Former IRS Commissioner and alliantgroup Vice Chairman Mark W. Everson Talks Budget Cuts, ACA and the IRS with Accounting Today

alliantgroup Vice Chairman Mark W. EversonFormer IRS Commissioner and alliantgroup Vice Chairman, Mark W. Everson, sat down with Accounting Today to discuss a host of issues set to impact the IRS, taxpayers and tax practitioners this filing season.

Chief among the former commissioner’s concerns are the ongoing budget cuts that continue to hamper the IRS’s service and enforcement activities. In the interview, Everson said:

“Anytime you’re cutting bodies, no matter how well you map things out on the online materials, there are a certain number of transactions that are going to require specific personal interaction…The funding shortfall has already reduced services significantly, and that will most certainly reduce the enforcement revenues associated with the Service’s activities.”

Service Stretched Thin

These ongoing budget woes coupled with the additional burdens of enforcing various provisions of the Affordable Care Act, FACTA and international tax compliance laws have stretched the Service dangerously thin, creating what the former commissioner sees as an across the board deterioration of services provided by the IRS. Along with the overall instability in tax legislation, best demonstrated by the last minute passing of the tax extenders bill this last December, Congress has put the IRS — and taxpayers and practitioners for that matter — in a bind in preparing for this year’s coming tax season.

“I give the Service very good grades the last few years for being able to discharge their responsibilities for the filing season because Congress hasn’t been discharging theirs. It’s just absolutely essential that we have a more orderly process for writing the tax laws and/or getting some stability in the code.”

Mark W. Everson served as IRS Commissioner from 2003-2007 and is now alliantgroup’s Vice Chairman and part of our Washington, D.C.-based team. alliantgroup’s National practice provides subject matter expertise on complex and emerging federal, state and international tax issues as well as legislative and regulatory affairs to help businesses receive timely and precise guidance on all their tax matters. Contact us today to learn how your business can benefit from alliantgroup’s tax consulting services.

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