II
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1337
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 27, 2023
Mr. Thune (for himself and Ms. Collins) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To temporarily prohibit the hiring of additional Internal Revenue Service employees until a certain level of taxpayer services have improved, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Increase Reliable Services Now Act
.
Temporary prohibition on additional tax enforcement personnel
In general
Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the Internal Revenue Service may not hire any person for the purpose of conducting enforcement activities during the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the first date after such date on which—
the Internal Revenue Service has maintained, for 6 consecutive months—
a level of access for accounts management phone lines of not less than 90 percent; and
an average speed of answering enterprise-wide calls in 4 minutes or less; and
not less than 90 percent of the regular employees of the Internal Revenue Service perform work in person at their job sites.
Definitions
For purposes of this section—
Enforcement activities
The term enforcement activities means activities described in section 10301(a)(1)(A)(ii) of Public Law 117–169.
Level of access
The term level of access means a telephone performance measure that reflects overall taxpayer call demand and Internal Revenue Service assistance and is calculated by dividing—
the sum of assistor calls answered and the automated calls answered; by
the total dialed number attempts (not including any dialed number attempts after hours).
Prohibition on use of additional Internal Revenue Service funds for taxpayer audits
Section 10301(a)(1)(A)(ii) of Public Law 117–169 is amended by inserting before the period at the end the following: : Provided further, That the Internal Revenue Service shall not audit taxpayers with taxable incomes below $400,000 at a greater rate than such taxpayers were audited for the most recent taxable year beginning before the date of the enactment of this Act
.
Temporary prohibition on Internal Revenue Service hiring
In general
Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the Internal Revenue Service may not hire any person (other than for activities related to return processing and call center operations) during the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the first date after such date on which the Internal Revenue Service meets the requirements of subsection (b).
Requirements
The requirements specified in this subsection are the following:
With respect to the completion of processing original and amended tax returns, the completion of processing suspended tax returns, and the resolution of accounts management cases, the Internal Revenue Service has an aggregate inventory not in excess of 5,000,000 items as of the close of any calendar quarter.
With respect to tax returns eligible for a refund, refunds are issued to taxpayers on average within six weeks or less of the receipt of the return.
Reports
In general
Not later than 7 days after the last day of each calendar quarter beginning during the applicable period, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, in consultation with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, shall submit to the appropriate Congressional committees report on—
the level of access for accounts management phone lines for each month during such calendar quarter;
the average speed of answering enterprise-wide calls for each month during such calendar quarter;
the percentage of regular employees of the Internal Revenue Service that perform work in person at their job sites during such calendar quarter;
the aggregate inventory of unprocessed original and amended tax returns, unprocessed suspended tax returns, and unresolved accounts management cases as of the last day of the calendar quarter; and
with respect to tax returns eligible for a refund, the average length of time between receipt of a tax return and the issuance of a refund.
Applicable period
For purposes of this section, the term applicable period means the period beginning with the first calendar quarter beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act and ending with the first calendar quarter in which the Internal Revenue Service—
has met the requirements under paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 2(a); and
has met the requirements of section 4(b).
Appropriate Congressional committees
For purposes of this section, the term appropriate Congressional committees means—
the Committee on Finance of the Senate;
the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives; and
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.