Summary: At a congressional hearing last year, witnesses alleged that senior managers at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) did not receive the same level of disciplinary action as line staff and that the agency delayed action on substantiated cases of misconduct until senior managers were eligible to retire. The witnesses also said that IRS retaliated against whistleblowers and uncooperative taxpayers and that IRS employees zeroed out or reduced proposed tax assessments for reasons unrelated to the merits of the cases. GAO evaluated these charges. Available data showed significant differences between senior executive and line staff disciplinary cases in terms of disciplinary and processing times. For example, a much higher percentage of cases involving senior executives was cleared or closed without action, and these cases tended to take longer to complete. At the same time, actions taken against lower-level employees more closely conformed to IRS' established table of penalties than did actions taken against higher-level employees. However, offenses committed by senior executives and line staff, as well as the factors surrounding the cases, were different. GAO's ability to compare these disciplinary cases was also hindered by a lack of detailed and accurate data in connection with IRS' disciplinary case database. GAO did not reach general conclusions about IRS' delaying action on misconduct cases until senior managers were eligible to retire. GAO could not determine the extent of reprisals against whistleblowers or retaliation against taxpayers because IRS does not maintain information on these cases. GAO found no evidence in the eight cases it reviewed to support allegations of improper zeroing out or reductions of recommended taxes by IRS managers. On the other hand, IRS does not systematically collect data on how much additional taxes recommended by auditors are inappropriately zeroed out or reduced by IRS employees. In particular, IRS has no data on supervisors' improperly limiting auditors' recommendations of additional taxes before an audit was closed.
