IRS

IRS Legacy Technology Costs the Country ‘Billions,’ IG Says

The IRS isn’t capitalizing on its cloud strategy as it should be.

  • By Frank Konkel

Pilot IRS to Return with New Focus Areas and Significantly More Funding

In the next three to six months, the IRS plans to issue new solicitations through its experimental contracting vehicle.

  • By Aaron Boyd

GAO Calls Out IRS’ Taxpayer Experience Issues

The 2019 tax filing season was more problematic than usual for IRS.

  • By Frank Konkel

IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete With TurboTax

The changes come after ProPublica’s reporting showed how TurboTax maker Intuit tricked customers into paying for tax prep they could have gotten for free.

  • By Justin Elliott and Paul Kiel, ProPublica

Inside TurboTax’s 20-Year Fight to Stop Americans From Filing Their Taxes for Free

The success of TurboTax relies on whether the U.S. government makes tax filing simple and free for most citizens.

  • By Justin Elliott and Paul Kiel, ProPublica

IRS-Funded Review Confirms TurboTax Hid Free Filing From Search Engines, but Says There’s No Need for Major Changes

The review did not recommend sweeping changes

  • By Justin Elliott, ProPublica

Report: IRS Should Have an Official In Charge of Customer Experience

The agency could also improve its website and share more feedback, analysts conclude in first-of-its-kind report.

  • By Courtney Bublé

IRS Testing Behavioral Analytics to Verify Online Users

The agency is piloting a proof-of-concept that will track how individual taxpayers interact with its online systems.

  • By Aaron Boyd

Treasury IG Finds ‘Significant Vulnerabilities’ in IRS’ BYOD Program

The IRS’ bring-your-own-device program could increase the risk of data leakage, according to the Treasury Inspector General.

  • By Frank Konkel

Federal RPA Solutions Have One Thing In Common: No Two Are Alike

Robotic process automation leads from across government and industry met this week to share early lessons learned from efforts to automate federal agencies.

  • By Aaron Boyd

IRS Warns of New Imposter Scam That Spreads Malware

Agency officials recently learned of a phishing campaign in which scammers pose as IRS agents to spread malware and scoop up users’ sensitive information.

  • By Jack Corrigan

CBP to Process Billions in Trade Revenue Using IBM Cloud

The “mainframe-as-a-service” model allowed the agency to migrate one of its more resource-intensive processes to the cloud.

  • By Jack Corrigan

IRS Doesn’t Have An R&D Shop, So It Built A $7M Procurement Vehicle Instead

The Pilot IRS program is about to issue its first solicitation, offering the agency a new way to automate low-level functions while testing a new acquisition method.

  • By Aaron Boyd

IRS Still Has Dozens of Cyber Fixes to Make From Last Year

Numerous security deficiencies in the agency’s IT ecosystem could leave data on millions of taxpayers at risk, according to the Government Accountability Office.

  • By Jack Corrigan

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IRS Urges Tax Pros to Take Cyber Seriously

The agency released a list of basic cybersecurity procedures the entire tax industry should use to stop digital identity theft.

  • By Jack Corrigan

Trump’s Tax Law Threatened TurboTax’s Profits. So the Company Started Charging the Disabled, the Unemployed and Students.

The move by TurboTax maker Intuit to charge more lower-income customers has helped boost revenue.

  • By Justin Elliott and Paul Kiel, ProPublica

President Trump Signs Taxpayer First Act

The law will force the IRS to improve its customer experience while providing tools to move faster in hiring.

  • By Frank Konkel

Congress Passes Bill That Forces IRS to Revamp Taxpayer Experience

The bill passed the House and Senate earlier this month and would usher in major changes to the way IRS engages with millions of customers.

  • By Frank Konkel

House Passes Revamped Bipartisan IRS Reform Bill

The Taxpayer First Act would redesign the agency and boost identity theft protection.

  • By Charles S. Clark

IRS Authority To Regulate Tax Prep Cybersecurity Has Gaps, Watchdog Says

Digital tax fraud schemes are on the rise but the IRS can only do so much to regulate third-party providers without more authority.

  • By Aaron Boyd

IRS’ Outdated App Security Leaves Taxpayers at Risk of Identity Theft, Watchdog Says

The agency is updating identity verification controls for its suite of web applications, but the effort won’t be wrapped up until 2023.

  • By Jack Corrigan