Carrying Out IRS Reforms Is Agency’s Top Goal Heading Into 2020

The Internal Revenue Service’s main focus heading into 2020 is implementing the Taxpayer First Act, a law intended to broadly redesign how the agency interacts with taxpayers, handles appeals, and deploys new technology.

The law (Pub. L. 116-25), signed in July, came more than two decades after the last comprehensive IRS overhaul legislation was signed. It mandates the creation of an independent Office of Appeals to resolve taxpayer disputes and requires the Treasury Department to provide Congress with a written plan for reorganizing the IRS by Sept. 30, 2020.

The agency launched a new office ...