Individual Master File

The Individual Master File (IMF) is the system currently used by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to store and process tax submissions and used as the main data input to process the IRS's transactions. It is a running record of all of a person's individual tax events including refunds, payments, penalties and tax payer status.[1] It is a batch-driven application that uses VSAM files.[2]

Written in assembly language and COBOL, the IMF was originally created by IBM for the IRS in the 1960s to run with an IBM System/360 and associated tape storage system. The IMF is frequently identified as a legacy system in need of modernization.

Description

The IMF stores an individual's name, taxpayer identification number, address, income, deductions, credits, payments received, refunds issued and taxes dismissed.[3]

The IMF stores over 100 million Americans individual taxpayers' data.[4]

The IMF application is a system consisting of a series of batch runs, data records and files. The IMF system receives individual tax submissions in electronic format and processes them through a pre-posting phase. It then posts and analyzes the transactions which produces output in the form of Refund Data, Notice Data, Reports and information feeds to other entities and departments.

Age

The IMF system began operation in the 1960s and is still used today,[5] and is considered well overdue for modernization.[6] Portions of the system are programmed in COBOL and others directly in assembly language. In a 2018 report to Congress, the Government Accountability Office identified the IMF and other IT systems at the IRS as "facing significant risks due to their reliance on legacy programming languages, outdated hardware, and a shortage of human resources with critical skills".[7]

The IMF and other legacy systems have been named as obstacles that prevent the IRS from acting quickly in exigent circumstances. In the weeks following the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, the IRS attempted to rapidly disburse tens of millions of one-time economic stimulus payments, requiring code changes to the IMF and the creation of an associated online interface for taxpayers to view and update their payment information. However, the effort was only partially successful as many taxpayers received the wrong payment amount or were unable to view their payment status.[8]

There have also been multiple hardware failures at key times,[9] including one which occurred on 17 April 2018 during the end of tax season.

Replacement

The Customer Account Data Engine (CADE) is intended to replace the IMF system in day-to-day use. Work on the original CADE was begun in 2000 and stopped in 2009. The original CADE is in active use; for instance, in 2009, it was used to process over 40 million tax returns.[10]

In 2009, work began on CADE 2, with an initial planned implementation date of 2014 for major functionality.[11] However, CADE 2's major functionality is not expected to be used until 2023 (as of 2021) and the full system is not expected to be implemented until 2030.[11][12]

See also

References
  1. J Reilly, Peter (April 8, 2012). "Stupid Is As Stupid Does - Tax Protesters And The Cheek Defense". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  2. "IMF details" (PDF). May 10, 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. "IRS privacy disclosure". IRS privacy disclosure. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  4. Boyd, Arron (April 19, 2018). "IRS' 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware". Netgov. Netgov. Archived from the original on May 5, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  5. "The taxman's tech troubles". TheBusiness of Federal Technology. April 8, 2016. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  6. Mihm, Stephen (April 17, 2018). "The IRS Really Needs Some New Computers". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Archived from the original on April 24, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  7. United States Government Accountability Office (June 28, 2018). IRS Needs to Take Additional Actions to Address Significant Risks to Tax Processing (Report). GAO-18-298. Archived from the original on August 1, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  8. Long, Heather; Stein, Jeff; Rein, Lisa; Romm, Tony (April 17, 2020). "Stimulus checks and other coronavirus relief hindered by dated technology and rocky government rollout". Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 19, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  9. Charette, Robert (April 30, 2018). "IRS Warned Congress of "Catastrophic System Failure" Six Months Before Tax Day Outage". spectrum.ieee. ieee. Archived from the original on May 3, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  10. "TIGTA Releases Audit Report on the IRS's Latest CADE Release". U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. September 15, 2009. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  11. U. S. Government Accountability Office (October 19, 2021). "Information Technology: Cost and Schedule Performance of Selected IRS Investments" (PDF). www.gao.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  12. Watchblog (November 4, 2021). "IRS's Efforts to Modernize 60-year-old Tax Processing System Is Almost a Decade Away". www.gao.gov. Government Accountability Office. Archived from the original on December 18, 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
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