IRS Funding Accountability Act

Subjects: Taxation

Summary:  <p> <strong>IRS Funding Accountability Act </strong></p> <p>This bill delays for a 60-day period funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enforcement activities enacted by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (except for eliminating return processing backlogs and reducing call wait times) until an annual spending plan for such activities is submitted to the congressional tax and appropriation committees. Congress may enact a joint resolution of disapproval of the spending plan before the end of the 60-day period requiring the IRS to submit a new spending plan. </p> <p>The IRS and the Department of the Treasury must make quarterly reports to the committees on expenditures for enforcement activities. The bill requires reductions in IRS appropriations for any failure to submit required reports.</p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 338 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 338

To provide accountability for funding provided to the Internal Revenue 
    Service and the Department of Treasury under Public Law 117-169.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 9, 2023

Mr. Thune (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Barrasso, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. 
Cassidy, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Daines, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Lankford, 
Mr. Scott of South Carolina, Mr. Tillis, and Mr. Young) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                                Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide accountability for funding provided to the Internal Revenue 
    Service and the Department of Treasury under Public Law 117-169.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``IRS Funding Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. ANNUAL COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING PLAN FOR INCREASED INTERNAL 
              REVENUE SERVICE RESOURCES.

    (a) Limitation on Funding.--
            (1) Initial plan.--
                    (A) In general.--None of the funds described in 
                paragraph (3) may be obligated during the period--
                            (i) beginning on the date of the enactment 
                        of this Act; and
                            (ii) ending on the date that is 60 days 
                        after the spending plan described in subsection 
                        (b)(1)(A) has been submitted.
                    (B) Additional moratorium.--If Congress enacts a 
                joint resolution of disapproval described in subsection 
                (c) with respect to the Internal Revenue Service 
                spending plan before the date described in subparagraph 
                (A)(ii), then--
                            (i) the Commissioner of Internal Revenue 
                        shall submit a new spending plan under 
                        subsection (b)(1)(A); and
                            (ii) the period described in subparagraph 
                        (A) shall not end before the date that is 60 
                        days after such new spending plan is submitted.
            (2) Subsequent submissions.--
                    (A) In general.--None of the funds described in 
                paragraph (3) may be obligated during any period--
                            (i) beginning on the date Congress has 
                        enacted a joint resolution of disapproval under 
                        subsection (c) with respect to any spending 
                        plan described in subsection (b)(1)(B); and
                            (ii) ending on the date that is 60 days 
                        after the date on which the Commissioner of 
                        Internal Revenue has submitted a new spending 
                        plan under such subsection.
                    (B) Additional moratorium.--If Congress enacts a 
                joint resolution of disapproval described in subsection 
                (c) with respect to any new spending plan submitted 
                under subparagraph (A)(ii) before the date that is 60 
                days after the date on which such new spending plan has 
                been submitted, then--
                            (i) the Commissioner of Internal Revenue 
                        shall submit an additional new spending plan 
                        under subsection (b)(1)(B); and
                            (ii) the period described in subparagraph 
                        (A) shall not end before the date that is 60 
                        days after such additional new spending plan is 
                        submitted.
            (3) Funds described.--The funds described in this paragraph 
        are the following:
                    (A) Any funds made available under clause (ii), 
                (iii), or (iv) of section 10301(1)(A) of Public Law 
                117-169.
                    (B) Any funds made available under section 
                10301(1)(A)(i) of Public Law 117-169 other than funds 
                used for the following purposes:
                            (i) Eliminating any correspondence or 
                        return processing backlog.
                            (ii) Reducing call wait times for taxpayers 
                        and tax professionals.
    (b) Annual Comprehensive Spending Plan.--
            (1) In general.--
                    (A) Initial plan.--Not later than 60 days after the 
                date of the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of 
                Internal Revenue shall submit to the appropriate 
                Congressional committees a spending plan described in 
                paragraph (2).
                    (B) Subsequent submissions.--
                            (i) In general.--For each fiscal year 
                        beginning after the plan described in 
                        subparagraph (A) is submitted and ending with 
                        fiscal year 2031, the Commissioner of Internal 
                        Revenue shall submit to the appropriate 
                        Congressional committees a spending plan 
                        described in paragraph (2) on the date that the 
                        President submits the budget required under 
                        section 1105(a) of title 31, United States 
                        Code.
                            (ii) Reduction in appropriation.--
                                    (I) In general.--In the case of any 
                                failure to submit a plan required under 
                                clause (i) by the date that is 7 days 
                                after the date the plan is required to 
                                be submitted and, the amounts made 
                                available under section 10301(1)(A)(ii) 
                                of Public Law 117-169 shall be reduced 
                                by $10,000,000 for each day after such 
                                required date that report has not been 
                                submitted.
                                    (II) Required date.--For purposes 
                                of this clause, the term ``required 
                                date'' means, with respect to any plan 
                                required under this subparagraph, the 
                                date that is 7 days after such plan is 
                                required to be submitted.
            (2) Spending plan.--
                    (A) In general.--A spending plan described in this 
                subparagraph is a plan that--
                            (i) details how the funds appropriated 
                        under section 10301(1) of Public Law 117-169 
                        will be spent over--
                                    (I) the period consisting of the 
                                current fiscal year and the next 4 
                                fiscal years ending before fiscal year 
                                2032; and
                                    (II) the period of consisting of 
                                the current fiscal year through the 
                                fiscal year ending with fiscal year 
                                2031 (if such period includes any 
                                period not described in subclause (I));
                            (ii) contains the information described in 
                        subparagraph (B);
                            (iii) has been reviewed by--
                                    (I) the Internal Revenue Service 
                                Advisory Council;
                                    (II) the Comptroller of the United 
                                States;
                                    (III) the National Taxpayer 
                                Advocate; and
                                    (IV) the Director of the Office of 
                                Management and Budget; and
                            (iv) has been approved by the Director of 
                        the Office of Management and Budget.
                    (B) Plan contents.--The information described in 
                this paragraph is the following:
                            (i) A detailed explanation of the plan, 
                        including--
                                    (I) costs and results to date, 
                                actual expenditures of the prior fiscal 
                                year, actual and expected expenditures 
                                of the current fiscal year, upcoming 
                                deliverables and expected costs, and 
                                total expenditures;
                                    (II) clearly defined objectives, 
                                timelines, and metrics for 
                                quantitatively measuring the plan's 
                                annual progress, including with respect 
                                to measuring improvements in taxpayer 
                                services, revenue collection, 
                                information technology, cybersecurity, 
                                and taxpayer data protections; and
                                    (III) a description of any 
                                differences between metrics described 
                                in subclause (II) and corresponding 
                                metrics used by the National Taxpayer 
                                Advocate, the Comptroller General of 
                                the United States, and Treasury 
                                Inspector General for Tax 
                                Administration.
                            (ii) A detailed analysis of the performance 
                        of the Internal Revenue Service with respect to 
                        the delivery of taxpayer services, including--
                                    (I) the Level of Service (LOS) of 
                                phone lines (as a percent of phone 
                                calls answered by an Internal Revenue 
                                Service employee, not to include 
                                courtesy disconnects or automated call 
                                backs);
                                    (II) the median and average wait 
                                time to speak to a representative of 
                                the Internal Revenue Service;
                                    (III) the amount of unprocessed 
                                taxpayer correspondence, including tax 
                                returns, responses to Internal Revenue 
                                Service notices, tax payments, and 
                                other similar types of correspondence; 
                                and
                                    (IV) the median and average length 
                                of time for processing the items 
                                described in subclause (III) and 
                                processing refund claims.
                            (iii) An analysis identifying any increase 
                        or decrease in total annual audits and annual 
                        audit rates by income group for the period 
                        beginning in 2018 and ending with the year the 
                        report is submitted. Such analysis shall 
                        include a detailed description of what 
                        constitutes an ``audit'' by the Internal 
                        Revenue Service, and if the definition of an 
                        ``audit'' used by the Internal Revenue Service 
                        differs from the definition used by the 
                        National Taxpayer Advocate, the Comptroller 
                        General of the United States, or the Treasury 
                        Inspector General for Tax Administration, there 
                        shall also be included an analysis using such 
                        divergent definition.
                            (iv) A categorizing of the number of audits 
                        for each year in the analysis described in 
                        clause (iv) which were--
                                    (I) correspondence audits;
                                    (II) office audits;
                                    (III) field audits;
                                    (IV) audits under the Internal 
                                Revenue Service National Research 
                                Program; and
                                    (V) other audits.
                            (v) A description of all taxpayer 
                        compliance actions or initiatives undertaken 
                        using funding appropriated under section 
                        10301(1)(A) of Public Law 117-169 that do not 
                        rise to the level of an audit, with each action 
                        broken out by the total number of such actions 
                        undertaken for each income group and as a 
                        percentage of taxpayers in each income group.
                            (vi) An explanation of any unresolved or 
                        outstanding recommendations made by the 
                        Government Accountability Office and Treasury 
                        Inspector General for Tax Administration 
                        pertaining to taxpayer-data privacy 
                        protections, Internal Revenue Service taxpayer 
                        services, and Internal Revenue Service 
                        technology modernization efforts that are 
                        addressed by the plan and a description of how 
                        they are addressed.
                            (vii) For any recommendations identified by 
                        Government Accountability Office and Treasury 
                        Inspector General for Tax Administration as 
                        ``high risk'' or ``priority'' that are not 
                        addressed in the plan, an explanation of why 
                        such recommendations are not addressed in the 
                        plan.
            (3) Testimony of relevant officials.--Not later than 30 
        days after any spending plan described in paragraph (2) has 
        been submitted, the Secretary of the Treasury and the 
        Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall testify in person before 
        any of the appropriate Congressional committees that request 
        their testimony with respect to such spending plan.
            (4) Requirement to notify of excess spending.--The 
        Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall immediately notify the 
        appropriate Congressional committees if actual obligations and 
        expenditures for any account for any period for which 
        projections are made in a plan submitted under paragraph (2) 
        exceed the amount of obligations and expenditures projected for 
        such account in such plan by 5 percent or more.
    (c) Joint Resolution of Disapproval of the IRS Comprehensive 
Spending Plan.--
            (1) In general.--For purposes of this section, the term 
        ``joint resolution of disapproval of the IRS comprehensive 
        spending plan'' means only a joint resolution introduced in the 
        period beginning on the date on which a spending plan submitted 
        pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(A) is received by the appropriate 
        Congressional committees and ending 60 days thereafter 
        (excluding days either House of Congress is adjourned for more 
        than 3 days during a session of Congress), the matter after the 
        resolving clause of which is as follows: ``That Congress 
        disapproves the plan submitted on ____ by the Internal Revenue 
        Service relating to the comprehensive spending plan under 
        section 2(b)(1) of the IRS Funding Accountability Act with 
        respect to fiscal year ___.''. (The blank spaces being 
        appropriately filled in).
            (2) Application of congressional review act disapproval 
        procedures.--
                    (A) In general.--The rules of section 802 of title 
                5, United States Code, shall apply to a joint 
                resolution of disapproval of the IRS comprehensive 
                spending plan in the same manner as such rules apply to 
                a joint resolution described in subsection (a) of such 
                section.
                    (B) Exercise of rulemaking authority.--This section 
                is enacted by Congress--
                            (i) as an exercise of the rulemaking power 
                        of the Senate and House of Representatives, 
                        respectively, and as such it is deemed a part 
                        of the rules of each House, respectively, but 
                        applicable only with respect to the procedure 
                        to be followed in that House in the case of a 
                        joint resolution of disapproval of the IRS 
                        comprehensive spending plan described in 
                        paragraph (1), and it supersedes other rules 
                        only to the extent that it is inconsistent with 
                        such rules; and
                            (ii) with full recognition of the 
                        constitutional right of either House to change 
                        the rules (so far as relating to the procedure 
                        of that House) at any time, in the same manner, 
                        and to the same extent as in the case of any 
                        other rule of that House.

SEC. 3. QUARTERLY REPORTS.

    (a) Internal Revenue Service.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 14 days after the last day 
        of each calendar quarter beginning during the applicable 
        period, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall submit to 
        the appropriate Congressional committees a report on any 
        expenditures and obligations of funds appropriated under 
        section 10301(1) of Public Law 117-169.
            (2) Matters included.--The report provided under paragraph 
        (1) shall include the following:
                    (A) A plain language description of the specific 
                actions taken by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue 
                utilizing any funds appropriated under section 10301(1) 
                of Public Law 117-169.
                    (B) The obligations and expenditures during the 
                quarter of funds appropriated under section 10301(1) of 
                Public Law 117-169 and the expected expenditure of such 
                funds in the subsequent quarter, including a comparison 
                of obligations and expenditures between amounts spent 
                for taxpayers services and amounts spent for 
                examinations and collections by each division or office 
                of the Internal Revenue Service, including the Large 
                Business and International Division, the Small 
                Business/Self Employed Division, the Tax-Exempt and 
                Government Entities Division, the Wage and Investment 
                Division, the Criminal Investigation Office, the 
                Whistleblower Office, and the Office of the Taxpayer 
                Advocate.
                    (C) A description of any new full-time or full-time 
                equivalent (FTE) employees, contractors, or other staff 
                hired by the Internal Revenue Service, including the 
                number of new hires, the primary function or activity 
                type of each new hire, and the specific Division or 
                Office to which each new hire is tasked.
                    (D) The number of new employees that have passed a 
                security clearance compared to the number of new 
                employees hired to a position requiring a security 
                clearance, along with an indication of whether any new 
                employee that has not passed a security clearance or 
                suitability determination has access to taxpayer return 
                information (as defined by section 6103(b)(2) of the 
                Internal Revenue Code of 1986).
                    (E) A detailed description of any violation of the 
                fair tax collection practices described in section 6304 
                of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by any employees, 
                contractors, or other staff described in subparagraph 
                (C) (including violations tracked in Automated Labor 
                and Employee Relations Tracking System (ALERTS) of the 
                Human Capital Office of the Internal Revenue Service).
                    (F) The status of recommendations provided by the 
                Government Accountability Office and Treasury Inspector 
                General for Tax Administration which have been 
                identified as being addressed by a spending plan under 
                section 2(b)(1), including whether the implementation 
                of such recommendations has been completed, is in 
                progress, or is open (including the expected date of 
                completion for any recommendations identified as in 
                progress or open).
            (3) Reduction in appropriation.--In the case of any failure 
        to submit a report required under paragraph (1) by the required 
        date, the amounts made available under section 10301(1)(A)(ii) 
        of Public Law 117-169 shall be reduced by $1,000,000 for each 
        day after such required date that report has not been 
        submitted.
    (b) Department of Treasury.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 14 days after the last day 
        of each calendar quarter beginning during the applicable 
        period, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to the 
        appropriate Congressional committees a report containing the 
        following information:
                    (A) A plain-language description of the actions 
                taken by the Secretary of the Treasury utilizing any 
                funds appropriated under paragraph (1), (3), or (5)of 
                section 10301 of Public Law 117-169. Any action which 
                is described in a report made under subsection (a) may 
                be described by reference to the action in such report.
                    (B) A detailed description of the specific purposes 
                to which the funds appropriated under section 10301(3) 
                of Public Law 117-169 has been (or is expected to be) 
                obligated.
                    (C) A description of any new full-time or full-time 
                equivalent (FTE) employees, contractors, or other staff 
                hired by the Secretary utilizing funds appropriated 
                under section 10301 of Public Law 117-169, including 
                the number of new hires and whether the duties of each 
                new hire includes any functions related to the Internal 
                Revenue Service (including implementation of tax 
                policies, enforcement, regulations, research, press or 
                communications, or other purposes).
                    (D) A detailed description and explanation of any 
                changes to the most recent Priority Guidance Plan of 
                the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue 
                Service involving guidance projects that utilize any 
                funds appropriated under section 10301 of Public Law 
                117-169 or which are related to the implementation of 
                any provision of or amendment made by such Public Law.
                    (E) A description of any new initiatives planned to 
                be undertaken by the Department of the Treasury within 
                the existing or subsequent fiscal year which will (or 
                may) utilize funds appropriated under section 10301 of 
                Public Law 117-169.
            (2) Reduction in appropriation.--In the case of any failure 
        to submit a report required under paragraph (1) by the required 
        date--
                    (A) the amounts made available under paragraphs (3) 
                of section 10301 of Public Law 117-169 shall be reduced 
                by $666,667 for each day after such required date that 
                report has not been submitted, and
                    (B) the amounts made available under paragraphs (5) 
                of section 10301 of Public Law 117-169 shall be reduced 
                by $333,333 for each day after such required date that 
                report has not been submitted, and
    (c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            (1) Applicable period.--The term ``applicable period'' 
        means the period beginning after the date the plan under 
        section 2(b)(1)(A) is required to be submitted and ending on 
        September 30, 2031.
            (2) Required date.--The term ``required date'' means, with 
        respect to any report required to be submitted under subsection 
        (a) or (b), the date that is 7 days after the date the report 
        is required to be submitted.

SEC. 4. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

    For purposes of this Act, the term ``appropriate Congressional 
committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Finance of the Senate;
            (2) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
            (3) the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 
        Representatives; and
            (4) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
        Representatives.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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