{"id":23044,"date":"2023-09-28T21:12:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T21:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/personal-finance\/taxes\/as-government-shutdown-appears-more-likely-treasury-releases-irs-contingency-plan\/"},"modified":"2023-09-28T21:12:01","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T21:12:01","slug":"as-government-shutdown-appears-more-likely-treasury-releases-irs-contingency-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=23044","title":{"rendered":"As Government Shutdown Appears More Likely, Treasury Releases IRS Contingency Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It looks as if a government shutdown is imminent\u2014and federal agencies are taking steps to get ready, including the IRS.<\/p>\n

According to the Washington Post, the government started notifying federal workers on Thursday, Sept. 28, that a shutdown was likely. The Department of Treasury followed suit. I previously reported that Treasury\u2019s Contingency Plan was noticeably absent from agency contingency plans. However, the plans for Treasury are now available, with a fresh date stamp (Sept. 28, 2023).<\/p>\n

The new plans for IRS contingency differ dramatically from those that appear on an archived web page for the last fiscal year. Here\u2019s what you need to know.<\/p>\n

IRS Employees<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to the plan, most core tax administration functions will stop. This will result in furloughs for approximately two-thirds of IRS employees\u201459,981 of the total 89,944 staff.<\/p>\n

Approximately one-third of IRS employees, or 30,063, will continue to perform services. About half of those\u201414,742 are paid for outside of appropriations. That number includes 2,800 employees who are supporting Inflation Reduction Act initiatives. The remaining 15,321 non-furloughed employees are those who will be performing shutdown duties, as well as those necessary to perform activities necessarily implied by law and to protect life and property. You may recall from my previous reporting that the law allows the IRS to process tax returns with taxpayer payments to protect those dollars.<\/p>\n

Who else stays on the job? IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel. The Commissioner is a presidential appointee who is not subject to furlough. The Commissioner\u2019s salary is paid no matter how many hours he works, so he cannot be placed in a non-duty, non-pay status. A handful of Deputy Commissioners and Chiefs of Staff would also remain on staff or on call as needed.<\/p>\n

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The Taxpayer Experience Office would also remain open, as would the newly created Transformation and Strategy Office. Both would retain some staff.<\/p>\n

Also on the “excepted employees” list are some Appeals staff and lawyers to ensure that statutory deadlines are met. Missing deadlines affects IRS as much as it does taxpayers, and the IRS is assuming that federal and district courts will remain open. If courts do close, or if Appeals determines that staff and attorneys aren’t needed, then they would be furloughed. The same general rules apply to the Office of Chief Counsel.<\/p>\n

Dozens of employees would stay on with the Taxpayer Advocate Service in some capacity. Erin Collins (the National Taxpayer Advocate) will go to work, as well as 78 local advocates (one for each TAS office) and various support.<\/p>\n

Over 3,000 Criminal Investigation (CI) employees are slated to report to work. This makes sense\u2014the bad guys aren\u2019t taking a break during the shutdown, so neither will law enforcement. There are approximately 2,621 active criminal investigations and 3,727 investigations in the adjudication phase (pre-indictment, indictment, trial and post\u2013trial) in 93 judicial districts. As part of these 5,874 investigations, special agents are actively gathering evidence, conducting critical interviews, testifying in court proceedings, executing search warrants and conducting arrests. CI maintains that all these activities require that investigative support staff be available to acquire, analyze and preserve existing and emerging evidence and failure to timely act could jeopardize an investigation. CI will operate at close to “normal” levels since federal courts, federal prosecutors and federal law enforcement partners are operating with business as usual.<\/p>\n

Nearly 5,000 IT-related workers will stay in place to ensure that taxpayer data is protected and that computer systems function appropriately.Additionally, about 15 employees will be needed to keep the IRS.gov website up and running. During the shutdown, taxpayers should still be able to access a number of online services, including filing tax returns and paying tax online.<\/p>\n

Finally, more than 10,000 Customer Service Representatives will remain in place to handle phones and paper service issues. It’s important to note that this is slated to happen only if a shutdown happens during filing season (during the 2013 government shutdown, customer service operations, including the call centers, stopped).<\/p>\n

Continuing Activities<\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s a look at some of the activities affecting taxpayers that would, according to the contingency plan, continue during the shutdown:<\/p>\n