IRS chief says tax law brings challenges

WASHINGTON — The acting head of the IRS says the current tax-filing season has gone well, while acknowledging the tough challenge the cashstrapped agency faces in administering the new tax law that will affect 2019 returns.

Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter told Congress on Thursday that 79 million refunds totaling about $226 billion have been issued as of April 6, averaging $2,900 — up $13 from last year. Around 80 percent of returns filed claimed a refund.

The agency’s so-called level of service for taxpayers calling for information is running close to 80 percent. That’s the number of tollfree callers who either talk to an

IRS customer service rep or receive automated messages with tax information, divided by the total number of attempted calls.

The final year under the “old” tax regime, 2017, has to be accounted for by taxpayers in returns by Tuesday.

The agency must administer and enforce the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code in three decades.

Kautter told the Senate Finance Committee that the new law “requires extensive work by the IRS this year and next.” The paperwork alone is immense — about 450 forms and instructions will have to be amended.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-utah, the panel’s chairman, said the new burden falls on an agency with a history of mismanagement and taxpayer abuse that is laboring under funding and technology deficits.

The House tax-writing committee approved a series of bipartisan bills Wednesday aimed at changing the way the IRS operates.

They would, for example, create an independent appeals process to help taxpayers resolve disputes with the agency; bolster programs that provide tax assistance to low-income, elderly, disabled people and immigrants; and crack down on fraud.