The IRS still faces many of the same personnel challenges that a 1998 reform law attempted to address, in part because of funding restrictions, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
It said that during the years leading up to that law, when budget shortfalls occurred, employee training often was postponed or canceled and the money diverted to meet other requirements. After the reform law passed there was an uptick in training but in more recent years the agency has reverted to its prior practice, cutting the training budget from $181 million to $21 million over 2010-2013, it said.
Much of the training that is occurring is self-administered virtual training, it added, even though instructor-led training is more appropriate for IRS employees, considering their duties.
A shrinking and aging workforce, combined with restricted training, raises questions about “whether the IRS workforce will be sufficiently capable of carrying out its tax administration responsibilities,” it said.
Other problems that have resurfaced that the 1998 reform law attempted to address include long wait times when taxpayers and tax practitioners call the IRS. “Other goals of the law have remained substantially unrealized,” it added.
