The Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee is urging the Internal Revenue Service to take steps to provide greater e-file security and to increase return accuracy. Those were among the recommendations the committee delivered in its annual report to Congress. It also wants legislators to fully fund the Modernized eFile program before the IRS undertakes any technology initiatives.
ETAAC recommended that the IRS should require the implementation of designated security controls and require annual self-assessments for software providers. The latter, the committee elaborated, should be supplemented by independent third-party assessments every three years conducted by commercial third-party security experts. There should also be active monitoring and oversight of the ongoing conduct and effectiveness of the security programs implemented by the digital infrastructure of the Authorized IRS e-file Provider program.
In the area of increased return accuracy, ETAAC wants the agency to work with the industry to "improve the dependencies and interactions between IRS and software developers that most affect tax software accuracy." There should also be a program to identify tax software developer best practices and specific actions taken to lower the number of rejected returns.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind