Tax Debt Collection

This report provides an overview of best practices in tax debt management, with a particular emphasis on how to better differentiate debtors when deciding how to best secure payment and what can be done to ensure that payment issues are considered earlier in the compliance and collection process.

The IRS estimated that $33 billion in income tax assessments was not paid in 2001. If not collected, annual unpaid taxes keep accumulating each year along with penalty and interest charges to create an inventory of ¿tax debts,¿ which approached $300 billion at the end of FY 2007. IRS has shelved or delayed collection of billions of dollars of this tax debt. Congress and others have questioned IRS¿s collection process¿s. effectiveness. This is a report on: (1) the process IRS uses to collect unpaid tax debts; (2) trends in the unpaid tax debt inventory, collections, and other resolutions from FY 2002 through 2007; and (3) the performance measures and goals available to assess how well the collection process works overall. Includes recommend. Illus.

Tax Debt Collection: IRS Has a Complex Process to Attempt to Collect Billions of Dollars in Unpaid Tax Debts

In 2005, the inventory of tax debt with collection potential had grown to $132 billion. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has not pursued some tax debt because of limited resources and higher priorities. Congress has authorized IRS to contract with private collection agencies (PCA) to help collect tax debts. IRS has developed a Private Debt Collection (PDC) program to start with a limited implementation in September 2006 and fuller implementation in January 2008. As requested, GAO is reporting whether (1) IRS addressed critical success factors before limited implementation, (2) IRS will assess lessons learned before fuller implementation, and (3) IRS's planned study will help determine if using PCAs is the best use of federal funds.

According to the IRS, $23 billion in unpaid individual income tax debt existed in 2001, its most recent estimate. The notice phase is the first of IRS's three-phase process to collect unpaid debt. IRS annually sends notices to millions of individual taxpayers about billions of dollars of unpaid tax debt. Congress and others have questioned IRS's collection process's effectiveness. This report discusses: (1) how well IRS has established objectives, performance measures, and responsibility for reviewing notice-phase performance; and (2) how well IRS's business rules for sending notices to individuals help assure that the collection notice phase is achieving desired results at the lowest costs. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables.