to align with leading practices. We will continue to monitor ISAC activities.
Recommendation: The Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue should ensure that the ISAC Partnership develops an outreach plan to expand membership and improve states' and industry partners' understanding of the ISAC's benefits. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue Service
Status: Open

Comments: The ISAC annual report released in April 2018 cites plans to continue to grow member participation from private sector and other government agencies and to provide opportunities to deepen members' participation with clear guidelines. As of June 2020, we have requested additional information about participation levels and ongoing outreach efforts. Developing an outreach plan to broaden membership to non-Security Summit members of industry and financial institutions would further promote stakeholders collaborating and sharing fraud information.