Sponsors
The bill builds IRS analytic capacity and workforce skills to improve tax compliance and recover revenue, but increases enforcement activity, personnel costs, and risks to privacy and equitable treatment unless accompanied by strong oversight, transparency, and model governance.
Taxpayers: The bill strengthens IRS analytic tools to better target high‑risk noncompliance, which can reduce unfair audits of low‑risk filers while increasing recovery of unpaid taxes.
Federal employees: The fellowship program provides training, mentorship, and a pathway to permanent IRS roles that build data‑analytics skills and may improve recruitment and retention of specialized staff.
Taxpayers and Congress: Requiring annual ROI and program data gives Congress oversight and accountability over IRS analytic investments, improving transparency of government spending and program performance.
Taxpayers: Enhanced analytics could lead to more audits and collection activity if the tools identify additional tax liabilities, increasing compliance costs, assessments, or penalties for many filers.
Individuals and firms: Use of advanced analytics and AI in enforcement raises privacy and surveillance concerns if models and data use lack transparency, safeguards, or clear limits.
Taxpayers: Concentrating analytic decision‑making risks model errors or bias that could disproportionately impact certain taxpayers absent rigorous validation, testing, and redress mechanisms.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Creates an IRS fellowship to hire at least 10 data scientists for 2–4 year terms to improve audit selection, analytics, and enforcement, with annual ROI reporting to Congress.
Introduced March 18, 2026 by David Schweikert · Last progress March 18, 2026
Creates a new IRS fellowship program to recruit at least 10 data scientists and related tax professionals on 2–4 year terms (with optional 1‑year extensions) to strengthen audit selection, analytics, and enforcement, including offshore and international enforcement work. Fellows may be converted to permanent employees; pay is set between the GS‑15 minimum and the executive pay cap; the IRS must issue implementing rules and report to Congress annually on program outcomes and return on investment.