II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1337 

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 

APRIL 27, 2023 

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 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 1337 IS

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 access for accounts manage8 ment phone lines of not less than 90 percent; 

9 and 

10 (B) an average speed of answering enter11 prise-wide calls in 4 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) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

16 (1) ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES.—The term 

17 ‘‘enforcement activities’’ means activities described 

18 in section 10301(a)(1)(A)(ii) of Public Law 117– 

19 169. 

20 (2) LEVEL OF ACCESS.—The term ‘‘level of ac21 cess’’ means a telephone performance measure that 

22 reflects overall taxpayer call demand and Internal 

23 Revenue Service assistance and is calculated by di24 viding— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 1337 IS

1 (A) the sum of assistor calls answered and 

2 the automated calls answered; by 

3 (B) the total dialed number attempts (not 

4 including any dialed number attempts after 

5 hours). 

6 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF ADDITIONAL INTERNAL 

7 REVENUE SERVICE FUNDS FOR TAXPAYER 

8 AUDITS. 

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

10 amended by inserting before the period at the end the fol11 lowing: ‘‘: Provided further, That the Internal Revenue 

12 Service shall not audit taxpayers with taxable incomes 

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

14 were audited for the most recent taxable year beginning 

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

16 SEC. 4. TEMPORARY PROHIBITION ON INTERNAL REVENUE 

17 SERVICE HIRING. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi19 sions of law, the Internal Revenue Service may not hire 

20 any person (other than for activities related to return 

21 processing and call center operations) during the period 

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

23 ending on the first date after such date on which the In24 ternal Revenue Service meets the requirements of sub25 section (b). 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 1337 IS

1 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements specified in 

2 this subsection are the following: 

3 (1) With respect to the completion of processing 

4 original and amended tax returns, the completion of 

5 processing suspended tax returns, and the resolution 

6 of accounts management cases, the Internal Revenue 

7 Service has an aggregate inventory not in excess of 

8 5,000,000 items as of the close of any calendar 

9 quarter. 

10 (2) With respect to tax returns eligible for a re11 fund, refunds are issued to taxpayers on average 

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

13 SEC. 5. REPORTS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 7 days after the 

15 last day of each calendar quarter beginning during the ap16 plicable period, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, in 

17 consultation with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax 

18 Administration, shall submit to the appropriate Congres19 sional committees report on— 

20 (1) the level of access for accounts management 

21 phone lines for each month during such calendar 

22 quarter; 

23 (2) the average speed of answering enterprise24 wide calls for each month during such calendar 

25 quarter; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 1337 IS

1 (3) the percentage of regular employees of the 

2 Internal Revenue Service that perform work in per3 son at their job sites during such calendar quarter; 

4 (4) the aggregate inventory of unprocessed 

5 original and amended tax returns, unprocessed sus6 pended tax returns, and unresolved accounts man7 agement cases as of the last day of the calendar 

8 quarter; and 

9 (5) with respect to tax returns eligible for a re10 fund, the average length of time between receipt of 

11 a tax return and the issuance of a refund. 

12 (b) APPLICABLE PERIOD.—For purposes of this sec13 tion, the term ‘‘applicable period’’ means the period begin14 ning with the first calendar quarter beginning after the 

15 date of the enactment of this Act and ending with the first 

16 calendar quarter in which the Internal Revenue Service— 

17 (1) has met the requirements under paragraphs 

18 (1) and (2) of section 2(a); and 

19 (2) has met the requirements of section 4(b). 

20 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.— 

21 For purposes of this section, the term ‘‘appropriate Con22 gressional committees’’ means— 

23 (1) the Committee on Finance of the Senate; 

24 (2) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

25 Senate; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 1337 IS

1 (3) the Committee on Ways and Means of the 

2 House of Representatives; and 

3 (4) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

4 House of Representatives. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS