The Internal Revenue Service has taken appropriate actions to plan for the 2006 filing season, but its taxpayer assistance center (TAC) program faces critical staffing shortages, among other challenges, according to an audit report by the tax administration inspector general.
The report said that the field assistance office appropriately considered Hurricanes Katrina and Rita when planning for the 2006 season, has added services, and has a plan to train employees to ensure tools are updated. However, it said that 47 TACs have critical staffing shortages.
It said inconsistent and inaccurate information prevented the auditing unit from determining the overall impact that the shortages would have, and that the Field Assistance Office does not maintain an overall list or database of TACs providing the number of assistors, the hours and days of operation, and services offered at each TAC.
The IG said it compiled and analyzed information from separate lists and found the data to be unreliable, inconsistent and inaccurate, nor could it determine which TACs accept cash payments or prepare federal or state tax returns.
It also said it could not determine the criteria used to decide if exceptions to offering those services were appropriate, according to report 2006-40-067.
The report also said the Field Assistance Office itself does not currently have sufficient management information to determine which TACs are not offering standard services or standard hours of operation.
