Publication 3744 (Rev. 4-2018)

Strategic Plan FY2022?2026

IRS STRATEGIC PLAN FY2022?2026 1

Contents

Introduction

Commissioner's Message

3

Taxpayer Bill of Rights

4

IRS Overview

6

Strategic Plan

Our Strategic Goals

7

Goal 1 | Service

8

Goal 2 | Enforcement

11

Goal 3 | People

14

Goal 4 | Transformation

17

Managing Risk

20

Department of Treasury

Strategic Plan Alignment

21

Closing Conclusion22 Appendix23

About this Document

The IRS is excited to share this multi-year strategic plan which aligns four goals to the IRS mission and identifies objectives and strategies to meet the goals.

Our strategic plan builds on the progress made and outcomes achieved over many years, while weaving together the IRS mission, values and priorities. The strategic planning team within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer facilitated the development of this plan through an inclusive and deliberative process that engaged IRS employees, leaders, advisory groups and key stakeholders, including the Department of the Treasury. After performing a comprehensive current state assessment of the Service, we designed a plan to enable employees and stakeholders to see how their contributions support our mission of delivering high quality taxpayer service and fair enforcement of the tax law.

Please direct all questions and comments to:

cfo.strategic.planning@

IRS STRATEGIC PLAN FY2022?2026 2

Message from the Commissioner

I'm pleased to present the IRS Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2022-2026. In publishing this plan, we want to share our strategic priorities and how they shape the important work that takes place at the IRS, year in and year out, to help taxpayers. The goal is to provide a roadmap to help illustrate the many ways our employees will provide service to the nation for years to come.

Working for the IRS makes me extremely proud, and I'm excited about the future of our agency. My experiences as Commissioner have strengthened my belief that a fully functioning IRS is critical to the success of our nation. We serve and interact with more Americans than nearly any other public or private organization. When citizens perform their civic duty each year by preparing and filing their taxes and paying only what they should, they help fund critical aspects of the country's infrastructure, ranging from schools and roads to Social Security payments and the nation's military.

The IRS has undergone tremendous change over the past five years. On July 1, 2019, the Taxpayer First Act (TFA) was signed into law, and it gave us the opportunity to shape our future and rethink the way we operate. In particular, it helps us better interact with taxpayers, train our employees and restructure our organization, all important foundations for our future success.

As we worked to deliver the TFA Report to Congress, we found ourselves in uncharted waters during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic presented some of the greatest challenges to the IRS in its history in terms of our ability to carry out our mission and protect the health and safety of taxpayers and our own workforce. IRS employees responded admirably by quickly implementing critical relief measures passed by Congress that included more than $800 billion in Economic Impact Payments disbursed to millions of Americans. IRS employees also successfully extended and proudly delivered the longest filing season on record in 2020 and delivered another extended filing season in 2021.

Chuck Rettig

IRS Commissioner

"The IRS remains

dedicated to improving service to taxpayers, maintaining the integrity of our tax system, empowering our workforce, supporting our partners and modernizing our

systems."

The IRS took steps to better serve underserved taxpayers by increasing the amount of information and assistance available to them in additional languages on forms, in publications and through phone interpreter services. We provided crucial help to millions of families through the Advance Child Tax Credit payments with proactive outreach to those who qualified, and we developed an online portal for easier access. We also continued to make important progress in our compliance programs, with a particular focus on abusive tax shelters, including syndicated conservation easements and microcaptive insurance arrangements. In addition, I'm proud of the Criminal Investigation unit's recent efforts, including helping dismantle three terrorist financing cybercrime plots.

The IRS remains dedicated to improving service to taxpayers, maintaining the integrity of our tax system, empowering our workforce, supporting our partners and modernizing our systems. Working toward these strategic goals with consistent multi-year funding will help us better achieve our mission and our long-term vision and deliver on the promise of a new IRS that will take an innovative approach to the future of tax administration to better serve all taxpayers.

As I look back over my past few years here, I'm still extremely proud to be able to say, "I'm Chuck Rettig, and I work at the Internal Revenue Service." Even with all the challenges, we've made great strides. The entire IRS workforce wants to do more in every area, and we will!

Charles P. Rettig Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service

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Taxpayer Bill of Rights

The IRS is committed to upholding the Taxpayer Bill of Rights throughout each and every interaction with taxpayers. These rights are a central part of our mission, and putting taxpayers first is the foundation of everything we do at the IRS.

1 The Right to Be Informed

Taxpayers have the right to know what they need to do to comply with the tax laws. They are entitled to clear explanations of the laws and IRS procedures in all tax forms, instructions, publications, notices, and correspondence. They have the right to be informed of IRS decisions about their tax accounts and to receive clear explanations of the outcomes.

2 The Right to Quality Service

Taxpayers have the right to receive prompt, courteous, and professional assistance in their dealings with the IRS, to be spoken to in a way they can easily understand, to receive clear and easily understandable communications from the IRS, and to speak to a supervisor about inadequate service.

3 The Right to Pay No More than the Correct Amount of Tax

Taxpayers have the right to pay only the amount of tax legally due, including interest and penalties, and to have the IRS apply all tax payments properly.

4 T he Right to Challenge the IRS's Position and Be Heard

Taxpayers have the right to raise objections and provide additional documentation in response to formal IRS actions or proposed actions, to expect that the IRS will consider their timely objections and documentation promptly and fairly, and to receive a response if the IRS does not agree with their position.

5 The Right to Appeal an IRS Decision in an Independent Forum

Taxpayers are entitled to a fair and impartial administrative appeal of most IRS decisions, including many penalties, and have the right to receive a written response regarding the Office of Appeals' decision. Taxpayers generally have the right to take their cases to court.

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6 The Right to Finality

Taxpayers have the right to know the maximum amount of time they have to challenge the IRS's position as well as the maximum amount of time the IRS has to audit a particular tax year or collect a tax debt. Taxpayers have the right to know when the IRS has finished an audit.

7 The Right to Privacy

Taxpayers have the right to expect that any IRS inquiry, examination, or enforcement action will comply with the law and be no more intrusive than necessary, and will respect all due process rights, including search and seizure protections, and will provide, where applicable, a collection due process hearing.

9 The Right to Retain Representation

Taxpayers have the right to retain an authorized representative of their choice to represent them in their dealings with the IRS. Taxpayers have the right to seek assistance from a Low Income Taxpayer Clinic if they cannot afford representation.

8 The Right to Confidentiality

Taxpayers have the right to expect that any information they provide to the IRS will not be disclosed unless authorized by the taxpayer or by law. Taxpayers have the right to expect appropriate action will be taken against employees, return preparers, and others who wrongfully use or disclose taxpayer return information.

10 The Right to a Fair and Just Tax System

Taxpayers have the right to expect the tax system to consider facts and circumstances that might affect their underlying liabilities, ability to pay, or ability to provide information timely. Taxpayers have the right to receive assistance from the Taxpayer Advocate Service if they are experiencing financial difficulty or if the IRS has not resolved their tax issues properly and timely through its normal channels.

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IRS Overview

Our Mission

Provide America's taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.

Our Values

Honesty & Integrity Respect Continuous Improvement Inclusion Openness & Collaboration Personal Accountability

Origin

The IRS is one of the oldest bureaus in the United States government. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution gave the Congress the power to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States..." In 1862, President Lincoln and the Congress established the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the nation's first income tax. In 1953, the Bureau of Internal Revenue's name changed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Visit the IRS History Timeline at irs-history-timeline to learn more.

Community of Partners

The IRS interacts with numerous stakeholders to serve taxpayers and enforce tax law. Stakeholders include, but are not limited to, Congress, the Executive Branch, tax professionals, international organizations, state tax agencies and various non-profit organizations who are all valued members in our journey to execute effective taxpayer administration and serve taxpayers.

How We Serve Taxpayers Today

As one of the world's most efficient tax administrators, the IRS and its employees take pride in collecting approximately 96% of the revenue that supports operations of the United States government while spending just 35 cents for each $100 it collects. We are also called upon to support domestic growth and recovery, exemplified in our distribution of more than 492 million relief payments totaling over $800 billion across three separate disbursements.

Recent Achievements

269 M

Federal Tax Returns & Forms Processed (FY21)

$2,816

Average Individual Refund (CY21)

492 M

Economic Relief Payments Disbursed (FY20?21)

$75 B

Enforcement Revenue Collected (FY21)

$4.1T

Gross Taxes Collected (FY21)

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Our Strategic Goals

Our strategic goals for FY2022?2026 reflect a long-standing principle of putting the interests of our taxpayers first in everything we do. It is what drives us in our mission to provide high quality services and fairly and impartially enforce the law. Our employees continually strive to understand and meet the needs of taxpayers and protect their rights. These goals are driven by a "One IRS" mindset that is crucial to delivering our mission for all taxpayers. Additionally, our goals and objectives support Treasury's Strategic Plan and governmentwide priorities. Please see page 21 for specific alignment. To ensure we are accountable to taxpayers, we instituted a measurement process for each strategic goal and will continue to evolve and improve these measures as applicable.

One IRS Putting Taxpayers First

1 Service

Provide quality and accessible services to enhance the taxpayer experience.

2 Enforcement

Enforce the tax law fairly and efficiently to increase voluntary compliance and narrow the tax gap.

4 Transformation

Transform IRS operations to become more resilient, agile and responsive to improve the taxpayer experience and narrow the tax gap.

3 People

Foster an inclusive, diverse and well-equipped workforce and strengthen relationships with our external partners.

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Goal 1 | Service

Provide quality and accessible services to enhance the taxpayer experience.

The IRS is dedicated to providing an excellent taxpayer experience. We continue to navigate challenges due to insufficient funding, a shrinking workforce, hiring difficulties and reliance on paper processes. We are committed to helping taxpayers of all communities participate in the tax system with ease and confidence. In order to deliver high quality taxpayer service, the IRS will provide the means for all taxpayers to comply with their tax obligations by reducing accessibility barriers such as language, location and financial circumstances. We will inform and educate taxpayers proactively no matter how they engage with our services, whether through traditional or newer digital channels. Over the next five years, we will develop and increase the availability of services and tax products that are easy to use and support the needs of all communities. We strive to deepen our understanding of the taxpayer experience, be responsive to changing needs and continuously enhance taxpayer service by improving access to phone and face-toface assistance, reducing paper inventory and expanding online options for taxpayers to meet their service needs.

In addition, our commitment to steadfastly safeguarding taxpayer data for a secure experience has become increasingly important. Taxpayer experience, rights, protection and advocacy will be strengthened as we invest in the technology necessary to optimize and secure all taxpayer interactions.

Comprehensive Taxpayer Attitude Survey Report 2020

TRENDS AND CHALLENGES

Growing Underserved Community Populations

Many historically underserved community populations are growing, yet still do not receive the same resources and opportunities as other communities. Minority and immigrant communities, taxpayers with disabilities, Native American communities, the elderly, the unhoused and veterans are some of those in need of additional equitable support.

The IRS needs to engage with more segments of the population, like those with limited English proficiency (LEP), that face unique challenges in accessing the information, forms or services they need. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic reduced availability of face-to-face opportunities to engage with these communities. These challenges not only make it Center for Immigration Studies harder for underserved populations to comply with their tax obligations, but also makes them less likely to receive the benefits to which they are entitled. Our efforts will build trust and confidence in the IRS among underserved populations, increase our emphasis on fairness, expand access to information and services and increase voluntary compliance.

Increasing Preference For Digital Services

Taxpayers and practitioners increasingly expect more online government services that incorporate new interactive features, like chatbots and personalized online applications, similar to those provided by banks and other private sector organizations. The FY2020 Taxpayer Experience Survey indicates 86% of taxpayers surveyed are aware of as a channel for digital services. The IRS is providing more digital options to meet taxpayer expectations around accessibility and availability of digital services. We will balance these digital updates while continuing to serve taxpayers who prefer service via phone, paper, or face-to-face communication and other taxpayers who are unable to meet the security measures required for digital access. Taking proactive measures to understand taxpayer behavior and preferences makes it easier to meet taxpayers where they are and for them to voluntarily comply.

GOAL 1 SERVICE

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