TIGTA Highlights Millions in Improper IRS Payments on Legacy Systems
IRS employee abuses
“A TIGTA audit found “that the IRS inappropriately spent $4.6 million of IRA BSM funding for the operations and maintenance of 3 legacy systems. Based on these results, [TIGTA] estimate[s] that the IRS inappropriately spent approximately $21 million of IRA BSM funding for the operations and maintenance of 14 legacy systems.”
A recent report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) uncovered millions in improper payments made by the IRS for legacy systems. Much went towards outdated computer systems, programming languages, or application software.
While the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 allotted approximately $57.8 billion to improve the administration of the tax system and the services provided to taxpayers, the IRA prohibits business systems modernization (BSM) funding from being used to operate and maintain legacy systems.
A TIGTA audit found “that the IRS inappropriately spent $4.6 million of IRA BSM funding for the operations and maintenance of 3 legacy systems. Based on these results, [TIGTA] estimate[s] that the IRS inappropriately spent approximately $21 million of IRA BSM funding for the operations and maintenance of 14 legacy systems.”
This instance corroborates the IRS’s longstanding pattern of regulatory sidestepping and fiscal abuse. Brazenly, the agency does as it pleases, with little regard for its effect on the American taxpayer.
AIA has routinely advocated for the modernization across the IRS’s infrastructure and software. AIA considers this specific instance a continuation of systematic abuse within the IRS. Our organization believes that the only way to restore taxpayer faith in the IRS is to completely uproot its current culture, which is riddled with unchecked misconduct.
Read the full report here.
If you, or someone you know, has experienced a specific IRS abuse and wish to flag the instance for potential inclusion in future Abuses of the Week, contact us with the details at the following email: info@irsaccountability.org.