FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 1997
No. OV-3
Congresswoman Nancy L. Johnson (R-CT), Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Administration's budget request for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for fiscal year (FY) 1998, and the 1997 tax return filing season. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, March 18, 1997, in room B-318 Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 11:00 a.m.
In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will come from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include officials from the IRS, the U.S. General Accounting Office, and representatives from several professional tax practitioner groups. 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 Administration's budget requests $7.37 billion to fund the IRS for FY 1998, plus an additional $500 million to establish a new account to fund future computer modernization. This level of funding will support about 102,000 employees who will collect an estimated $1.7 trillion in taxes, according to Administration estimates.
The 1997 tax return filing season refers to that period of time between January 1st and April 15th when Americans will file 200 million individual and business tax returns. During this period, the IRS is expected to issue over 85 million tax refunds and answer 111 million telephone calls from taxpayers asking for assistance. Beyond the traditional activities of the filing season, the FY 1998 budget will also fund, among other things: IRS examination activities, criminal tax law investigations, efforts to collect delinquent taxes, employee salaries, and maintenance of the operational status of the IRS's aging computer systems.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Johnson stated: "Although the IRS has made progress in recent years to streamline its organizational structure and improve its financial accountability, clearly more remains to be accomplished in terms of downsizing, redirecting resources to front-line operations, eliminating unnecessary layers of management, reducing waste, and correcting deficiencies in its multibillion dollar Tax Systems Modernization program. The Subcommittee will examine the IRS's progress in these areas. At the same time, we must also make sure that the IRS is carrying out its responsibilities in a fair and courteous manner. American taxpayers must sacrifice a great deal to support the cost of operating the Federal Government. They deserve to receive quality service and fair treatment by the IRS."
FOCUS OF THE HEARING
The Subcommittee will explore how the IRS intends to allocate its FY 1998 budget resources, and what effect its funding level will have on the IRS's ability to fulfill its mission "to collect the proper amount of tax revenue at the least cost, and serve the public by continually improving the quality of its products and services . . . ." In particular, the Subcommittee will examine: what effect will the budget request have on the quality of IRS taxpayer services, the level of effort in the examination program, the level of effort in collecting delinquent taxes, and what the implications are of the FY 1998 budget request for the remaining five years of the budgeting window.
With respect to the current filing season, the Subcommittee will explore how effectively the IRS is responding to taxpayers requests for assistance, how efficiently it is processing taxpayers' refunds, and the effectiveness of IRS's actions to deter refund fraud.
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 at least six (6) copies of their statement and a 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or ASCII format, with their address and date of hearing noted, by the close of business, Tuesday, April 1, 1997, 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, at least one hour before the hearing begins.
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 typed in single space on legal-size paper and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. At the same time written statements are submitted to the Committee, witnesses are now requested to submit their statements on a 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or ASCII format.
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, full address, a telephone number where the witness or the designated representative may be reached and a topical outline or summary of the comments and recommendations in the full statement. 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 202-225-1904 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.