IRS pledges more audits of wealthy, better customer service

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS released details Thursday on how it plans to use an infusion of $80 billion for improved operations, pledging to invest in new technology, hire more customer service representatives and expand its ability to audit high-wealth taxpayers.

While some Republicans have suggested without evidence that the money from the Democrats’ landmark climate change and health care bill would help create a mob of armed auditors to harass middle-class taxpayers, new IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said it will not include spending for new agents with guns.

The agency's newly released strategic operating plan lays out the specifics of how the IRS will allocate the $80 billion, through fiscal year 2031, that was approved in that legislation.

Some improvements have been long expected, such as bringing more paper-based systems online and answering taxpayers' phone calls promptly. Others are more ambitious: continuing to explore ways to create a government-operated electronic free-file tax return system, for example.

No hiring boost is foreseen for the criminal investigation unit, which represents 3% of the agency's workforce and employed roughly 2,077 special agents as of the 2022 budget year, according to the IRS' annual report. Those are the agents who may be armed.

There are “no plans to increase” that division, Werfel said during a call with reporters. "That will stay at its current rate."

Since President Joe Biden signed the measure, known as the “ the Inflation Reduction Act, ” in August, some Republicans have claimed the IRS would use the new money to hire an army of 87,000 tax agents with weapons.

That claim comes from a plan the Treasury Department proposed...