The plan summarizes a series of organizational changes meant to improve the IRS customer focus and increase the accoutability of its senior leaders. Traditionally organized along geographic and functional lines, the agency is now divided into four operating divisions. The heads of these four operating divisions will be accountable for program operations, according to the plan. The plan also clarifies the role of individual employees in the agency s new organizational scheme. As of Oct. 1, the former IRS field structure, which featured four regional and 33 district offices, was dismantled.
Employees now report up a chain of command within the four operating divisions.
Senior accountability and the new operational structure are crucial to the agency s ongoing modernization effort, which is expected to last another eight years. The General Accounting Office has often spotlighted the role of senior managers in overseeing the IRS various modernization programs. In 1998, Congress reserved final approval for all future IRS modernization spending, requiring that the agency submit a specific spending plan for access to modernization funds. The IRS has made progress in its effort to establish managerial controls on its tax system modernization plan, according to GAO s most recent audit . The IRS will submit another spending plan for congressional approval on March 1.