Source: Fox 59
IRS tax-Evading Employees: The IRS recently made headlines by announcing that wealthy taxpayers who had previously evaded their responsibilities had contributed over $1 billion. However, a new investigation has uncovered that some IRS employees themselves have failed to meet their obligations to the government.
A report from the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), a separate federal agency that checks up on the IRS, says that thousands of IRS workers owe a total of $46 million in back taxes.
According to Money Talks News, as of May 2023, 95% of IRS employees and contractor employees had both filed and paid their taxes on time, according to the report. Others, though, weren’t as careful.
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According to the report, 3,323 (4%) IRS employees did not pay the entire amount owed on their federal tax returns. Of them, 1,279 were on an IRS payment plan, while 2,044 were not.
Installment agreements known as IRS payment plans are available to taxpayers who are unable to pay their taxes in full and on time. Additionally, they “inform the taxpayer on methods to prevent future tax arrears while paying off their balances due and guaranteeing that they fulfil their tax compliance obligations,” the report states.
2,484 (10%) of the contractor employees owed money on their taxes. Of these, 755 were and 1,729 were not on an instalment agreement.
It is evident from the data that most of the non-compliant individuals did not have instalment agreements.
In a press release, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who ordered the TIGTA report, states that although the IRS can fire workers who willfully fail to pay taxes, the agency only let go of 20 such employees between October 2021 and April 2023.
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Furthermore, the report states that some contractors and employees who had previously disregarded their tax obligations were later rehired by the IRS.
Ernst says in a press release:
“While the IRS warns, ‘tax evasion is a serious crime punishable by imprisonment, fines, and the imposition of civil penalties,’ the agency is rewarding its own tax dodgers with paychecks and lavish benefits made possible, ironically, with the taxes paid by law-abiding citizens.”
A bill named the Audit the IRS Act, according to Ernst, has been introduced. It would mandate “annual audits of agency employees and the termination of every IRS agent who isn’t paying their taxes.”
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