The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.
Because of your interest in IRS timely intervention to help employers- particularly those with a small business--avoid the pyramiding of taxes, interest, and penalties, you asked us to review various aspects of IRS efforts to notify and intervene with employers concerning delinquent employment taxes. Accordingly, this report discusses (1) how long IRS takes to notify employers of employment tax delinquencies; (2) what types of intervention programs and initiatives IRS uses for employers with delinquent employment taxes and how IRS evaluates the effectiveness of these efforts; and (3) what new intervention programs or initiatives IRS is developing as part of its modernization efforts.