What Happened When the IRS Got Audited

Obsolete software. Archaic code. Tech so old it makes the typical member of Congress look young. The IRS has an IT problem.

By Ben Cohen of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"33% of the custom-built software applications critical to the agency’s operations counted as “legacy IT,” which means they relied on archaic code or tech so old that it makes the typical member of Congress look young."

"right now it’s closer in age to the Apollo space program than Apple products."

"IT complications usually come down to having too much information or not enough technology. The IRS suffers from both. 

The agency doesn’t function like a bank or credit-card company, where the person you call on a toll-free line instantly pulls up your account. It can’t. There is no single point of access for every specific piece of data about individual taxpayers. Even the “Where’s My Refund” tracker has a hard time answering that very question, since the disparate parts of the IRS’s patchwork system are incapable of working together. “There are 60 different case-management systems throughout the IRS,” said Nina Olson, the former national taxpayer advocate, “and they don’t all talk to one another.”"

"There were hundreds of IRS applications that have been around for at least 25 years and dozens that have been in existence for more than 50. There were also pieces of software running 15 updates behind the current version"

"Even the most important application used by the IRS requires employees to be fluent in a programming language no longer taught in schools."

"fewer people every year have the niche expertise to keep the agency’s essential systems working properly."