• Werfel worked for Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush before he joined Boston Consulting Group.
• If the Senate approves Werfel, he will be in charge of the plan to spend $80 billion on the IRS over the next 10 years.
• “In August, Yellen laid out the top priorities for the $80 billion in funding for the IRS.

The White House said that President Joe Biden plans to put Danny Werfel, a former budget official and leader in the private sector, in charge of the IRS as the agency gets ready for a makeover.

Werfel worked for Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush before he joined Boston Consulting Group. He was the acting commissioner of the IRS and the controller of the Office of Management and Budget.

If the Senate approves Werfel, he will be in charge of the plan to spend $80 billion on the IRS over the next 10 years. This plan was set up by the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in August.

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Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said in a statement, “After decades of not getting enough money, the IRS now has the money it needs to improve services for taxpayers and update old technology and infrastructure.”

She said, “Danny’s deep commitment to fairness and making sure government works for everyone will also be very helpful as we work to improve the experience of taxpayers and get rid of a two-tiered tax system.”

The former head of the IRS calls his new job a “challenging assignment.”

Biden’s nomination comes at a time when the agency needs help the most. After another hard filing season, the IRS still has a lot of work to do to catch up. The agency says that as of November 4, there were 4.2 million individual tax returns that hadn’t been processed yet this year.

In a blog post on Thursday, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins said, “When I look at the numbers, I see that millions of taxpayers are still waiting for their returns to be processed.” “Tax refunds are important for almost everyone and a lifeline for some people.”

Mark Everson, who used to work for the IRS and is now vice chairman at Alliantgroup, called it a “challenging assignment” and hoped that Congress would confirm him quickly.

Everson, who worked for the agency under President George W. Bush, said, “They need to get someone in place quickly because the services are still not good enough, there are big questions about data security, and the filing season is coming up fast.”

In August, Yellen laid out the top priorities for the $80 billion in funding for the IRS. These included getting rid of the backlog, improving customer service, revamping the agency’s technology systems, and hiring new IRS workers to replace those who were retiring.

Some Republicans don’t like how the IRS is getting more money, but Everson thinks the agency will be more open about its spending plans at future hearings.

He said, “Managing taxes has become too much of a political issue.” “I hope that [Werfel] will be able to tone that down a bit and just talk about what’s working, what’s not working, and what needs to be fixed.”

Charles Rettig’s time as IRS Commissioner comes to an end on Saturday.

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