According to a Bureau of National Affairs article (subscription) published today, the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Oversight Board publically released its recommendation on the FY 2011 budget this morning. Submitted to the House and Senate appropriations committees last month, the recommendation requests 2.2 percent more funding for the agency than President Obama proposed. The additional resources would go toward taxpayer services and operations support.

Have you recently tried calling the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to ask a question about your taxes? If you have, there's a good chance that the IRS never picked up. If you were lucky enough for your call to go through, you likely spent about 12 minutes on hold before you spoke to an IRS representative. National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson highlighted these and other problems faced by taxpayers when she testified at a hearing this afternoon in front of the Oversight Subcommittee of the House Committee on Ways and Means.

How much do you trust the fine folks at H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt to properly prepare your taxes? Soon you'll be able to trust them a lot more. According to a Washington Post article published today, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) "plans to test, register and screen people who get paid to prepare tax returns," as the agency seeks to "crack down on preparers who do shoddy or fraudulent work." The IRS will phase in the changes during the 2011 tax season.

With the House's clearance of the $447 billion omnibus spending bill on Thursday and the Senate expected to pass the same legislation this weekend, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is set to finally get that substantial boost in funding this year.