The Tax Software We Deserve with Gabriel Zucker

04/06/23 • 42 min

With 2023’s tax deadline fast approaching, our thoughts turn once again to the peculiarities of America’s filing system. Instead of the IRS interacting directly with the public for annual tax preparation, private companies facilitate electronic filing in the United States, a service that is supposed to be provided to most Americans free of charge.

Yet while more than 70% of Americans qualify for free, software-guided tax filing, only 3% end up using it. This means that not only are many filers spending extra time and money when they shouldn’t have to, but they may also be missing out on government benefits and tax breaks to which they are entitled.

But that may soon change. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act directed $15 million to the IRS to study how they could design and implement their own free tax filing software and provide an alternative to the free file program. That report is due next month, but in the meantime, we’re going to take at look at what this IRS system could look like and how that might improve the way the IRS interacts with the public.

To help us do that, this week on the Buzz, we're joined by Gabriel Zucker, Associate Policy Director for Tax Benefits at Code for America. As a civic tech organization, they have plenty of experience thinking about and designing public sector tools to improve government services. And in this case, they’ve even designed a prototype to serve as a model for the IRS to, hopefully, emulate.
Resources:
GAO Free File Report
ProPublica's Investigation into Private Tax Prep Software
Code for America's Direct File Prototype
Code for America's Research on Simple Tax Filing

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Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound
(Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

Previous Episode

ICYMI: The Race to Secure Federal Cryptographic Systems

This week, The Buzz presents a recorded session from our 2023 Shared Services Summit, which took place on March 21st.
National Security Memoradum (NSM)-10, released last year, outlines the Administration's plans to remain ahead of cybersecurity threats posed by quantum computing systems. Federal agencies must begin to inventory their cryptographic systems and develop cost estimates for transitioning to quantum platforms. The scale of compliance activities is expected to be comparable to the Y2K compliance effort at the turn of the century, and the cost to be well beyond the capacity of most individual agencies to pay.
To address how shared services can help assist agencies to meet this challenge, summit Industry Chair Jylinda Johnson hosted a discussion with Dylan Presman, Director for Budget and Assessment at the Office of the National Cyber Director.

Next Episode

What's Next for DOJ IT with Melinda Rogers & Brian Wodarski

The Department of Justice – home to our nation’s most prominent law enforcement agencies (sorry Park Rangers) and US attorneys’ offices. With more than 40 separate component agencies and over 115,000 employees in all 50 states and worldwide, the DOJ requires an IT infrastructure to match its scale.

Enter the IT strategic plan. This document outlines the major priorities and strategies the department will employ to meet the needs of an evolving workforce and mission, with special attention paid to President Biden’s management agenda. The most recent plan is organized around 5 key priorities:

1. Enhance Service Delivery

2. Elevate Cybersecurity

3. Embrace Innovation

4. Expand the Workforce

5. Increase financial transparency

This week on the Buzz, we’re diving deeper into the 2022-2024 strategic plan with Melinda Rogers, the department’s Chief Information Officer, and Brian Wodarski, a partner at Guidehouse, who have worked closely with the DOJ for a number of years to advance their IT goals.
This episode of the Buzz is sponsored by Guidehouse. Learn more at guidehouse.com
Resources:
DOJ IT Strategic Plan 2022-2024