U S Government Accountability Office

IRS 2014 budget U S Government Accountability Office

" The financing of the federal government depends largely on IRS's ability to administer the tax laws, which includes providing service to taxpayers and enforcing the law to ensure everyone pays the taxes they owe. For fiscal year 2014, the President requested $12.9 billion for IRS, an increase of 9 percent over fiscal year 2012 actual levels. Because of the size of IRS's budget and the importance of its programs, GAO was asked to review the fiscal year 2014 budget request. In April and May 2013, GAO reported preliminary observations on IRS's budget. Among other things, this report assesses how IRS prioritizes new initiatives; steps IRS has taken to improve the PPACA cost estimate and the reporting transparency of the related IT investment; and the type of information available in the budget justification about major IT systems. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed the fiscal year 2014 budget justification, compared the updated PPACA cost estimate to GAO's Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide, and interviewed IRS Corporate Budget officials. "