IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the Senate Finance Committee that the IRS will not be ready to implement the private debt collector program by the March 4 deadline, according to CCH, a business law and tax publishing company. The measure was formally signed into law in December as part of a highway funding bill. It requires the IRS to enlist private debt collection agencies to pursue back taxes the service can't or won't go after. While the legislation mandated that the program be up and running within three months of its passage into law, the commissioner told the Finance Committee that this timeline was not realistic. It did promise that the IRS would take action as soon as possible, and will give the program every chance to succeed, said CCH.