TRI Policy Brief

IRS Independent
Oversight Suspended?
In 1997, after Senate hearings on an out-of-control Internal Revenue Service, the National Commission
on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service (NCRIRS)i was created to look into systematic changes
Congress could make within the IRS. The committee produced its report, A Vision for a New IRSii, in June
1997 and recommended several changes to IRS structure that would, in part, create a "more efficient
system and structure that eases the burden of compliance and protects basic rights for the taxpayer."
One of the commission's key recommendations was the creation of a board of directors with oversight
authority, including the authority to approve IRS plans and initiatives presented to them by the IRS
commissioner. Congress created the IRS Oversight Board (IRSOB) in the Internal Revenue Service
Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998iii, and gave that board much of the authority recommended by the
NCRIRS.
According to the IRSOB website:
"The Oversight Board is a nine-member independent body charged to oversee the IRS in its
administration, management, conduct, direction, and supervision of the execution and application of
the internal revenue laws and to provide experience, independence, and stability to the IRS so that it
may move forward in a cogent, focused direction."
It is the only independent oversight organization charged by Congress to oversee IRS administration,
management, conduct, and direction. It is, in effect, the only independent oversight over the IRSiv.
However, the IRSOB website claims that the board "does not currently have enough members
confirmed by the U.S. Senate to make up a quorum and as a result has suspended operations.v" In
effect, the only independent oversight board dedicated to watching over the IRS is not operating.
1. How long have the IRSOB operations been suspended, and has the president appointed members
to the board who are currently awaiting confirmation?
2. If the president has appointed members to the board, have confirmation hearings been scheduled,
and if not, why?
It is crucial for an agency referred to only a few short years ago by the House Oversight Committee as
a "broken agencyvi" to have effective, independent oversight. We are concerned that this is currently not
the case.
Dan Johnson, Executive Director
dan@taxrevolution.us, 567-201-5432 (Direct)

www.taxrevolution.us

National Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service Home Page, House.gov,
http://www.house.gov/natcommirs/main.htm
ii
A Vision for a New IRS, House.gov, http://www.house.gov/natcommirs/report1.pdf
iii
Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, GPO.gov, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW105publ206/html/PLAW-105publ206.htm
iv
List of IRS Oversight Organizations, IRS.gov, https://www.irs.gov/uac/IRS-Oversight-Organizations
v
IRS Oversight Board Home Page, https://www.treasury.gov/IRSOB/Pages/default.aspx
vi
Making Sure Targeting Never Happens: Getting Politics Out of the IRS and Other Solutions, House.gov,
https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/2014-07-29-Getting-Politics-Out-of-the-IRS-and-OtherSolutions.pdf