TIGTA: IRS Rehired Employees with Substantial Conduct Issues

Statement

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today highlighted a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) which found that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rehired hundreds of employees with performance and conduct issues. The inspector general found that between January 2010 and September 2013, of the more than 7,000 former employees hired by the IRS, 824 of those employees, or 11 percent, had prior substantiated employment issues.

"As if asking for a budget increase while still awarding bonuses to IRS employees that owe back taxes wasn't rich enough, today we learn the IRS spent federal funds to rehire those with known, and often serious, employment problems," Hatch said. "IRS employees must be held to high standards to ensure that taxpayers are protected, and there is no reason to hire employees who have already failed to uphold those expectations. Sadly, such double standards often fall on the backs of hard-working taxpayers. I look forward to working with the Commissioner to ensure that the IRS takes measures to prevent these practices from continuing in the future."

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