IRSAC Expands to Cover More Areas of the IRS

The Internal Revenue Service Advisory Committee’s role will expand in 2019 to have a wider portfolio and incorporate two other advisory groups.

The expanded IRSAC will include areas currently covered by both the Information Reporting Program Advisory Committee (IRPAC) and the Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT). The combined advisory group will provide a more unified platform for representatives of the tax community and the IRS to discuss pressing issues in tax administration.

Last year, IRSAC encouraged the IRS to explore how the advisory committee can best serve the needs of tax administration. In addition, the IRS wanted to find a way to help streamline groups organized under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), an area that had not been reviewed in 30 years.

The IRS worked with current and former leaders of IRSAC and IRPAC as well as ACT to discuss the structure of the group. The three groups frequently had common overlapping issues – such as technology modernization and digital services – as well as members who had insight into wider tax administration issues beyond their individual advisory groups.

Following discussions, the group agreed that the new IRSAC would adjust its structure to focus on four subcommittees tracking the four IRS operating divisions: Wage and Investment, Small Business and Self Employed, Tax Exempt and Government Entities and Large Business and International. IRSAC will also continue looking at other areas at the IRS beyond those divisions.

“As a former chair of IRSAC, I’ve seen first-hand the value this committee brings to the IRS and the tax community,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “The new committee structure will provide the tax community a bigger, more prominent platform to make recommendations regarding taxpayer service, enhancements in enforcement and utilization of technology. This new structure will continue to provide an important voice for the information reporting and tax-exempt communities.”

Currently, there are approximately 50 members between the three groups. For the expanded IRSAC in 2019, there will be 36 members on the combined group. For the first year of the group, there will be three co-chairs for IRSAC – representing the incoming chairs from IRSAC, IRPAC and ACT. Beginning in 2020, there will be one chair.

The IRS had not made major changes to the advisory group process since the 1990s. IRSAC dates to 1953, when it was called the Commissioner’s Advisory Group. It was renamed IRSAC in 1998 to reflect the agency-wide focus.

Other IRS groups organized under FACA, including the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee, the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel and the Art Advisory Panel, are unaffected by this change. For more see the IRS Advisory Committees General Information page