IRS Starts Spending Its $80 Billion Jackpot
The IRS has spent about $2 billion of the funds it received in the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in a report recently released.
About $721 million of the spending was for pay and benefits of IRS employees, mainly in the taxpayer services area. Another $720 million went to contractor advisory and assistance services, according to the report.
In addition to its Fiscal Year 2023 annual appropriation of $12.3 billion, the IRS received approximately $79.4 billion in supplemental funding when the President signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) into law in August 2022. However, in June 2023, the White House and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) agreed to rescind about a quarter of the funds.
The enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 resulted in the rescission of approximately $1.4 billion of IRA funding provided to the IRS. As well as the $1.4 billion rescission, the Administration agreed to reduce future IRS appropriations by approximately $20 billion. According to IRS officials, a decision has not been reached on which appropriation accounts this will impact.
