The IRS hopes to increase tax audits on the wealthiest taxpayers tenfold under the Biden administration’s plan for the agency, according to a senior administration official and the IRS’s new strategic operating plan.
IRS and Treasury Department officials said Thursday that they will use $80 billion in new funding for the tax service to claw back unpaid balances from high-income earners and complex businesses — restoring audits on those taxpayers to higher rates from more than a decade ago — and boost customer service resources for middle- and low-income tax filers.
The agency plans to digitize its tax-processing pipeline and begin developing government-backed online tax-filing software with money from the Inflation Reduction Act, one of President Biden’s chief legislative victories, officials announced in a 149-page report.