Along with ongoing technology modernization efforts – which include implementation of artificial intelligence and cloud-based technologies to streamline operations – IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said today that increasing the agency’s workforce to handle taxpayer demand remains a high priority.
Werfel discussed the need for the agency to invest heavily in its workforce during an online webinar hosted by GovExec on May 30.
“Even with all the automation and all the technology that we’re investing in to make taxpayers have a much more digital and easier experience, even with all of that, we still need about 6,000 or 7,000 more employees to make sure that we don’t have moments [where] we have 400 people showing up and can only serve 300,” said Werfel.
The agency’s technology investment efforts in recent years need to end up contributing to better taxpayer service by IRS employees, he said.
“We have to make sure the employees have the tools that they need to deliver on that mission of helping taxpayers and reducing that stress,” Werfel said. “So for the employees, it’s about hiring the right numbers because if you’re going at something that needs 20 people and you have five, that doesn’t work well.”
Werfel said that agency budget fluctuations in recent years have impacted workforce training, and ultimately, effectiveness.
“Without the workforce and without investing in that workforce, we’re not going to be successful,” Werfel said. “Investing in the people of the IRS is the right thing to do.”
“It’s also the smart thing to do, because we have big ambitions and big challenges,” the commissioner said. “And I can lay them out, I can create the vision, I can fight for resources, I can defend the agency when it’s publicly attacked … but none of the work can get done by me,” he said.
