ms. olson: i personally don't think so. ms. maloney: if you were to move is itd with this program, necessary for congress to make a lot of contributions to the cost of it? olson: it will require some significant upfront costs. i couldn't give you an estimate right now. parts of it are in the president's budget proposal. because we have systems that are we're just very archaic in our systems, to pull off something like this and haven't really integrated will cost a lot of money. the total reengineering of the of the irs. made --bservation is future challenges require digital transformation at the irs and you state that the irs needs to transform its taxpayer services and compliance capabilities for the efficiency through digital tools. it has been reported that some of the irs systems date back to the kennedy administration. support theystems transformation you are talking about? but this will not happen overnight. theyrs needs to build if want to have an online presence, and online taxpayer service, they need to start iterating

so i would like to recognize you, ms. olson, for five minutes. olson: chairman meadows, ranking member plaskett, and distinguished members of this subcommittee, thank you for holding today's hearing of the national taxpayer advocates 2015 annual report to congress. in the report identified iran's future state plan as the number one most serious problem for taxpayers, and i will focus on that issue in my testimony today. i will start with a simple but foundational question. what is taxation about? to my mind, taxation involves taking money from one person and applying that taking to the greater good of many, if not all. that is an extraordinary thing to ask the people. a tax system depends on taxpayers being willing to offer up their hard earned or saved dollars and let the money be applied to everyone or someone else's benefit. so the central question in tax administration is, how do we promote that willingness? what does the tax administrator need to do to maintain and expand taxpayers willingness to pay their taxes? the answers to these question

so i would like to recognize you, ms. olson, for five minutes. >> chairman meadows, ranking member plaskett, and distinguished members of this subcommittee, thank you for holding today's hearing of the national taxpayer advocates 2015 annual report to congress. in the report identified iran's future state plan as the number one most serious problem for taxpayers, and i will focus on that issue in my testimony today. i will start with a simple but foundational question. what is taxation about? to my mind, taxation involves taking money from one person and applying that taking to the greater good of many, if not all. that is an extraordinary thing to ask the people. a tax system depends on taxpayers being willing to offer up their hard earned or saved dollars and let the money be applied to everyone or someone else's benefit. so the central question in tax administration is, how do we promote that willingness? what does the tax administrator need to do to maintain and expand taxpayers willingness to pay their taxes? the answers t

ms. olson, 2015 is the first year that they had to implement a number of measures tied to the affordable care act. for example, one of those being the employer shared responsibility. your report suggested that the irs doesn't know which employees are going to be responsible for evaluating employers so those employees will not have adequate training. let me ask you, what complexities will the irs employees face in determining which employers must pay the employer's share responsibly payment? >> i think there are a lot of questions about what employees are going to be included in some very complex calculations to determine who is covered, who should be covered and who isn't covered. the penalty is very stiff and very steep. we have heard from a lot of employers about the complexity and they have not been able to get answers in the way or speed they need to get them >> do you see any effort toward that direction a? >> i think people are trying. i think it's not as open as i would like. i also thin

on a personal note, i just won a say thank you ms. olson for coming to western north carolina to have a kate on behalf of the taxpayer advocate and to hear from so many. it was well received and it just shows they're going the extra mile to get that input. i'd also like to thank you for your dedication to protect the american tax player. this was on full display when you came to my district for the town hall but it was also interesting to see the other information that was helpful about tax and in ministration. as far as this year's annual report, i'd like to note that as we look to spend considerable time discussing the current state that is being developed by the irs, this plan will lead to a greater electronic tax in administration and online service for the irs. we obviously have a witness here from my home state of queensboro north carolina to talk on those issues. we want to make sure we have the responsibility to ensure that these are done in a safe secure manner that protect the information and rights of the taxpayer. i would welcom

so, ms. olson, you write in your report that this plan has been driven by a really important consideration, and that is the lack of appropriate funding and continual cutbacks to the operations of the irs. in your opinion, does the plan have the potential for making the agency more efficient in saving money for the future? >> i personaldy donly don't thi. i think it will create a lot of re-work for itself. >> and if you were to move forward with this program, is it important or is it necessary for congress to make a lot of contributions or contribute substantially to the cost of it? >> well, it's going to require some significant up-front cost, revamping whole systems. i really couldn't give you that estimate. i think parts of it are in the president's budget proposals, things like that. but it is, you know, just -- because we have systems that are still in cobalt, because we are just very archaic in our systems, to pull something off like this, to have it really an integrated system is going to cos