U.S. Reps. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS), Jackie Walorski (R-IN) and Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) want the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to explain the cause and extent of the systems crash on tax day that prevented millions of Americans from filing their federal income taxes on time.
“While we were relieved that the IRS resumed operations of the impacted, electronic services by the end of tax day and provided a deadline extension to taxpayers, we would like to understand how this significant disruption of service transpired. Our hope is that this will not reoccur in the future,” wrote Rep. Jenkins, chairman of the U.S. House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, in an April 24 letter sent to David Kautter, acting commissioner of the IRS.
Along with Reps. Walorski and Curbelo, five other oversight subcommittee members signed the bipartisan letter voicing concern about the April 17 IRS network failure, including Ranking Member U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA).
Specifically, the members asked Kautter to respond to several questions, including what caused the technical issue, whether any taxpayers’ personal information was compromised, and how the IRS repaired the system failure, according to an April 24 statement released by oversight subcommittee staff.
The lawmakers also questioned whether the outage was purely the result of a hardware failure or if software issues also existed. They requested information about the age and source of the technologies that led to the outage and the involvement of any contractors. Additionally, they want to know about any other system functionalities that were impacted, internal contingency plans and procedures for addressing future incidents, how and when the crash was identified, and whether there are ongoing vulnerabilities, among other questions listed in the letter.
“Even before the tax day system failure, there was a significant trust gap between the IRS and the American people,” Congresswoman Walorski said. “The IRS needs to explain what went wrong and what it is doing to ensure it doesn’t happen again. I look forward to learning more and continuing to work toward bipartisan solutions to close the trust gap and fix the IRS so it always puts taxpayers first.”
In response to the systems crash, the IRS moved the tax day deadline to April 18, the same day the U.S. House of Representatives approved the bipartisan 21st Century IRS Act, H.R. 5445, which aims to modernize and enhance IRS information technology systems and taxpayer identity protection measures, among other provisions. Introduced on April 10 by U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop (R-MI), cosponsors of H.R. 5445 included U.S. Reps. James Renacci (R-OH), Curbelo, and Lewis.
H.R. 5445 also contains the IRS Information Technology Accountability Act, H.R. 5362, which Rep. Walorski introduced on March 21 to establish the position of the IRS Chief Information Officer (CIO) who will modernize and improve the management of IRS information technology, among specific duties. According to the congresswoman’s staff, the bill will help prevent delays and cost overruns by strengthening accountability measures and codifying the role and responsibilities of the CIO.
The IRS systems that failed on tax day included those that allow taxpayers who owe taxes to pay online without incurring fees or penalties and other online taxpayer services, including Where’s My Refund, according to the oversight subcommittee.
The lawmakers have requested that Kautter provide written responses to their questions by May 4.