Tax Administration

Reducing Delays in the Pursuit of Tax Revenue on Closed Criminal Cases Gao ID: GGD-89-41 March 16, 1989

In response to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) General Enforcement Program (GEP), focusing on the: (1) amount of civil tax assessed and collected; and (2) IRS process for referring completed cases for civil action.

GAO reviewed selected GEP cases completed in fiscal year 1984, and found that IRS: (1) assessed about $204 million in penalties on 2,470 criminal cases, and was still auditing another 408 cases; (2) collected $89 million, was actively attempting to collect an additional $58 million, and determined that $57 million was uncollectible; (3) failed to timely refer cases with the potential for criminal prosecution; (4) failed to timely authorize tax assessment or collection when criminal actions were completed, and failed to timely notify the IRS Chief Counsel so that it could initiate civil actions; and (5) lacked internal controls to track cases that could be referred for civil action.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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