The IRS has made progress improving IT but weaknesses remain in system access controls, audit trails, and remediation of security weaknesses, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has said following an annual IT assessment.
It said that since last year’s assessment, the agency’s 7,303 IT personnel have taken important steps to correct system performance issues of the modernized e-File system to deliver a successful filing season.
However TIGTA said it found several systems development issues. For example, existing data quality issues with the Customer Account Data Engine 2 database prevented downstream interfacesfrom being implemented. Further, the development and implementation of new systems for the Affordable Care Act present major IT management challenges. TIGTA also noted that recent audit work points to opportunities to find cost savings in the areas of data center consolidation, the Aircard and BlackBerry smartphone program, and hardware and software management.
TIGTA also said the information security, while a significant deficiency, should no longer be treated as a material weakness at the agency however.
