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GAO-01-698R 1 (2001-05-01)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptanjx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SGAO Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 May 1, 2001 The Honorable Amo Houghton Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight Committee on Ways and Means House of Representatives Subject: Fiscal Year 2002 Budget Request for the Internal Revenue Service Dear Mr. Chairman: In response to a request for information on the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) budget for fiscal year 2002, this letter addresses the following topics: (1) the administration's fiscal year 2002 budget request for IRS, including a comparison to a separate budget request submitted by the IRS Oversight Board; (2) the Staffing Tax Administration for Balance and Equity (STABLE) initiative, which is intended to enhance IRS' customer service and compliance efforts; (3) opportunities for improving IRS' performance by increasing staff productivity; and (4) business systems modernization. Information in this letter is based on our review of the congressional justification submitted by IRS in support of the administration's budget request; IRS' annual performance plan for fiscal year 2002; a document prepared by the Oversight Board, entitled The IRSBudget, Fiscal Year 2002, a STABLE staffing plan prepared by IRS; and other data we obtained from IRS. In summary, the administration is requesting about $9.4 billion for IRS for fiscal year 2002. The Oversight Board is asking for about $300 million more. The Board's request exceeds the administration's in three broad areas: (1) business systems modernization, (2) improvement projects, and (3) operating costs. Our review of the administration's and Board's budget requests for IRS identified several questions related to (1) differences between the two requests, (2) IRS' hiring plans for STABLE, (3) the productivity of IRS staff, and (4) business systems modernization that the subcommittee may wish to raise to IRS and/or the Board. Those questions are set out at the end of each subsection of this letter. We sent a draft of this letter to the Internal Revenue Service and the Oversight Board for their review. They generally agreed with the factual data presented herein. Fiscal Year 2002 Budget Requests for IRS For fiscal year 2002, Congress has before it two separate budget requests for IRS-the traditional request prepared by the administration and, for the first time, a separate request prepared by the IRS Oversight Board. There are some significant differences between the two requests. The administration's request includes about $9.4 billion and 101,352 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff years for IRS. As shown in table 1, that request represents a 6.6-percent increase GAO-01-698R IRS' FY 2002 Budget Page 1

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