Out of the $11.4 million that the IRS spent on BlackBerrys and Internet aircards in fiscal year 2011, $1.1 million worth of the devices went unused for three months to a year, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. That means that nearly 14,000 aircards and more than 750 BlackBerrys weren’t activated for a chunk of the year. Sixty-eight BlackBerrys weren’t used at all, while still incurring the costs of a monthly cellphone plan. Further, the report found that there was a lack of oversight in how the devices are assigned – with about $950,000 worth being activated through the IRS without the required management approval. Continued misuse would cost taxpayers a total of more than $10.7 million over five years. [The Hill, TIGTA]
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IRS Criminal Investigation Unit Bringing the A Game
- Caleb Newquist
- August 30, 2011
You’ve been warned, scofflaws.
The inspector general audit found that the criminal unit closed 4,325 cases in fiscal 2010, well above its goal of 3,900, a mark the unit did not hit in 2009.
The average investigation, meanwhile, took exactly one year, a roughly 9 percent improvement over 2009, and the number of convictions in legal source tax cases also rose 7 percent from 2009 to 2010, and has jumped close to 23 percent since fiscal 2006.
As the audit points out, the unit’s performance also improved even as its staffing numbers decreased by roughly 2 percent since 2006.
And they probably all carry shotguns.
IRS hitting criminal investigation targets [OTM/The Hill]
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IRS Commish Admits That a Government Shutdown During Tax Season Would Be Kinda Weird
- Caleb Newquist
- March 31, 2011
The head of the IRS said Thursday that a government shutdown during tax season would be a challenge the agency has never confronted before — and one that would become more complicated as the April filing deadline draws closer. Doug Shulman, the IRS commissioner, also signaled at a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing that his agency was discussing how to address a potential shutdown with the Obama administration, though he did not spell out any details of those talks. “We run a $13 billion financial services operation, so the idea of stopping it for a few days or a few weeks is strange,” Shulman said, adding that he was hopeful, based on ongoing negotiations, that a shutdown could be averted. [The Hill]
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Judge Not Amused by Nebraska Man’s Dirty Trick to Discourage IRS Agents
- Caleb Newquist
- August 28, 2013
There really should be a warning about operating heavy machinery in the presence of Service employees: […]