An April 28 report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) said the IRS should continue its sweeps that help the tax agency identify individuals in the high-income category who are not paying taxes. TIGTA said that IRS management was agreeable to all of its recommendations.

In April 2023, the IRS published its Inflation Reduction Act Strategic Operating Plan, which outlined five objectives to be done via a series of initiatives and projects. One of the objectives was to expand enforcement on taxpayers who have complicated tax filings as well as high-dollar noncompliance to address the Tax Gap.

According to TIGTA, one way the IRS addresses noncompliance is via a Revenue Officer Compliance Sweep. These sweeps are a strategy utilized by Field Collection, which partners with the IRS to support the agency's compliance initiatives.

The sweeps also address a rise in unassigned high priority inventory in an understaffed location while supporting compliance initiatives such as egregious employment tax cases, among others. The audit's general objective is to find out about the efficiency and effectiveness of revenue officer compliance sweeps on high income delinquent nonfilers.

The tax agency set goals as well as initiatives by expanding these sweeps and increasingly focusing on high-income individuals, providing added resources for communities where there is a lack of IRS presence.

In its conclusion, TIGTA said that the IRS should continue to identify as well as perform sweeps of all types such as  assessments of high-risk geographical areas as well as issue-based sweeps.

TIGTA added that the IRS should regularly review sweeps data to identify and correct errors and to make sure that it is accurate and complete prior to utilizing it for management reporting while capturing more information in the tracking spreadsheet so management can better assess each sweep's productivity.

The IRS should also cover information including the delinquent tax return modules that were secured, whether any of the returns had tax assessments and the outcome of specific collection initiatives. The IRS must also remind all levels of management of the sweeps desk guide procedures and offer refresher training on their responsibilities in the sweeps process.