The Internal Revenue Service has announced reforms to The Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities, or ACT. Following scandal in 2013 and a general criticism of a lack of efficiency, the government tax agency appears to be trying to modernize a quaint committee.
ACT is supposed to provide a public forum with the IRS for tax-exempt and government entities to discuss tax issues they feel are important. ACT members forward feedback to the IRS about current or proposed policies.
Now, according to the IRS, ACT is to better focus on general tax administration issues encountered by Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TE/GE). In the past ACT’s focus was designed to be more pigeonholed with five subcommittees.
The IRS is also reducing the number of persons on the committee from 21 to 15. They will do this by not filling six upcoming vacancies in June.
“It is a good time to review and revise ACT’s focus and better align it with what’s going on within the changing environment of TE/GE,” said TE/GE Commissioner Sunita Lough in a statement. “We will continue to consider more refinements of the ACT structure in coming months and potentially make more changes in 2017. We also remain committed to getting feedback and input from our stakeholders, both operationally within TE/GE and through the ACT.”
As part of ACT’s shift in priorities the IRS will also shift some of the committee’s legal work to its Office of Chief Counsel.
