High Risk Series

In 1990, GAO began a special effort to identify federal programs at high risk of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. GAO issued a series of reports in December 1992 on the fundamental causes of the problems in the high-risk areas. This report on Internal Revenue Service receivables is part of the second series that updates the status of this high-risk area. Readers have the following three options in ordering the high-risk series: (1) request any of the individual reports in the series, including the Overview (HR-95-1), the Guide (HR-95-2), or any of the 10 issue area reports; (2) request the Overview and the Guide as a package (HR-95-21SET); or (3) request the entire series as a package (HR-95-20SET).

GAO found that: (1) IRS poor performance in resolving outstanding tax delinquencies has lessened the government's available revenues and damaged IRS future credibility in enforcing taxpayer compliance; (2) IRS has corrected tax receivable record errors, estimated the size of its receivables inventory, resolved high dollar cases, developed a research system to identify delinquent taxpayers, and settled tax debts; (3) although IRS initiatives were intended to improve the accuracy of its delinquent accounts inventory, slow the growth in accounts receivable, and accelerate the payment of overdue taxes, IRS progress has been negligible; (4) IRS has not yet developed an accounting system that can differentiate between valid and invalid inventory accounts; (5) between 1990 and 1994, the gross tax debt inventory grew about 80 percent; (6) by 1994, annual collections of delinquent taxes had declined from $25.5 billion to $23.5 billion because IRS either wrote off or suspended collection actions; (7) IRS records are inaccurate and insufficient for making strategic collection decisions; (8) the IRS collection process is lengthy, antiquated, rigid, and inefficient and IRS has difficulty in balancing its collection efforts with the need to protect taxpayer rights; (9) IRS decentralized structure tends to blur lines of responsibility and accountability; and (10) IRS does not have enough information to adequately determine the size and mix of its collection staff.