The U.S. Senate has confirmed Danny Werfel's nomination to lead the Internal Revenue Service as its new commissioner. Commissioner Werfel faces many challenges as the IRS finds itself with the most significant infusion of funding in its history. NTUF Federal Policy Director Andrew Lautz congratulated Commissioner Werfel and offers a roadmap for the IRS - including the need for a commitment to transparency for the $80 billion spending plan and the need to simplify the tax code for low-income taxpayers:
NTU Foundation strongly encourages Commissioner Werfel to make the full spending plan public. If there are legal complications that prevent the IRS from making the full plan public, then the Commissioner should make as much of the plan public as possible and submit a classified annex to lawmakers for oversight purposes... NTU Foundation was and remains concerned about just how the IRS will go about expending $45 billion on increased enforcement activities in the next 10 years. While we support efforts to reduce the tax gap and ensure that taxes owed are taxes paid, we worry that without robust customer service, pre-filing assistance, and access to ADR many innocent taxpayers – or taxpayers who made honest mistakes when filing – will be caught in a time-consuming and potentially financially costly enforcement dragnet.
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Low-income taxpayers often lack access to tax professionals or tax filing software that middle- and high-income taxpayers enjoy... The IRS needs to address these challenges in a way that doesn’t further burden or criminalize low-income taxpayers – some of whom may already struggle to access adequate taxpayer services. While it will be up to Congress to simplify the rules governing some of the refundable tax credits, the IRS can use some of its resources from the IRA and discretionary appropriations to expand access to, taxpayers knowledge of, and services provided by TACs, VITAs, and LITCs.
To discuss the challenges facing Commissioner Werfel and the IRS with NTUF's Andrew Lautz or another member of NTUF's IRS team, please contact Kevin Glass, NTUF Vice President of Communications, at 703-299-8670 or at kglass@ntu.org.