As CIO, Cosgrave is responsible for information systems at the IRS, with the Electronic Tax Administration, the group charged with expanding electronic filing, as his principle customer.

Addressing members of the Council for Electronic Revenue Communication Advancement at the group's annual fall meeting last week, Cosgrave highlighted IRS initiatives, many of which are near completion, that will impact tax and accounting professionals in the coming tax season.

While modernizing IRS technology, including updating its master file structure, is a top priority for the agency, it isn't the only thing the agency is focusing on, Cosgrave told members of CERCA, a non-profit group comprised of 60 member companies aimed at promoting the growth of electronic filing, in his discussion, "Managing Technology to Make E-filing Work."

This filing season, when extensions will be available electronically for the first time via TeleFile and e-filing, the agency will let people self-select their PIN number for e-filing, rather than assigning them, and the Electronic Funds Transfer and Payment System will be Internet-enabled. While the IRS currently collects about $2 trillion, or 80 percent of payments electronically, that amount comes from a small number of large corporations. The Internet-enabled EFTPS will help the agency focus on getting smaller payers to e-pay, Cosgrave said. He also noted that Form 8872, for Political Action Committee financial reporting, went online this summer.

In addition, Cosgrave noted that all 1040 forms and schedules, and many other forms, including forms 990, 940 and 941, will be able to be filed electronically by January 2002, and form 1120 is slated to be e-file enabled by 2003.

-- By Melissa Klein

Send comments to information@smartpros.com

Back to NewsLine