Tax Notes has a new article today (“IRS Staff Shortage to Hit Taxpayer Service, IT Work, Watchdog Says“), based on a new report from the Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration. The full report is here, and here is the intro to the Tax Notes piece:

Deep reductions in the IRS workforce will create challenges for the agency across all its operations, including taxpayer services and IT modernization, according to the agency’s watchdog.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, in an annual report on management challenges facing the IRS released October 27, said the 25 percent reduction in the agency’s staffing between January and May will make it harder to provide quality service to taxpayers next filing season and could hamper IT modernization efforts, among other hurdles.

“Despite numerous ongoing automation projects, the IRS still needs skilled and experienced employees to interpret tax law changes, investigate criminal activity, prevent fraudulent refunds, and implement complex coding changes for its information systems,” acting Inspector General Heather Hill wrote in the report, which was dated October 15.