The IRS’s efforts to use technology to ease the impact of the coronavirus pandemic may rid the agency of its traditional reliance on paper in coming years, according to a top official.
IRS Independent Office of Appeals Chief Andrew Keyso Jr. said October 9 that he expects the IRS to be entirely paper-free in the next few years. “I know people have said that before, but this time it feels different to me, and I think that we’re making good progress, in part because of the push caused by COVID-19,” he said.
On a webinar hosted by Crowell and Moring LLP, Keyso said a lot of IRS projects related to electronic communication and case building have progressed in recent months in response to pandemic-related obstacles.
The Independent Office of Appeals is piloting a secure messaging system that COVID-19 has helped move along and that would allow written communication with taxpayers, Keyso said, adding that the office has also granted some exceptions to Appeals officers so they can contact taxpayers directly through secure email.
After the IRS issued a March 27 evacuation order for employees, the agency altered procedures to allow for the electronic submission of certain documents and incorporated virtual hearings on proposed regulations. It also broadened the list of forms that taxpayers can sign digitally, and its People First Initiative suspended many collection and examination functions between April 1 and July 15 because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Amid the pandemic, the volume of cases that Appeals receives has been reduced in part because of the IRS’s paper orientation, Keyso said.
“The IRS traditionally is a paper-based organization. Case files that revenue agents and examiners put together are on paper, and that paper file moves from one process to the next,” Keyso said, adding that the pandemic has caused a bit of a slowdown in that system.
On Appeals conferences, the pandemic has impeded some processes but aided others, said Keyso, adding that scheduling remote conferences without having to worry about parties’ travel has been easier.
“In the collection appeals area, we’ve had to be very careful about finding ways to convert paper case files to electronic so that we could move them to the right part of the country and the settlement officer can hear the case,” Keyso said, adding that the process has been very successful.
Staffing Up
Between 2011 and 2019, Appeals dropped about 40 percent of its staff, Keyso said. It’s been able to add about 125 employees in the fiscal year that ended September 30.
“It doesn’t get us to where we should be. I really am concerned about taxpayers getting a timely hearing in Appeals — that there’s not a long wait before you can get your case assigned to an Appeals officer,” Keyso said. “That’s why I’d like to make a push this year — where we can, and budget permitting, of course — for additional hires.”
Most new hires were used to “beef up the ranks” of settlement officers in the collection appeals case work stream, which deals with collection due process, offers in compromise, and trust fund recovery penalty cases, Keyso said.
The office was also able to add four or five new Appeals team case leaders, bringing their number to roughly 30, Keyso said.