II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4832 

To temporarily prohibit the hiring of additional Internal Revenue Service 

employees until a certain level of taxpayer services have improved, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 

Mr. THUNE (for himself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To temporarily prohibit the hiring of additional Internal Revenue Service employees until a certain level of taxpayer 

services have improved, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Increase Reliable Serv5 ices Now Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TEMPORARY PROHIBITION ON ADDITIONAL TAX EN7 FORCEMENT PERSONNEL. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi9 sions of law, the Internal Revenue Service may not hire 


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1 any person for the purpose of conducting enforcement ac2 tivities during the period beginning on the date of the en3 actment of this Act and ending on the first date after such 

4 date on which— 

5 (1) the Internal Revenue Service has main6 tained, for 6 consecutive months— 

7 (A) a level of service for accounts manage8 ment phone lines of not less than 70 percent; 

9 and 

10 (B) an average speed of answering calls in 

11 5 minutes or less; and 

12 (2) not less than 90 percent of the regular em13 ployees of the Internal Revenue Service perform 

14 work in person at their job sites. 

15 (b) ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES.—For purposes of 

16 this section, the term ‘‘enforcement activities’’ means ac17 tivities described in section 10301(a)(1)(A)(ii) of Public 

18 Law 117–169. 

19 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF ADDITIONAL INTERNAL 

20 REVENUE SERVICE FUNDS FOR TAXPAYER 

21 AUDITS. 

22 Section 10301(a)(1)((A)(ii) of Public Law 117–169 

23 is amended by inserting before the period at the end the 

24 following: ‘‘: Provided further, That the Internal Revenue 

25 Service shall not audit taxpayers with taxable incomes 


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1 below $400,000 at a greater rate than such taxpayers 

2 were audited for the most recent taxable year beginning 

3 before the date of the enactment of this Act’’. 

4 SEC. 4. TEMPORARY PROHIBITION ON INTERNAL REVENUE 

5 SERVICE HIRING. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi7 sions of law, the Internal Revenue Service may not hire 

8 any person (other than for activities related to return 

9 processing and call center operations) during the period 

10 beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and 

11 ending on the first date after such date on which the In12 ternal Revenue Service meets the requirements of sub13 section (b). 

14 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements specified in 

15 this subsection are the following: 

16 (1) With respect to the processing of taxpayer 

17 correspondence, tax forms, and payments, the Inter18 nal Revenue Service has a backlog not in excess of 

19 1,000,000 cases. 

20 (2) With respect to tax returns eligible for a re21 fund, refunds are issued to taxpayers on average 

22 within six weeks or less of the receipt of the return. 

Æ 


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