The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has assessed the Internal Revenue Service’s modernization efforts and found that the agency lacks enterprise-wide plans for replacing legacy systems, Nextgov/FCW reported Wednesday.
The IRS uses resources the Inflation Reduction Act allocated for its digital modernization initiatives.
In May, it began testing a new processing engine that could replace the Individual Master File used for individual tax account data since the 1960s.
The agency has also explored using artificial intelligence to enhance taxpayer service, among other modernization efforts.
In a report, TIGTA acknowledged the IRS’s implementation of some of the 2020 recommendations for improving how it tracks outdated software and hardware but said it is not satisfied with how the agency executes the updating, replacing or retiring of legacy systems.
According to the document, the IRS identified 107 of 334 legacy systems as candidates for retirement but only two had specific plans for decommissioning.
TIGTA recommended reestablishing a Technology Retirement Office the IRS created in 2021 or setting up a similar program to address the issue.
Earlier in 2024, the Government Accountability Office criticized the IRS for lacking a detailed technology agenda and timelines for replacing legacy systems.
