FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact: (202) 225-7601
April 5, 1999
No. OV-5
Congressman Amo Houghton (R-NY), Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the 1999 tax return filing season and the Administration's budget request for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for fiscal year 2000. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, April 13, 1999, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include IRS Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti, representatives from the U.S. General Accounting Office, and professional tax practitioner groups. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
The 1999 tax return filing season refers to the period of time between January 1st and April 15th when Americans will file over 200 million individual and business tax returns. During this period, the IRS is expected to issue over 92 million tax refunds and answer over 120 million telephone calls from taxpayers asking for assistance.
The Administration's budget requests $8.2 billion to fund the IRS for fiscal year 2000. This level of funding will support about 98,000 employees who will collect about $1.8 trillion in taxes, according to Administration estimates.
Beyond supporting the traditional activities of the filing season, the fiscal year 2000 budget request also addresses several additional activities. First, the budget request includes $140 million to implement the Organization Modernization Concept which would reorganize the IRS into four operating divisions correlated to the needs of taxpayers. The new operating divisions will be: (1) wage and investment income, (2) small business and self employed, (3) large and mid-size businesses, and (4) tax exempt organizations. Second, the budget request includes $40 million to implement operational changes and new taxpayer safeguards which were contained in the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (Act). Examples of the new taxpayer rights contained in the Act which the IRS is implementing include relief for innocent spouses who filed joint tax returns, and new due process rights in collection actions (such as pre-levy notices). Third, the Act directed the IRS to develop new performance measures to evaluate its employees. One criterion which the Act directed the IRS to use in evaluating its employees was "the fair and equitable treatment of taxpayers by employees." The IRS is still in the process of developing these new performance measures.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Houghton stated: "The IRS is experiencing a whirlwind of activity this year. The agency is coping with a challenging filing season while it tries at the same time to implement the most significant internal reorganization in 40 years, add numerous new taxpayer safeguards, develop a new system to measure the performance of its employees, and upgrade its aging computer systems while making them Y2K compliant. We want to review the IRS budget and its operations to see if it is meeting all of these challenges in a balanced, timely manner that protects the interests of all taxpayers."
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The Subcommittee will explore how the IRS intends to allocate its fiscal year 2000 budget resources. It will also focus on what effect the IRS funding level will have on its ability to fulfill its basic responsibility of administering the nation's tax laws, while at the same time pursuing a major internal reorganization, implementing significant new taxpayer rights, and assuring that its computers are compliant with the millennium date change (Y2K).
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Tuesday, April 27, 1999, to A.L. Singleton, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. If those filing written statements wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing, they may deliver 200 additional copies for this purpose to the Subcommittee on Oversight office, room 1136 Longworth House Office Building, by close of business the day before the hearing.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.
4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.
The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.
The
Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with
disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please
call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event
(four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to
special accommodation needs in general (including availability of
Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the
Committee as noted above.