IRS Funding Accountability Act
This bill delays for a 60-day period funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enforcement activities enacted by the Inflation Reduction Act (except for eliminating return processing backlogs and reducing call wait times) until an annual spending plan for such activities is submitted to the congressional tax and appropriation committees. Congress may enact a joint resolution of disapproval of the spending plan before the end of the 60-day period requiring the IRS to submit a new spending plan.
The IRS and the Department of the Treasury must make quarterly reports to the committees on expenditures for enforcement activities. The bill requires reductions in appropriations to the IRS for any failure to submit required reports.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5100 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 5100
To provide accountability for funding provided to the Internal Revenue
Service and the Department of the Treasury under Public Law 117-169.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 16, 2022
Mr. Thune (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Braun, Mr.
Burr, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Daines, Mr. Lankford, Mr.
Portman, Mr. Toomey, Mr. Young, Mr. Sasse, and Mr. Scott of South
Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide accountability for funding provided to the Internal Revenue
Service and the Department of the Treasury under Public Law 117-169.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``IRS Funding Accountability Act''.
SEC. 2. ANNUAL COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING PLAN FOR INCREASED INTERNAL
REVENUE SERVICE RESOURCES.
(a) Limitation on Funding.--
(1) Initial plan.--
(A) In general.--None of the funds described in
paragraph (3) may be obligated during the period--
(i) beginning on the date of the enactment
of this Act; and
(ii) ending on the date that is 60 days
after the spending plan described in subsection
(b)(1)(A) has been submitted.
(B) Additional moratorium.--If Congress enacts a
joint resolution of disapproval described in subsection
(c) with respect to the Internal Revenue Service
spending plan before the date described in subparagraph
(A)(ii), then--
(i) the Commissioner of Internal Revenue
shall submit a new spending plan under
subsection (b)(1)(A); and
(ii) the period described in subparagraph
(A) shall not end before the date that is 60
days after such new spending plan is submitted.
(2) Subsequent submissions.--
(A) In general.--None of the funds described in
paragraph (3) may be obligated during any period--
(i) beginning on the date Congress has
enacted a joint resolution of disapproval under
subsection (c) with respect to any spending
plan described in subsection (b)(1)(B); and
(ii) ending on the date that is 60 days
after the date on which the Commissioner of
Internal Revenue has submitted a new spending
plan under such subsection.
(B) Additional moratorium.--If Congress enacts a
joint resolution of disapproval described in subsection
(c) with respect to any new spending plan submitted
under subparagraph (A)(ii) before the date that is 60
days after the date on which such new spending plan has
been submitted, then--
(i) the Commissioner of Internal Revenue
shall submit an additional new spending plan
under subsection (b)(1)(B); and
(ii) the period described in subparagraph
(A) shall not end before the date that is 60
days after such additional new spending plan is
submitted.
(3) Funds described.--The funds described in this paragraph
are the following:
(A) Any funds made available under clause (ii),
(iii), or (iv) of section 10301(1)(A) of Public Law
117-169.
(B) Any funds made available under section
10301(1)(A)(i) of Public Law 117-169 other than funds
used for the following purposes:
(i) Eliminating any correspondence or
return processing backlog.
(ii) Reducing call wait times for taxpayers
and tax professionals.
(b) Annual Comprehensive Spending Plan.--
(1) In general.--
(A) Initial plan.--Not later than 60 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of
Internal Revenue shall submit to the appropriate
Congressional committees a spending plan described in
paragraph (2).
(B) Subsequent submissions.--
(i) In general.--For each fiscal year
beginning after the plan described in
subparagraph (A) is submitted and ending with
fiscal year 2031, the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue shall submit to the appropriate
Congressional committees a spending plan
described in paragraph (2) on the date that the
President submits the budget required under
section 1105(a) of title 31, United States
Code.
(ii) Reduction in appropriation.--
(I) In general.--In the case of any
failure to submit a plan required under
clause (i) by the date that is 7 days
after the date the plan is required to
be submitted und, the amounts made
available under section 10301(1)(A)(ii)
of Public Law 117-169 shall be reduced
by $10,000,000 for each day after such
required date that report has not been
submitted.
(II) Required date.--For purposes
of this clause, the term ``required
date'' means, with respect to any plan
required under this subparagraph, the
date that is 7 days after such plan is
required to be submitted.
(2) Spending plan.--
(A) In general.--A spending plan described in this
subparagraph is a plan that--
(i) details how the funds appropriated
under section 10301(1) of Public Law 117-169
will be spent over--
(I) the period consisting of the
current fiscal year and the next 4
fiscal years ending before fiscal year
2032; and
(II) the period of consisting of
the current fiscal year through the
fiscal year ending with fiscal year
2031 (if such period includes any
period not described in subclause (I));
(ii) contains the information described in
subparagraph (B);
(iii) has been reviewed by--
(I) the Internal Revenue Service
Advisory Council;
(II) the Comptroller of the United
States;
(III) the National Taxpayer
Advocate; and
(IV) the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget; and
(iv) has been approved by the officers or
entities described in subclauses (II) and (IV)
of clause (iii).
(B) Plan contents.--The information described in
this paragraph is the following:
(i) A detailed explanation of the plan,
including--
(I) costs and results to date,
actual expenditures of the prior fiscal
year, actual and expected expenditures
of the current fiscal year, upcoming
deliverables and expected costs, and
total expenditures;
(II) clearly defined objectives,
timelines, and metrics for
quantitatively measuring the plan's
annual progress, including with respect
to measuring improvements in taxpayer
services, revenue collection,
information technology, cybersecurity,
and taxpayer data protections; and
(III) a description of any
differences between metrics described
in subclause (II) and corresponding
metrics used by the National Taxpayer
Advocate, the Comptroller General of
the United States, and Treasury
Inspector General for Tax
Administration.
(ii) A detailed analysis of the performance
of the Internal Revenue Service with respect to
the delivery of taxpayer services, including--
(I) the Level of Service (LOS) of
phone lines (as a percent of phone
calls answered by an Internal Revenue
Service employee, not to include
courtesy disconnects or automated call
backs);
(II) the median and average wait
time to speak to a representative of
the Internal Revenue Service;
(III) the amount of unprocessed
taxpayer correspondence, including tax
returns, responses to Internal Revenue
Service notices, tax payments, and
other similar types of correspondence;
and
(IV) the median and average length
of time for processing the items
described in subclause (III) and
processing refund claims.
(iii) An analysis identifying any increase
or decrease in total annual audits and annual
audit rates by income group for the period
beginning in 2018 and ending with the year the
report is submitted. Such analysis shall
include a detailed description of what
constitutes an ``audit'' by the Internal
Revenue Service, and if the definition of an
``audit'' used by the Internal Revenue Service
differs from the definition used by the
National Taxpayer Advocate, the Comptroller
General of the United States, or the Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration, there
shall also be included an analysis using such
divergent definition.
(iv) A categorizing of the number of audits
for each year in the analysis described in
clause (iv) which were--
(I) correspondence audits;
(II) office audits;
(III) field audits;
(IV) audits under the Tax
Compliance Measurement Program (TCMP);
and
(V) other audits.
(v) A description of all taxpayer
compliance actions or initiatives undertaken
using funding appropriated under section
10301(1)(A) of Public Law 117-169 that do not
rise to the level of an audit, with each action
broken out by the total number of such actions
undertaken for each income group and as a
percentage of taxpayers in each income group.
(vi) An explanation of any unresolved or
outstanding recommendations made by the
Government Accountability Office and Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration
pertaining to taxpayer-data privacy
protections, Internal Revenue Service taxpayer
services, and Internal Revenue Service
technology modernization efforts that are
addressed by the plan and a description of how
they are addressed.
(vii) If such plan does not address any
recommendations identified by Government
Accountability Office and Treasury Inspector
General for Tax Administration as ``high risk''
or ``priority'', an explanation of why such
recommendations are not addressed in the plan.
(3) Testimony of relevant officials.--Not later than 30
days after any spending plan described in paragraph (2) has
been submitted, the Secretary of the Treasury and the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall testify in person before
any of the appropriate Congressional committees that request
their testimony with respect to such spending plan.
(4) Requirement to notify of excess spending.--The
Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall immediately notify the
appropriate Congressional committees if actual obligations and
expenditures for any account for any period for which
projections are made in a plan submitted under paragraph (2)
exceed the amount of obligations and expenditures projected for
such account in such plan by 5 percent or more.
(c) Joint Resolution of Disapproval of the IRS Comprehensive
Spending Plan.--
(1) In general.--For purposes of this section, the term
``joint resolution of disapproval of the IRS comprehensive
spending plan'' means only a joint resolution introduced in the
period beginning on the date on which a spending plan submitted
pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(A) is received by the appropriate
Congressional committees and ending 60 days thereafter
(excluding days either House of Congress is adjourned for more
than 3 days during a session of Congress), the matter after the
resolving clause of which is as follows: ``That Congress
disapproves the plan submitted on ____ by the Internal Revenue
Service relating to the comprehensive spending plan under
section 2(b)(1) of the IRS Funding Accountability Act with
respect to fiscal year ___.''. (The blank spaces being
appropriately filled in).
(2) Application of congressional review act disapproval
procedures.--
(A) In general.--The rules of section 802 of title
5, United States Code, shall apply to a joint
resolution of disapproval of the IRS comprehensive
spending plan in the same manner as such rules apply to
a joint resolution described in subsection (a) of such
section.
(B) Exercise of rulemaking authority.--This section
is enacted by Congress--
(i) as an exercise of the rulemaking power
of the Senate and House of Representatives,
respectively, and as such it is deemed a part
of the rules of each House, respectively, but
applicable only with respect to the procedure
to be followed in that House in the case of a
joint resolution of disapproval of the IRS
comprehensive spending plan described in
paragraph (1), and it supersedes other rules
only to the extent that it is inconsistent with
such rules; and
(ii) with full recognition of the
constitutional right of either House to change
the rules (so far as relating to the procedure
of that House) at any time, in the same manner,
and to the same extent as in the case of any
other rule of that House.
SEC. 3. QUARTERLY REPORTS.
(a) Internal Revenue Service.--
(1) In general.--Not later than the last day of each
calendar quarter beginning during the applicable period, the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall submit to the
appropriate Congressional committees a report on any
expenditures and obligations of funds appropriated under
section 10301(1) of Public Law 117-169.
(2) Matters included.--The report provided under paragraph
(1) shall include the following:
(A) A plain language description of the specific
actions taken by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue
utilizing any funds appropriated under section 10301(1)
of Public Law 117-169.
(B) The obligations and expenditures during the
quarter of funds appropriated under section 10301(1) of
Public Law 117-169 and the expected expenditure of such
funds in the subsequent quarter, including a comparison
of obligations and expenditures between amounts spent
for taxpayers services and amounts spent for
examinations and collections by each division or office
of the Internal Revenue Service, including the Large
Business and International Division, the Small
Business/Self Employed Division, the Tax-Exempt and
Government Entities Division, the Wage and Investment
Division, the Criminal Investigation Office, the
Whistleblower Office, and the Office of the Taxpayer
Advocate.
(C) A description of any new full-time or full-time
equivalent (FTE) employees, contractors, or other staff
hired by the Internal Revenue Service, including the
number of new hires, the primary function or activity
type of each new hire, and the specific Division or
Office to which each new hire is tasked.
(D) The number of new employees that have passed a
security clearance compared to the number of new
employees hired to a position requiring a security
clearance, along with an indication of whether any new
employee that has not passed a security clearance has
access to taxpayer return information (as defined by
section 6103(b)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986).
(E) A detailed description of any violation of the
fair tax collection practices described in section 6304
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by any employees,
contractors, or other staff described in subparagraph
(C) (including violations tracked in Automated Labor
and Employee Relations Tracking System (ALERTS) of the
Human Capital Office of the Internal Revenue Service).
(F) The status of recommendations provided by the
Government Accountability Office and Treasury Inspector
General for Tax Administration identified as being
addressed by the plan, including whether they have been
resolved, are in progress, or open (including the
expected date of completion for any recommendations
identified as in progress or open).
(3) Reduction in appropriation.--In the case of any failure
to submit a report required under paragraph (1) by the required
date, the amounts made available under section 10301(1)(A)(ii)
of Public Law 117-169 shall be reduced by $1,000,000 for each
day after such required date that report has not been
submitted.
(b) Department of the Treasury.--
(1) In general.--Not later than the last day of each
calendar quarter beginning during the applicable period, the
Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to the appropriate
Congressional committees a report containing the following
information:
(A) A plain-language description of the actions
taken by the Secretary of the Treasury utilizing any
funds appropriated under paragraph (1), (3), or (5) of
section 10301 of Public Law 117-169. Any action which
is described in a report made under subsection (a) may
be described by reference to the action in such report.
(B) A detailed description of the specific purposes
to which the funds appropriated under section 10301(3)
of Public Law 117-169 has been (or is expected to be)
obligated.
(C) A description of any new full-time or full-time
equivalent (FTE) employees, contractors, or other staff
hired by the Secretary utilizing funds appropriated
under section 10301 of Public Law 117-169, including
the number of new hires and whether the duties of each
new hire includes any functions related to the Internal
Revenue Service (including implementation of tax
policies, enforcement, regulations, research, press or
communications, or other purposes).
(D) A detailed description and explanation of any
changes to the most recent Priority Guidance Plan of
the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue
Service involving guidance projects that utilize any
funds appropriated under section 10301 of Public Law
117-169 or which are related to the implementation of
any provision of or amendment made by such Public Law.
(E) A description of any new initiatives planned to
be undertaken by the Department of the Treasury within
the existing or subsequent fiscal year which will (or
may) utilize funds appropriated under section 10301 of
Public Law 117-169.
(2) Reduction in appropriation.--In the case of any failure
to submit a report required under paragraph (1) by the required
date--
(A) the amounts made available under paragraphs (3)
of section 10301 of Public Law 117-169 shall be reduced
by $666,667 for each day after such required date that
report has not been submitted, and
(B) the amounts made available under paragraphs (5)
of section 10301 of Public Law 117-169 shall be reduced
by $333,333 for each day after such required date that
report has not been submitted.
(c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
(1) Applicable period.--The term ``applicable period''
means the period beginning after the date the report under
subparagraph (A) is due and ending on September 30, 2031.
(2) Required date.--The term ``required date'' means, with
respect to any report required to be submitted under subsection
(a) or (b), the date that is 7 days after the date the report
is required to be submitted.
SEC. 4. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.
For purposes of this Act, the term ``appropriate Congressional
committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Finance of the Senate;
(2) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
(3) the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives; and
(4) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text: CR S6742-6743)
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