TREASURY INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR TAX ADMINISTRATION

Office of Audit

Highlights

Independent Attestation Review of the Internal Revenue Service’s Fiscal Year 2017 Annual Accounting of Drug Control Funds and Related Performance

Final Report issued on January 18, 2018

Highlights of Reference Number:  2018-10-017 to the Internal Revenue Service Chief Financial Officer and Chief, Criminal Investigation.

IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS

TIGTA reviewed the assertions in the IRS’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Detailed Accounting Submission and Performance Summary Report for Fiscal Year 2017.  IRS management is responsible for preparing the report.

The IRS supports the National Drug Control Strategy through its continued support of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.  Complete and reliable financial and performance information is critical to the IRS’s ability to accurately report on the results of its operations to both internal and external stakeholders, including taxpayers.

WHY TIGTA DID THE AUDIT

This review was conducted as required by the ONDCP and ONDCP Circular:  Accounting of Drug Control Funding and Performance Summary, dated January 18, 2013.  The National Drug Control Program agencies are required to submit to the Director of the ONDCP, not later than February 1 of each year, a detailed accounting of all funds expended (the ONDCP Circular requires amounts obligated) during the previous fiscal year.  Agencies also need to identify and document performance measures that show the results associated with these expenditures.  Further, the ONDCP Circular requires that each report be provided to the agency’s Inspector General for the purpose of expressing a conclusion about the reliability of each assertion made in the report prior to its submission.

WHAT TIGTA FOUND

TIGTA previously recommended that the IRS set performance goals that are consistent with its documented methodology and are clearly explained.  TIGTA found that the IRS addressed this recommendation for the Fiscal Year 2018 performance goals reported in the Fiscal Year 2017 submission.  These performance goals are consistent with the IRS’s documented methodology, which uses a newly implemented five-year average of prior performance results, and are clearly explained in the submission. 

However, the Fiscal Year 2017 performance goals that were first reported in the Fiscal Year 2016 submission were not updated.  TIGTA previously reported in January 2017 that the IRS did not update its reported performance goals for Fiscal Year 2017 to reflect its own documented methodology, which required the goals to be based on an average of the actual performance results achieved over the three prior fiscal years.  The IRS advised us that updating the previously reported Fiscal Year 2017 goals was not feasible. 

Otherwise, based on our review, nothing came to our attention that caused us to believe that the assertions in the IRS’s Detailed Accounting Submission and Performance Summary Report are not fairly presented in all material respects in accordance with the ONDCP’s established criteria.

WHAT TIGTA RECOMMENDED

TIGTA made no recommendations as a result of the work performed during this review.  However, IRS officials reviewed this report and agreed with the facts and conclusions presented.

 

READ THE FULL REPORT

To view the report, including the scope, methodology, and full IRS response, go to:

http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2018reports/201810017fr.pdf.