Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
March 03, 2015 at 12:05 PM
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has not yet processed many tax returns that include claims for the new health insurance premium tax credit, but it’s nervous about the future.
Analysts at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) talk about the possible effects of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) premium tax credit complications on the IRS in a report on IRS resources prepared at the request of a bipartisan group of members of Congress.
Complicated PPACA-related questions could contribute to a 20 percent increase in demand for IRS customer-service reps this year, and reduce the number of calls the reps have time to answer about 27 percent, James McTigue Jr., a GAO director, writes in a summary of the analysts’ work.
The IRS, an arm of the U.S. Treasury Department, is getting $11 billion in appropriations this year and has about 81,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers.
The agency is asking for $12.9 billion in overall funding for fiscal year 2016, which starts Oct. 1. About $3.2 billion would go toward information technology projects of all types.
