In fiscal 2009 the IRS hired over 2,000 new revenue agents and tax compliance officers, the most in five years, and during 2010 hired another 1,300, but even with these increases the agency has been challenged to keep pace with attrition and workload, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has said.
After reviewing tax compliance statistics for fiscal 2010, it found that enforcement revenue collected and the number of examinations performed increased but that gross collections held steady at $2.3 trillion.
The review also said the IRS ran into challenges in fiscal 2010 including a variety of tax provisions that were created, extended, or expanded – such as the Recovery Act’s 56 tax provisions.
At least 42 of the 514 Affordable Care Act provisions added to or amended the Internal Revenue Code, and at least eight required the IRS to establish new operations in response to what TIGTA said was the largest set of tax law changes in 20 years.
