Modernization
IRS Details Six-Year Modernization Plan
The plan will cost somewhere around $2.5 billion.
Modernization
IRS’ Plan to Modernize Old Tech Will Cost About $2.5 Billion
The agency is seeking $290 million this year as part of a six-year modernization plan.
Cybersecurity
IRS and Private Partners Tout Success in Combating Identity Theft
Numbers of reported taxpayer victims fell 71 percent from 2015 to 2018.
Emerging Tech
IRS Turns to Automation Amid Shrinking Workforce
The tax agency is preparing to launch a bot that would reduce a critical contracting compliance measure from multiple hours to two minutes.
Digital Government
IRS Is Catching More Phony Tax Refunds Before They Go Out
The agency is finding fewer fraudulent tax returns but is getting better at stopping payments on the ones it does.
Cybersecurity
Watchdog: IRS needs new tech to fight fraud
A Government Accountability Office report flagged identity theft and unpaid taxes as two of the most pressing challenges facing IRS. Better tech and planning could help solve both.
Modernization
IRS Wasted $3.4 Million on Software It Never Used, Watchdog Says
Auditors also found the agency bought a software product without testing that it worked for its intended purposes. It didn’t.
People
Judge cautions White House over shutdown recalls
A U.S. District judge said that planned recalls of feds during shutdowns for activities not directly related to protecting life or property could violate the Antideficiency Act.
Emerging Tech
Treasury Department Wants Smart Currency to Combat Counterfeiting
The agency’s printing office is asking for “novel and not commercially available” ideas for embedding tech in U.S. currency.
Modernization
IRS recalls employees to work without pay
With tax filing season colliding with the shutdown, the IRS is bringing back tens of thousands of employees to process returns -- and most IT staffers were already excepted and on the job.
People
Judge denies injunction in shutdown case
A federal judge denied an injunction in a union lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the practice of requiring some feds to work without pay during a shutdown. An injunction could have required feds currently deemed essential or excepted to be sent home.
Emerging Tech
IRS Wants to Be a Testbed for Bleeding-Edge Tech
The new pilot would create a phased buying process with ample testing in IRS environments.
Emerging Tech
The IRS Wants to Use Social Media to Catch Tax Cheats
Auditors would use the tool to shore up previously identified cases.
Modernization
Avoid data blindness with strategic IT portfolio management
When IT leaders only have a high-level view into their existing IT landscape and information gathering is ad hoc and time-consuming, the level of risk associated with decision-making is greatly heightened.
Modernization
Watchdog: IRS botched Linux migration
Poor IT governance has prevented the IRS from making progress on a long-term effort to migrate 141 legacy applications from proprietary vendor software to open-source Linux operating systems, according to an audit.
Modernization
IRS pilot program looks to jump-start IT innovation
The IRS is laying the groundwork for a series of pilot projects over the next year to flesh out its IT modernization priorities.
Digital Government
Government Data Detectives
A special report on how agency data shops are fighting fraud.
Cybersecurity