Tax

National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins escalated her push for the IRS to adopt barcode scanning of paper tax returns, but the IRS would commit only to a goal of scanning certain 2022 returns.

Payments made by the second-listed spouse on a joint return for 2021 under certain conditions may not have been properly credited by the IRS.

The IRS’s fiscal 2022–26 Strategic Plan sets out goals to modernize its operations and interactions with taxpayers while adapting to new challenges and threats.

The U.S. GAO recommended that the IRS pilot videoconferencing for its program singling out “high-risk” return preparers for direct compliance checks and education with respect to refundable tax credits and other taxpayer tax benefits.

Temporary waiving of fingerprinting and identification procedures for new federal employees due to the pandemic could have allowed access to taxpayer data by individuals who were ineligible for federal employment.