Government Employment Tax Delinquencies Improved

The IRS has improved its coordination among offices to collect approximately $45 million in delinquent payroll taxes owed by federal government units, plus that owed by state and local governments, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported. The report followed a 2002 TIGTA audit finding that more than 12,000 government entities at all levels were delinquent in reporting or paying employment taxes. TIGTA said then that the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division, which contains the Federal, State and Local Governments office, lacked an effective agreement with the Small Business/Self-Employed (SB/SE) Division, which is responsible for collecting delinquent employment taxes, including those of governmental entities. Since then, a working group between the divisions and special unit established by SB/SE to address federal government agencies has helped, TIGTA said. Still, TIGTA said, the IRS should take additional steps to identify and address reasons for the delinquencies, strengthen case controls and develop strategies for dealing with federal fiscal constraints upon paying prior-year debts from current-year appropriations.