{"id":9009,"date":"2022-10-02T14:18:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T14:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=9009"},"modified":"2022-10-02T14:18:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T14:18:12","slug":"what-the-new-80-billion-for-the-irs-really-means-for-your-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=9009","title":{"rendered":"What the new $80 billion for the IRS really means for your taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Democrats\u2019 new climate, health care, and tax package \u2014 known as the Inflation Reduction Act \u2014 includes nearly $80 billion<\/a> in new funding for the IRS, which is supposed to help the chronically underfunded agency staff back up and boost enforcement measures to collect unpaid taxes from wealthy Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The funding has become a political flashpoint in recent days among conservatives and some business groups, who have falsely claimed that the IRS will use the money to hire an \u201carmy\u201d of 87,000 new agents<\/a> who will target average taxpayers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Administration officials have reiterated that they will focus enforcement efforts on wealthy Americans and large corporations.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The IRS\u2019s budget has been cut by nearly 20 percent since 2010<\/a>, impacting the agency\u2019s ability to staff up and modernize half-century-old technology. In 2010, the IRS had about 94,000 employees<\/a>. That number dipped to about 78,000 employees<\/a> in 2021. Some of the agency\u2019s computers still run on COBOL, a programming language that dates back to the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2010, the agency\u2019s enforcement staff has declined by 30 percent, according to IRS officials<\/a>, and audit rates for the wealthiest taxpayers have seen the biggest declines because of years of underfunding. The new bill is an attempt to change that.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The new funding is intended to help reduce the \u201ctax gap,\u201d or the difference between what people pay in taxes and what they owe in taxes, which the Treasury Department estimates is about $600 billion<\/a> annually. The new money could help the IRS increase revenue by about $200 billion over the next decade<\/a>, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, although the exact amount is hard to calculate and highly uncertain<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natasha Sarin, a counselor for tax policy and implementation at the Treasury Department, said that for Americans making less than $400,000 a year, their chances of being audited wouldn\u2019t increase from typical levels in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Sarin said, average taxpayers should have an improved experience filing their taxes because the funds would allow the agency to add staff. In the first half of 2021, there were fewer than 15,000 employees available to answer nearly 200 million calls, which is one person for every 13,000 calls, according to Treasury Department figures<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As a result of reduced staffing at the IRS, audit rates of individual income tax returns decreased for all income levels from 2010 to 2019, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report<\/a>. Audit rates decreased the most for taxpayers with incomes of $200,000 or more.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A 2018 analysis by ProPublica<\/a> found that while audits had declined most dramatically for the wealthy, the IRS continued to audit the lowest-income filers \u2014 recipients of anti-poverty tax credits, including the earned income tax credit \u2014 at relatively high rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last decade, audit rates for multimillionaires have decreased by twice as much as audit rates for the lowest-income families who receive the EITC because it requires more resources to go after top earners, Sarin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The funding should allow the IRS to better target wealthy earners who aren\u2019t paying their taxes because the agency will be able to upgrade its technology, Sarin said, reducing the chances that compliant taxpayers would be audited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary, reaffirmed similar commitments in a letter to the IRS commissioner<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cContrary to the misinformation from opponents of this legislation, small business or households earning $400,000 per year or less will not see an increase in the chances that they are audited,\u201d Yellen wrote.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Budget cuts and reduced capacity have led to a significant backlog of unprocessed tax forms. As of the beginning of August, the IRS had a backlog of 9.7 million<\/a> unprocessed individual 2021 returns.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sarin said the IRS would focus on hiring employees who have experience working with complex tax filings from large corporations and high-net-worth individuals. Audits of average taxpayers follow a significantly different process, she said.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2022\/8\/16\/23302798\/irs-audit-inflation-reduction-act<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Democrats\u2019 new climate, health care, and tax package \u2014 known as the Inflation Reduction Act \u2014 includes nearly $80 billion in new funding for the IRS, which is supposed to help the chronically underfunded agency staff back up and boost enforcement measures to collect unpaid taxes from wealthy Americans.
\nThe funding has become a political flashpoint in recent days among conservatives and some business groups, who have falsely claimed that the IRS will use the money to hire an \u201carmy\u201d of 87,000 new agents who will target average taxpayers.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Administration officials have reiterated that they will focus enforcement efforts on wealthy Americans and large corporations.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The IRS\u2019s budget has been cut by nearly 20 percent since 2010, impacting the agency\u2019s ability to staff up and modernize half-century-old technology. In 2010, the IRS had about 94,000 employees. That number dipped to about 78,000 employees in 2021. Some of the agency\u2019s computers still run on COBOL, a programming language that dates back to the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, the agency\u2019s enforcement staff has declined by 30 percent, according to IRS officials, and audit rates for the wealthiest taxpayers have seen the biggest declines because of years of underfunding. The new bill is an attempt to change that.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The new funding is intended to help reduce the \u201ctax gap,\u201d or the difference between what people pay in taxes and what they owe in taxes, which the Treasury Department estimates is about $600 billion annually. The new money could help the IRS increase revenue by about $200 billion over the next decade, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, although the exact amount is hard to calculate and highly uncertain.<\/p>\n

Natasha Sarin, a counselor for tax policy and implementation at the Treasury Department, said that for Americans making less than $400,000 a year, their chances of being audited wouldn\u2019t increase from typical levels in recent years.<\/p>\n

Instead, Sarin said, average taxpayers should have an improved experience filing their taxes because the funds would allow the agency to add staff. In the first half of 2021, there were fewer than 15,000 employees available to answer nearly 200 million calls, which is one person for every 13,000 calls, according to Treasury Department figures.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“As a result of reduced staffing at the IRS, audit rates of individual income tax returns decreased for all income levels from 2010 to 2019, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. Audit rates decreased the most for taxpayers with incomes of $200,000 or more.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“A 2018 analysis by ProPublica found that while audits had declined most dramatically for the wealthy, the IRS continued to audit the lowest-income filers \u2014 recipients of anti-poverty tax credits, including the earned income tax credit \u2014 at relatively high rates.<\/p>\n

Over the last decade, audit rates for multimillionaires have decreased by twice as much as audit rates for the lowest-income families who receive the EITC because it requires more resources to go after top earners, Sarin said.<\/p>\n

The funding should allow the IRS to better target wealthy earners who aren\u2019t paying their taxes because the agency will be able to upgrade its technology, Sarin said, reducing the chances that compliant taxpayers would be audited.<\/p>\n

Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary, reaffirmed similar commitments in a letter to the IRS commissioner last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cContrary to the misinformation from opponents of this legislation, small business or households earning $400,000 per year or less will not see an increase in the chances that they are audited,\u201d Yellen wrote.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Budget cuts and reduced capacity have led to a significant backlog of unprocessed tax forms. As of the beginning of August, the IRS had a backlog of 9.7 million unprocessed individual 2021 returns.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Sarin said the IRS would focus on hiring employees who have experience working with complex tax filings from large corporations and high-net-worth individuals. Audits of average taxpayers follow a significantly different process, she said.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[905,542,1303,200,906,411,141],"class_list":["post-9009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-bill","tag-congress","tag-irs","tag-law","tag-legislation","tag-policy","tag-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9010,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9009\/revisions\/9010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}