Open Recommendations

The Chief, Criminal Investigation, should update internal guidelines to include time frame requirements for preparing the seizure memorandum and updating records in AFTRAK.

The National Taxpayer Advocate should set specific, attainable time frames for initial contact, with an emphasis on economic burden cases, and adopt permanent policies that provide clear and consistent expectations for taxpayers.

The Chief Information Officer should ensure that non-tax paper forms requiring one or more signatures are digitally converted and integrated with e-Signature Services capability by the established time frames.

The Chief Tax Compliance Officer should require the SB/SE and LB&I Divisions’ Commissioners, in partnership with the Chief Data and Analytics Officer, where appropriate, to use governance processes to ensure that examination performance results are
part of the monitoring and continuous refinement of AI classification (deployed) and return selection models (if deployed).

The Chief Tax Compliance Officer should require SB/SE and LB&I Divisions’ Commissioners, in partnership with the Chief Data and Analytics Officer where appropriate, to establish a measurement plan with appropriate metrics to monitor the Form 1040 return
classification and LAR and LPC models to ensure that they are achieving the expected benefits and correct any model drifts.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services Division, should define measures and
establish monitoring activities to assess its success in mitigating racial disparities related to the EITC examination selection process.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services Division, should establish a monitoring
process between the division and the enterprise level to ensure that revisions to “planned examination starts” at either level are communicated and aligned so that there is consistency when measuring actual results at both the division and enterprise levels.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services Division, should define measures and establish monitoring activities to assess its success in mitigating racial disparities related to the EITC examination selection process.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services Division, should establish a monitoring process between the division and the enterprise level to ensure that revisions to “planned examination starts” at either level are communicated and aligned so that there is consistency when
measuring actual results at both the division and enterprise levels.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services Division, should define measures and establish monitoring activities to assess its success in mitigating racial disparities related to the EITC examination selection process.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services Division, should establish a monitoring process between the division and the enterprise level to ensure that revisions to "planned examination starts" at either level are communicated and aligned so that there is consistency when measuring actual results at both the division and enterprise levels.

The Small Business/Self-Employed Division’s Director, Field Collection, should remind all levels of management of the sweeps desk guide procedures and provide refresher training on their responsibilities in the sweeps process.

In our August and September 2024 alerts, we recommended that the Chief, Business Continuity Operations Officer, should ensure that where TIGTA did not conduct an inspection, an immediate assessment is conducted on AEDs across the IRS AED program to identify and replace AED pad-paks expired or missing.

In our September 2024 alert, we recommended that the Chief, Business Continuity Operations Officer, should determine whether AEDs have been implemented at these IRS PODs. If so, provide documentation that supports AEDs have been provided at these PODs, e.g., serial numbers and locations of AEDs.

In our September 2024 alert, we recommended that the Chief, Business Continuity Operations Officer, should identify where AEDs have not been implemented at IRS PODs with more than 100 employees and determine whether an AED program will be implemented at these PODs, e.g., recruiting and training volunteers, installing AEDs, etc.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services, should ensure that TAC managers enforce procedures for providing CSS cards at TACs.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services, should Ensure that TAC managers enforce procedures for wearing name tags at TACs.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services should ensure that TAC managers enforce procedures for treating non-English speaking customers properly at TACs.

The Director, Submission Processing, should lead a review that includes the Directors of Accounts Management, Field Assistance, Media and Publications, and Online Services to add cautionary language to the appropriate forms and publications instructing taxpayers not to use a third-party carrier when paying a balance due that is addressed to a P.O. Box address (Lockbox).

The Director, Submission Processing, should include instructions in the Annual Lockbox Filing Season Readiness Plan to conduct readiness checks or inspections of IRS mailrooms closest to the Lockbox sites. Ensure the sites are staffed and have current instructions specific to processing misrouted Lockbox mail.

The Chief Information Officer should require a unique system identifier for each new and legacy system in the authoritative inventory be implemented and applied to system records in the other inventory systems.

The Chief Information Officer should improve its annual validation process to ensure that all systems with PII and FTI inventory data are consistently designated across the multiple inventory systems, and that system owners are communicating changes to impacted groups.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services, should require that additional documentation be provided with all Form 1310 filings.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services, should update internal guidelines to advise Individual Taxpayer Advisory Specialists and Customer Service Representatives to obtain a Form 1310 while assisting taxpayers and electronically route the document to employees assigned to the case.

The Chief, Taxpayer Services, should develop procedures to upload claimant responses enabling assigned employees to electronically access supporting documentation for decedent refund cases.