IRS Adding Thousands of Auditors as It Prepares to Ramp Up Enforcement

he Internal Revenue Service is already staffing up, hiring thousands of new auditors in preparation for a tax-enforcement push that’s a key financing element of President Biden’s infrastructure plan.

IRS officials said at a tax conference Friday that they are adding about 2,000 new employees, including 1,300 auditors, to the agency’s small business division and more than 500 workers to the criminal investigations divisions, Bloomberg’s Laura Davison and Genevieve Douglas report.

“The figures represent a significant hiring increase from recent years, when the agency has struggled to replace auditors who retired or left the federal government,” they write. “The additional staff could put the IRS in position to greatly expand audit capacity quickly if Congress is able to pass a bipartisan infrastructure investment plan, which includes $40 billion for the agency over a decade and is expected to generate $100 billion in net new tax revenue.”https://d-3191461766191356085.ampproject.net/2106120107000/frame.html

Even without the infrastructure package, the IRS appears to be poised for a funding boost, as 2022 spending plans being considered by Congress call for a $1.7 billion budget increase to $13.6 billion.