IRS to lose tax collectors, do fewer audits in 2015

Gregory Korte | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service will lose 1,800 tax collectors through attrition and do 46,000 fewer audits this year because of congressional budget cuts to the tax agency, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told IRS employees Tuesday.

But the cuts could also be bad news for some taxpayers. Identity theft prevention efforts will be delayed, refunds could be held up and taxpayer services available by telephone will see longer wait times -- if taxpayers can get through at all, Koskinen said.

"There is no way around the severity of these budget cuts without taking some difficult steps," Koskinen told employees in an e-mail.

Congress approved a $10.9 billion budget for the Internal Revenue Service -- a cut of $346 million. But because Congress was nearly three months late in passing a spending bill, that means the agency has just nine months to absorb those cuts. And it's the fifth consecutive year of cuts to the IRS.

Koskinen even raised the possibility of a two-day shutdown before Sept. 30, sending IRS employees on unpaid furlough.

"If this becomes necessary, our goal will be to minimize disruption to employees and our operations as well as taxpayers and the tax professional community. The timing for these dates would be late in the fiscal year, so between now and then we can do everything possible to avoid them," Koskinen said.

Colleen Kelley, the president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said the cuts were "appalling" and will hurt taxpayers.

"IRS employees are doing their best to handle the rising demand for their services, but they will simply not be able to keep up," she said. She said taxpayer services would be hurt -- especially to elderly, disabled and low-income taxpayers who may not have Internet access -- and that "tax cheats will have an easier time evading what they owe."

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