The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration produce a report on trends in compliance activities through 2012. The report states:

“During Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012, the Internal Revenue Service encountered challenges that included administering recent legislative changes within an environment of decreasing resources. For example, approximately 50 of the 500 Affordable Care Act provisions add to or amend the Internal Revenue Code. At the same time, the IRS operated under a continuing resolution for Fiscal Year 2012 that funded it at a little more than $11.8 billion, which is a 2.7 percent reduction since Fiscal Year 2010.”

We all know that many Revenue or Collections Agents and Officers can appear over zealous but there are good and bad people in all walks of life. My heart really goes out to some of these people working at the IRS as the report goes on to state, “Since Fiscal Year 2010, approximately 8,000 full-time IRS positions have been lost—about 5,000 from front‑line enforcement personnel. In addition to offering early retirements and buyouts, IRS records indicate that more than one-third of executives and nearly 20 percent of non-executive managers are currently eligible for retirement.”

As a result the report concludes that, “Enforcement revenue collected declined by 9 percent in Fiscal Year 2012, from $55.2 billion to $50.2 billion. This has decreased in two straight years and is 13 percent less than the $57.6 billion collected in Fiscal Year 2010. The 13 percent reduction in enforcement revenue correlates to the 14 percent reduction in the number of enforcement personnel.” Read More