Summary: As in earlier years, GAO found it impossible to provide an affirmative opinion on IRS' principal financial statements for 1995, internal controls, and IRS' compliance with laws and regulations. The following financial management problems prevented GAO from rendering an opinion: (1) the amounts of total revenue ($1.4 trillion) and tax refunds ($122 billion) cannot be verified or reconciled to accounting records maintained for individual taxpayers in the aggregate; (2) the amounts reported for taxes collected (social security, income, and excise taxes, for example) cannot be substantiated; (3) the reliability of reported estimates of $113 billion for valid accounts receivable and $46 billion for collectible accounts receivable cannot be determined; (4) a significant portion of the agency's reported $3 billion in nonpayroll operating expenses cannot be verified; (5) the amounts IRS reported as appropriations available for expenditure for operations cannot be reconciled fully with Treasury's central accounting records showing these amounts, and hundreds of millions of dollars in differences have been found.
