The Treasury Department and the IRS announced that the IRS has used funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act to expand and enhance taxpayer services and online tools, Accounting Today reported.
Accounting Today reported that the IRS had reached key milestones afforded to it by the legislation, including the release of six new features for Individual Online Accounts, a new Spanish version of the Business Tax Account, and additional business forms that can be filed electronically. Those Forms are 940, 941, 943 and 945, including the Spanish version of Forms 941 and 943.
The IRS now offers a total of 30 mobile-friendly forms. Taxpayers have submitted more than 72,000 mobile-friendly forms since the September 2023 launch. The agency also redesigned 100 of the most common notices that individual taxpayers receive, part of the ongoing work to prepare for the 2025 filing season as part of the Simple Notice Initiative. These notices make up about 90 percent of total notice volume sent to individual taxpayers, representing about 150 million notices sent to individual taxpayers in 2022, it said in the announcement.
In addition, the IRS announced reaching the milestone of 1 million submissions through the Document Upload Tool, the availability of more pop-up Taxpayer Assistance Centers to help taxpayers in underserved parts of the country, and the collection of more than $1 billion in past-due taxes from high-wealth taxpayers.
"Funding from the inflation Reduction Act is spurring innovation and driving improvement across the IRS to transform our operations and our work to help taxpayers and the nation," said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel during a press call ahead of the announcement, according to Accounting Today. "This progress can be seen in our continued expansion of our online accounts to provide more features for taxpayers, tax professionals and businesses. It's being seen in our increased use of new digital tools, and it's being seen in special activities to help taxpayers in person.
"By doing things like providing digital forms, making payments easier and continuing work to reduce paper-based processes, we are making long overdue improvements at the IRS," he added. "We are reversing situations that have long hampered the IRS and frustrated taxpayers and the tax community. There should be no doubt that we have much more work to do, but we are making substantial progress."
"We've made functionality improvements to our online platform since our last update, so taxpayers can come to expect the same level of service from IRS online that they experience with their bank or other financial institutions," said Laurel Blatchford, the Treasury Department's chief implementation officer for the Inflation Reduction Act, during the press call. "For example, we're working hard to allow taxpayers the ability to securely file all documents and respond to all notices online, and are making good progress to meet that goal."
The IRS also continues to make progress in its digitization efforts, replacing old scanning equipment and installing automated mail-sorter machines in the six highest-volume IRS locations. As of the end of June, the IRS had scanned more than 2 million pieces of paper, it claimed. "These updates allow a more streamlined process of opening, sorting and scanning mail," said Werfel.
The agency is also updating human resource IT systems and increasing network bandwidth to help employees and taxpayers.
Werfel also previewed what to expect next year. For example, there will be more features available in online accounts, including digital copies of notices, status updates; secure two-way messaging; and expanded payment options, Accounting Today reported. The IRS will accelerate digitalization by offering new tax forms in digital, mobile friendly formats in addition to the 20 delivered in fiscal year 2024.
The IRS is also stepping up its in-person assistance efforts, particularly in underserved and rural communities. This summer, the IRS is continuing a special series of Community Assistance Visits in order to give taxpayers living in areas far from the agency's in-person offices an opportunity to meet face to face with IRS customer service representatives.
"We are meeting taxpayers where they are, from Roma, Texas to Fairbanks, Alaska to Hazelhurst, Georgia and so many places in between, and helping make the IRS more accessible," said Blatchford.
During the filing season, IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers experienced a 37 percent increase in face-to-face contact with the IRS, working with nearly 1.3 million of those this calendar year through July 13, Werfel noted.
The IRS will also continue its enforcement efforts, said Werfel as he highlighted the collection of $1 billion in overdue taxes from high-wealth taxpayers.
"More than a decade of budget cuts prevented us from keeping pace with the increasingly complicated set of tools and techniques that the wealthiest taxpayers sometimes use to hide their income and avoid paying their fair share," he said. "We are now taking a variety of steps to close this gap. Earlier this month, we announced that we've collected more than $1 billion from high-wealth taxpayers as part of an effort to ensure these individuals pay what they owe. The initiative focuses on individuals whose income were more than $1 million per year, and each owed the IRS $250,000 "