The Internal Revenue Service has developed a six-year roadmap for modernizing its systems and taxpayer services, including revamping an outdated information technology infrastructure, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig told senators in recent testimony.
The IRS’ Integrated Modernization Business Plan is expected to cost $2.3 billion to $2.7 billion over six years — including $290 million requested in President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget — to implement, Rettig told the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday.
The investment, Rettig said, “will position the IRS to greatly improve and expand the services we provide to taxpayers — with new technologies such as customer callback and online notifications — while strengthening our enforcement capabilities.”
Other benefits include helping the IRS “operate more efficiently and effectively, by stabilizing the cost of operating and maintaining our systems,” he continued, adding that the “integrity of the nation’s voluntary tax compliance system depends on modernizing IRS service and compliance systems, and we look forward to working with Congress to implement this plan.”
One of Rettig’s highest priorities, he said, is updating the IRS’ IT. “Modernization is vital to all of our core functions: successfully delivering the annual tax filing season, ensuring the health of the nation’s tax system and supporting the federal government’s financial strength,” he told lawmakers.