Federal tax collector’s enhanced ability to identify tax delinquents comes from resources provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.
The IRS is showcasing its new capability to aggressively audit high-income tax dodgers as it makes the case for sustained funding and tries to avert budget cuts sought by Republicans who want to gut the agency.
IRS leaders said they collected $38 million in delinquent taxes from more than 175 high-income taxpayers in the past few months.
In one case, an individual had used money owed to the government to buy a Maserati and a Bentley, and roughly 100 high-income individuals attempted to get favorable tax treatment through Puerto Rico without meeting certain tax requirements. Many of those cases are expected to face criminal investigation.
“It just shows you how much money is out there in delinquent taxes, and there are so many more cases for us to tackle,” said new IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, just four months into the job. “There’s just a significant opportunity there.”
The agency did not provide figures for how those high-dollar tax collections compared with previous years.
Werfel, in a call with reporters on Thursday, said the federal tax collector’s enhanced ability to identify tax delinquents comes from resources provided by the Inflation Reduction Act passed last August by Democrats.
The agency was in line for an $80 billion infusion of funds under the law but that money is vulnerable to potential cutbacks.
House Republicans built a $1.4 billion reduction to the IRS into the debt ceiling and budget cuts package passed by Congress earlier this summer.
