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Open Recommendations

2025 Tax Filing: Management of Agency Reforms and Workforce Planning Needed to Address Severe Risks to Future IRS Operations
GAO-26-108116
Mar 16, 2026
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Internal Revenue Service The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should develop and implement a plan for addressing the agency's correspondence inventory backlog. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Internal Revenue Service The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should establish an implementation team to manage the agency's reform efforts and provide and receive timely, quality information that meets the needs of leadership and staff. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Internal Revenue Service As IRS develops a strategic workforce plan to align with Treasury's strategic plan for fiscal years 2026 through 2030, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue should build off IRS's workforce plan for fiscal years 2024 through 2026 that was finalized in June 2024 and incorporate plans to address the loss of thousands of filing season staff. IRS's new plan should include for filing season operations (1) long-term strategies to achieve programmatic goals, (2) mechanisms to track progress toward achieving those goals, and (3) capacity-building efforts for essential positions. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Disaster Assistance: SBA Should Take Steps to Make Data Sharing with IRS More Efficient
GAO-26-107682
Mar 03, 2026
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Small Business Administration The Administrator of SBA should take steps to improve the efficiency of data sharing with IRS for the Disaster Loan Program. These steps could include seeking statutory authority for direct access to tax data under section 6103(l) of the Internal Revenue Code or implementing new technologies to reduce manual processing. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Puerto Rico: IRS Should Improve Oversight of Taxpayers Claiming Exemption from Federal Taxes
GAO-26-107225
Dec 12, 2025
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Internal Revenue Service The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should establish procedures to regularly obtain from Hacienda current data on all recipients of the Puerto Rico resident investor incentive. These procedures could incorporate GAO's leading collaboration practices. (Recommendation 1)
Open
We will update the status of this recommendation when IRS provides its 180-day letter which is expected in June 2026.
Internal Revenue Service The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should establish written procedures to review cases of potential noncompliance among recipients of the resident investor incentive that Puerto Rico government agencies identify and send to IRS. (Recommendation 2)
Open
We will update the status of this recommendation when IRS provides its 180-day letter which is expected in June 2026.
Internal Revenue Service The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should take action to promote voluntary compliance, such as sending educational letters explaining key compliance requirements to taxpayers who are benefiting from Puerto Rico's resident investor incentive. (Recommendation 3)
Open
Implementing this recommendation would strengthen compliance and potentially generate millions of dollars in additional federal tax revenue. We will update the status of this recommendation when IRS provides its 180-day letter which is expected in June 2026.

Taxpayer Experience: IRS Should Fully Establish Its Approach for Using Evidence to Assess Service Improvement Results
GAO-25-107408
Jul 17, 2025
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Internal Revenue Service
Priority Rec.
We recommend that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue fully establish an evidence-based approach, such as we identified, to determine whether and how improvements to services affect the taxpayer experience. (Recommendation 1)
Open
IRS agreed with this recommendation. In June 2025 comments on our draft report, IRS outlined planned steps for implementation. Until IRS fully establishes an evidence-based approach for the taxpayer experience, IRS will not be assured that it has the information it needs to assess progress toward its taxpayer experience goals, determine what worked well and where improvements are needed, and identify the best investments of its resources to make those improvements. We will continue to monitor progress and update this status as IRS more fully documents its planned actions to implement the recommendation, as we expect later this year.
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