Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration – Reduced Budgets and Collection Resources Have Resulted in Declines in Taxpayer Service, Case Closures, and Dollars Collected. May 8, 2015. Reference Number: 2015-30-035.

“In FY 2014, revenue officers collected $222 million (7 percent) less than in FY 2011. In addition, they closed 34 percent fewer cases. This was primarily due to the decrease in the number of revenue officers and downtime that resulted from revenue officers’ computer problems. In FY 2014, revenue officers’ computer downtime reached 66,448 hours, the equivalent to losing 32 full-time employees for the year. Many lower graded revenue officers are more experienced because budget limitations have restricted their promotion opportunities. As a result, Field Collection may be able to mitigate further risk to tax administration by assigning revenue officers’ inventory closer to full capacity. In addition, higher graded revenue officers could be assigned a higher percentage of high-risk complex cases. The number of unassigned taxpayer service and the IRS’s ability to take highly complex cases grew by more 180 percent since Fiscal Year 2012. This important because the average amount collected on the most complex cases was more than three times the next highest average amount collected.”