In the wake of the announcement that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will use funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to employ 87,000 new agents to strengthen taxpayer enforcement efforts, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) is releasing comments regarding that funding. In a statement, AICPA president and CEO, Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA, addressed various false claims about militarization of the agency, and reinforced the need for a greater emphasis on service improvement:

“There are several concerns, as well as confusion and misinformation, regarding the new funding for the IRS, what that funding might be used for and what it might mean for the tax profession and taxpayers.

“In recent weeks, there have been several suggestions of a militarized IRS that could be misleading. While it is true that the IRS has a criminal investigation unit that looks into certain fraudulent tax violations such as money laundering, cybercrimes and organized crime involving drugs and gangs, recent claims of 87,000 new armed IRS agents to aid in enforcement are not rooted in fact. The fact is, there are only about 2,000 sworn special agents in the IRS’ criminal investigation unit, and these are the agents who are appropriately armed.

“Funding levels for the IRS has also generated some controversy and vocal opposition. The AICPA has always publicly advocated for funding that supports an effective and efficient tax administrative system, and we are pleased to see that Congress has...

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