IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel has a message for the high wealth tax cheats who wrongly deduct the cost of private jet flights on their taxes: pay your fair share so “others aren’t shouldering the burden of funding our government and its many critical activities,” he says.IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel poses for a photo in his office at the IRS headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, March 19, 2024.
But efforts to crack down on high-wealth tax cheats are starting to bite, he says, and that should mean more money coming in to fund the government. ”We are not,” he said. “We are hiring phone assisters armed only with phone headsets. We’re hiring accountants armed only with calculators.” The agency also is piloting a program for people to file their taxes directly to the agency without the help — or cost — of private commercial software.. The free online tool is available for people with very simple W-2s and who claim a standard deduction for their federal income taxes.
Werfel sat for an interview in an auditorium at the IRS headquarters in Washington, where he said sustained funding is critical to make up for past shortcomings. He said IRS workers are “passionate about helping taxpayers. And when we don’t have the funding to provide them the tools or the training, they’re upset because they can’t do enough to help the taxpayers.”