Summary: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has not complied with regulations governing financial disclosure requirements. As a result, thousands of its employees with possible conflicts of interest are not filing annual financial disclosure statements. IRS required about 650 employees to file financial disclosure statements in 1991. The agency has since expanded the filing requirements to more than 5,000 workers in grades 13 and above. Although this move should bolster detection and prevention of conflicts of interest by higher-level IRS employees, GAO is concerned that thousands of employees below grade 13--individuals with direct access to taxpayer information and who determine the amount of taxes owed and collected--are still not required to file. This situation could erode public confidence in the integrity of the tax system. Even when financial disclosure documents were filed, some statements did not provide enough information, and IRS managers sometimes failed to act upon possible conflicts of interest.
