With just days to go until the April 17 deadline, acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter said Thursday the tax-filing season is generally going smoothly and that his agency has managed to answer about 80 percent of the calls to its toll-free line during filing season.
Mr. Kautter also said the IRS has “extensive” work to do to implement the new $1.5 trillion tax-cut law, but is off to a good start in working to execute on an admittedly “aggressive” timeline.
“With the tax deadline for individuals just five days away, I’m pleased to report the filing season continues to go well,” Mr. Kautter said at a Senate Finance Committee hearing.
He said that as of April 6, the IRS had received more than 103 million individual returns — two-thirds of the total they ultimately expect to see — and issued more than 79 million refunds for more than $226 billion.
The number of returns are up by about 150,000 compared to last year, and the number of returns filed electronically are up by about 440,000.
Mr. Kautter said that as of the end of March, the agency had answered about 80 percent of the calls to its toll-free line during tax filing season — up from 75 percent last year and 70 percent in 2016.
Though many of the changes in the new tax-cut law won’t apply to the returns individuals are filing this year, the IRS is still very much in the middle of implementing the new rules.
“This new statute requires extensive work by the IRS this year and next,” he said.
Mr. Kautter estimated that they will need to amend as many as 450 tax forms, instructions and publications to fully implement the law, and hope to release them over the summer.
He also said that starting this month, the agency will begin to reprogram about 140 integrated tax systems that need to be updated, and that about three-quarters of the cost of implementing the new law will deal with changing technology.
Mr. Kautter said the agency is off to a “good start” in implementing the law.
“I think the timeline is aggressive,” he said. “We don’t really have a choice — we need to get this done, and we’re focused on it.”
Mr. Kautter estimated that specific guidelines on a new deduction for “pass-through” companies that file their taxes as individuals should come by early summer.
The House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday advanced a package of bills intended to reshape the agency and make it more customer service oriented, and Mr. Kautter said the legislation was by and large “constructive.”
He said he’d like to require electronic filing for business and information returns, require the IRS to establish more online taxpayer accounts, and codify the agency’s mission with a focus on taxpayer service.
“After that, I think it becomes a matter of leadership, measurement, and accountability,” Mr. Kautter said.
The IRS received $11.4 billion in funding for fiscal year 2018 in the recently passed $1.3 trillion spending bill — about $200 million more than last year — with $320 million earmarked for implementation of the new tax law.
Mr. Kautter told reporters after the hearing that additional funding is always welcome.
“Any money the IRS gets, it can put to good use,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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