IRS Business Operations

This testimony focuses on three issues that the National Commission on Restructuring the Civil Service should consider as part of its review of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) current practices and the improvements needed to modernize IRS operations. First, the Commission should evaluate IRS' management operations in light of recently enacted legislation--the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, and the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996. The Government Performance and Results Act, in particular, is intended to produce a realistic set of business goals and priorities for IRS and a discrete number of performance measures to allow Congress to track the agency's progress and to hold it accountable for obtaining results. Second, the Commission should consider IRS' development of effective implementation strategies. The lack of solid strategies has hampered the realization of IRS' business vision and the correction of long-standing problems. Finally, any effort to modernize IRS operations requires reliable cost and performance information. Without solid data, Congress and the executive branch will not be in a good position to assess IRS' performance, its resource requirements, and the need for remedial actions.