Tax reform supporting resources

The IRS plans to renovate over one hundred of its computer systems as well as produce hundreds of new forms, instructional guides and publications to help with the administration of the new tax law, as per the spending plan published by the Wall Street Journal.  The new plan will require over 500 extra hours of work to integrate the many changes needed to establish the new system.

The new plan comes as the IRS has estimated an additional inflow of over 4 million phone calls to assist taxpayers with the new tax law, an increase of 17% from the prior fiscal year. The training of taxpayer-facing IRS employees will require about 40,000 hours, representing a cost of roughly $1.8 million, including the cost of training materials, review and interpretative advice for the IRS Chief Counsel.

For small businesses and professional tax preparers, the IRS plans to proactively reach out to provide a helping hand.  On any given year, the Internal Revenue Service may hold upwards of 1000 events to help educate the tax community.  As a result of the new tax reform, the agency expects a spike in the frequency of these outreach events.

CEO of Sigma Tax Pro, Mitch Elbarki adds “It is crucial that professional tax preparers register and participate in forums and educational events held by the IRS to become more active and responsible members of their tax community…this will only help tax offices be more prepared in answering any client or taxpayer questions, further differentiating themselves from less involved and less qualified tax preparation agencies.”  The IRS anticipates a 25-30% increase from the prior year in requests for in-person events.