Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration 2026-108-017 (Current and Former IRS Employees Owe Millions in Student Loan Repayment Benefits)
Summary
Final Audit Report 2026-108-017 of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, issued April 1, 2026, assesses the effectiveness of controls over the IRS employee Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP), which received supplemental funding from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The report states that from the program's inception in Calendar Year 2023, the IRS repaid student loans totaling over $86.5 million for nearly 8,000 employees. It states that in July 2025 SLRP personnel identified more than 1,000 employees who owe approximately $8.2 million because they did not comply with some condition of their service agreement, and that the IRS waited nearly two years to initiate steps to collect the debt from some employees. TIGTA made five recommendations, and IRS management agreed with all five.
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TREASURY INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR TAX ADMINISTRATION
Current and Former IRS Employees Owe
Millions in Student Loan Repayment Benefits
April 1, 2026
Report Number: 2026-108-017
This report remains the property of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) and may not be disseminated
beyond the Internal Revenue Service without the permission of. TIGTA. This report may contain confidential return information
protected from disclosure pursuant to I.R.C. § 6103(a). Such information may be disclosed only to Department of the Treasury
TIGTACommunications@tigta.treas.gov
employees who have a need to know this information in connection|with their
www.tigta.gov
official tax administration duties.
1
TIGTACommunications@tigta.treas.gov | www.tigta.gov
HIGHLIGHTS: Current and Former IRS Employees
Owe Millions in Student Loan Repayment Benefits
Final Audit Report issued on April 1, 2026 Report Number 2026-108-017
Why TIGTA Did This Audit What TIGTA Found
The IRS is authorized by law to In July 2025, SLRP personnel identified more than 1,000 employees
establish a student loan repayment who owe approximately $8.2 million because they did not comply
program to recruit or retain highly with some condition of their service agreement (e.g., the employee
qualified personnel. The IRS received left the IRS before working the three-year commitment). To collect
supplemental funding from the the debt, the IRS must first establish the debt in coordination with
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and appropriate federal agencies (e.g., the IRS’s payroll processing
used some of these funds for its center). However, the IRS waited nearly two years to initiate steps to
Student Loan Repayment Program collect the debt from some employees.
(SLRP).
If a student loan is repaid by the government, the amount repaid is
This audit assessed the effectiveness considered taxable income. According to IRS management, debts
of controls over the employee SLRP. were not originally established for employees because of concerns
that it would impact the taxable income reported on their W-2, Wage
Impact on Tax Administration
and Tax Statement. However, the IRS could have issued corrected
Approval for the SLRP benefit is W-2’s, if necessary.
contingent on employees committing
During August and September 2025, the IRS established
to continue working for the IRS for
approximately $4.8 million in debt for 542 employees who did not
three years. This program benefits the
comply with their service agreement. Approximately $3 million in
IRS by retaining highly qualified
debt for 399 employees still has not been established, and
employees by reducing their student
approximately $400,000 was resolved. In addition, the IRS waived
loan debts.
nearly $10.6 million in unestablished debt for nearly 1,000 employees
The IRS developed the SLRP and that separated because of the Deferred Resignation Program.
determined participants’ eligibility.
In addition, the IRS has not extended the service agreements for 9 of
From its inception in
the 75 employees in our statistical sample who were in a non-pay
Calendar Year 2023, the IRS repaid
status. According to SLRP personnel, there is no formal internal
student loans totaling over
guidance that describes adjusting the service agreement. However,
$86.5 million for nearly
the service agreement and interim guidance provide details on the
8,000 employees (an average of
impact of leave without pay and other non-pay status. In
nearly $11,000 per employee).
August 2025, the IRS began updating the SLRP Desk Guide to include
Though the future of the SLRP is information on how to calculate service agreement extensions, and
uncertain, it is critical that oversight when applicable, how the service agreements will be extended.
continues as any funds returned to
If the IRS does not establish clear procedures to enforce the service
the IRS through repaid student loan
agreement and debt policy, employees who committed to stay with
benefits could be used to fund other
the IRS may leave without repaying their loan benefit back to the IRS.
IRS program improvements.
What TIGTA Recommended
We made five recommendations including that the IRS establish debt
for the employees we identified who did not comply with their
service agreement; develop procedures to identify additional
employees that do not comply with their service agreement; and
extend service agreements for the employees we identified who had
a period of non-pay status.
IRS management agreed with all five recommendations.
Treasury Inspector General for tax administration seal.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20024
TREASURY INSPECTOR GENERAL
FOR TAX ADMINISTRATION
April 1, 2026
MEMORANDUM FOR: COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE
FROM: Diana M. Tengesdal
Deputy Inspector General for Audit
SUBJECT: Final Audit Report – Current and Former IRS Employees Owe Millions in
Student Loan Repayment Benefits (Audit No.: 2025108003)
This report presents the results of our review of to assess the effectiveness of controls over the
employee Student Loan Repayment Program. This review was part of our Fiscal Year 2025
Annual Audit Plan and addresses the major management and performance challenge of
Managing a Reduced Workforce and Budget.
Management’s complete response to the draft report is included as Appendix III. If you have any
questions, please contact me or Kasey J. Koontz, Acting Assistant Inspector General for Audit
(Taxpayer Services and Operational Support).
Current and Former IRS Employees Owe
Millions in Student Loan Repayment Benefits
Table of Contents
Background .....................................................................................................................................Page 1
Results of Review .......................................................................................................................Page 3
Delayed Action Led to Not Timely Establishing Millions of Dollars
in Employee Debt.................................................................................................................Page 3
Recommendations 1 through 3: ................................................... Page 6
Recommendation 4: ........................................................................... Page 7
Some Employees’ Work Commitment Periods Need to Be
Extended..................................................................................................................................Page 7
Recommendation 5: ........................................................................... Page 8
Appendices
Appendix I – Detailed Objective, Scope, and Methodology................................Page 9
Appendix II – Outcome Measure ...................................................................................Page 11
Appendix III – Management’s Response to the Draft Report .............................Page 12
Appendix IV – Abbreviations ...........................................................................................Page 16
Current and Former IRS Employees Owe
Millions in Student Loan Repayment Benefits
Background
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is authorized by law to establish a student loan repayment
program to recruit or retain highly qualified personnel.1 The IRS established its Student Loan
Repayment Program (SLRP) in Calendar Year (CY) 2023, and a portion of the funding from the
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) was allotted for repayment of student loans for IRS
employees.2 From September 2023 through January 2025, over $86.5 million in SLRP benefits
were paid out to nearly 8,000 approved employees (an average of nearly $11,000 per employee).
Payments made by the SLRP are subject to the availability of funds, paid directly to the lender,
and limited to a maximum of $10,000 per year, not to exceed $60,000 for any one employee.
Employees must enroll from March 1 through March 30 each year. Payments are processed
annually for each approved employee, and the employee must reapply each subsequent year.
To be eligible for the SLRP, an IRS employee must:
· Be identified as highly qualified.3
· Have a current performance appraisal of Fully Successful or higher.
· Have a qualifying student loan in the employee’s name that was taken out before
applying for the SLRP.
· Pass a misconduct and tax compliance screening.4
The Human Resources Shared Services (HRSS) Division within the Human Capital Office (HCO) is
responsible for administering the SLRP. Throughout CY 2024, HRSS management updated its
interim guidance, including a draft standard operating policy and desk guide to include the
SLRP requirements listed above. The CY 2025 enrollment was postponed due to lack of funding,
and HCO management is uncertain of the program’s future.
The application for the SLRP includes a service agreement that requires the employee to
complete a minimum of three years of continued service with the IRS. Since the program began
in September 2023, the earliest a service agreement will conclude is in September 2026. In
addition, SLRP personnel must extend the service agreement for periods when the employee
enters a non-pay status, such as absent without leave, leave without pay, or suspension.
Employees who do not complete the required service agreement period because they leave the
IRS voluntarily or are separated for misconduct, unacceptable performance, or a negative
suitability determination, must reimburse the IRS for the total amount of any SLRP benefits they
received. However, the Commissioner of the IRS or a designee may waive an employee’s debt,
either partially or fully.
1
5 U.S.C. § 5379.
2
Pub. L. No. 117-169, 136 Stat. 1818.
3
Employees complete Form 15431, Student Loan Repayment Justification, to describe how they are highly qualified,
and the employee’s immediate and second-level managers must agree with the statement and sign the form with
their approval.
4
Tax and misconduct screenings are only completed when an employee applies for SLRP benefits and include only
the one-year period preceding the application.
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Current and Former IRS Employees Owe
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The National Finance Center (NFC) Special Payment Processing System (hereafter referred to as
NFC payment system), is used to make SLRP benefit payments directly to the applicable lender.
Employees have 60 business days from the date the lender receives the SLRP payment to
provide payment verification from the lender to the SLRP office. The payment verification is used
to confirm that the lender received the correct payment amount, and to identify any potential
loan overpayments. It must include a payment history showing that the specific loan balance
was reduced by the amount paid by the SLRP and the current loan balance after payment of
benefits. If the SLRP benefit payment resulted in a loan overpayment, the employee must refund
that amount back to the IRS within 60 calendar days.
HRSS employees perform the following SLRP duties:
· Reviewing applications for completeness, which includes reviewing required signatures
on IRS Form 15430, IRS Student Loan Repayment Program Service Agreement and IRS
Form 15431, Student Loan Repayment Justification.
· Ensuring that employee loans qualify for repayment.
· Requesting misconduct and tax compliance screenings to determine whether employees
were suspended for 14 days or more within 12 months of applying for the program or
have an in-process tax compliance case, which would make them ineligible in the year
pending its resolution.
· Providing the reason when an application is denied.
· Confirming the availability of funds, ensuring that requests do not exceed $10,000 per
year, and logging payments in the NFC payment system for processing by the NFC.
· Monitoring when the employee submits their payment verification.
· Monitoring employee separations, periods in a non-pay status, and any refunds due to
the IRS from applicable loan overpayments.
· Establishing debt for employees who do not comply with the terms of their service
agreement.
To establish debt for employees who are still employed by the IRS, SLRP personnel complete an
account receivable request and send it to the IRS Payroll Center to administer the collection. If
the debt is not paid by the date established on the IRS debt letter, personnel within the Office of
the Chief Financial Officer will refer the debt to the NFC for collection in the form of a salary
offset. The NFC administers the debt collection process for employees who have left the IRS.5
The debt must then be referred to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service before it becomes more than
120 calendar days delinquent.6 The Bureau of the Fiscal Service administers the Treasury Offset
Program as one method to collect delinquent non-tax debts for federal agencies.
The SLRP office maintains an internal website with regulatory and interim guidance for
determining eligibility and for monitoring the status of applicants. The site also includes
documents uploaded by employees applying for benefits such as their loan history, payment
verifications, and completed IRS Forms 15430 and 15431.
5
The NFC provides centralized, automated, integrated systems and support services for payroll, personnel,
administrative payments, accounts receivable, property management, budget, and accounting activities.
6
The Bureau of the Fiscal Service collects revenue and delinquent debt.
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The IRS waived debts owed by employees who accepted the Deferred Resignation
Program
Since January 2025, the IRS has reduced the size of its workforce to comply with the President’s
executive orders and Office of Personnel Management guidance. The National Taxpayer
Advocate reported that between January 2025 and December 2025, the number of IRS
employees decreased from more than 102,000 to about 74,000 (27 percent).7 These employees
either separated or accepted a Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) offer or another incentive to
leave. Based on Office of Personnel Management guidance, the IRS waived any debts owed by
employees who accepted the DRP offer.
Results of Review
SLRP personnel accurately determined program eligibility by reviewing performance standards,
obtaining tax and misconduct screenings, and by assessing applications for completeness before
approving SLRP benefits. However, SLRP personnel did not establish debt when employees
failed to verify loan payments or left the IRS before completing their service agreement period.
In addition, HRSS has not established procedures for how often SLRP personnel will review the
non-pay status of approved employees, or complete calculations to extend impacted service
agreements.
Delayed Action Led to Not Timely Establishing Millions of Dollars in Employee
Debt
Although SLRP personnel identified 1,002 employees owing approximately $8.2 million for
violating their service agreement, the IRS waited nearly two years to initiate steps to collect the
debt from some of those employees. This included employees who voluntarily separated from
the IRS, did not verify that their lender received payment, submitted incorrect information to
verify that payment was received, or did not return a loan overpayment. Figure 1 presents the
breakdown of these categories and the amounts owed by the 1,002 employees, as of July 2025.
7
Taxpayer Advocate Service, 2025 Annual Report to Congress (January 2026).
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Current and Former IRS Employees Owe
Millions in Student Loan Repayment Benefits
Figure 1: As of July 2025, the IRS Had Not Established
$8.2M Worth of Student Loan Repayment Debt
Category Total Employees Total Debt
Loan Overpayments – The loan balance was overpaid
because the balance decreased before the SLRP 205 $1.3M*
payment was made.
Payment Verification Issue – The employee provided no
585 $4.8M
documentation or incorrect documentation.
Separated – The employee left the IRS before
completion of their service agreement period (this does 212 $2.0M
not include employees that took the DRP).
Total 1,002 $8.2M
* The amount of unestablished debt related to individual loan overpayments is overstated. SLRP personnel
included the full amount of the benefit as an overpayment rather than the actual difference owed.
Source: SLRP tracking list as of July 2025. Figures may not add up due to rounding. M = Millions.
According to IRS records, during August and September 2025, the IRS established
approximately $4.8 million in debt for 542 of the 1,002 employees that did not comply with their
SLRP service agreement. This included approximately $2.5 million in debt established for
261 employees that separated before the completion of their service agreement, and
approximately $2.3 million in debt established for 281 IRS employees that did not submit
payment verification. As of November 2025, approximately $3 million in debt for 399 employees
still has not been established, and approximately $400,000 was resolved.8 Figure 2 shows the
amount of established debt and the remaining amount of unestablished debt by category as of
November 2025.
Figure 2: As of November 2025, the IRS Started to Establish Debt; However,
$3M Remains Unestablished
Number of Number of Employees
Established Unestablished
Category Employees with with Unestablished
Debt Debt
Established Debt Debt
Loan Overpayments 0 $0 163 $1.1M
Payment
281 $2.3M 236 $1.9M
Verification Issue
Separated 261 $2.5M 0 $0
Total 542 $4.8M 399 $3.0M
9
Source: SLRP tracking list as of November 2025.
Title 5 C.F.R., Part 537, states that debt can be established for employees who separate, either
voluntarily or involuntarily, before completing their service agreement, or if the employee does
not comply with any other condition of their service agreement that triggers a requirement for
8
Debt was resolved when an employee no longer owed a debt, based on funds repaid, or because the status of their
verification was changed to complete.
9
The SLRP tracking list is live data stored on the IRS’s intranet, so the totals in the unestablished debt categories can
change whenever an update is made. Therefore, the amounts in Figure 2 will not reconcile to the status of debt
presented in Figure 1.
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Current and Former IRS Employees Owe
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reimbursement. This requirement is incorporated into the SLRP service agreement, which
informs applicant employees that the IRS may establish debt for violating the service agreement.
If a student loan is repaid by the government, the amount repaid is considered taxable income.
According to HCO management, debts were not originally established for employees because of
concerns that it would impact the taxable income reported on their W-2, Wage and Tax
Statement. However, the IRS could have issued corrected W-2’s, if necessary. For the employees
with missing or incorrect payment verification documentation, SLRP personnel sent out a final
notice to employees in April 2025 requesting supporting documentation within 12 calendar
days. SLRP personnel then updated the status of non-responsive employees to indicate that a
debt will be established. According to HRSS management, when the IRS established debts in the
past, the HCO Debt Management team typically worked with individual employees to find a
resolution. If an employee’s debt is resolved, debt will not be established.
In addition, HRSS management stated that any employee who has a debt established can follow
the procedures for requesting a debt waiver.10 The HCO Debt Management team will then
consider the employee’s explanation and decide whether to waive a debt. For example, the
employee may communicate extenuating circumstances that prevented them from successfully
fulfilling the terms of the service agreement.
Loan overpayments
Loan overpayments occurred in instances where SLRP payments were sent out months after the
initial application, and employees continued to make payments on their student loans, reducing
the balance from what it was when they initially applied for the program. They also occurred
because some employees received loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Program.11
Furthermore, the amount of unestablished debt for individual loan overpayments is overstated
on the SLRP internal tracking list. SLRP personnel included the full amount of the benefit as loan
overpayment rather than the actual difference owed. This practice could lead to an
overassessment once debts are established. The following is a hypothetical example of how loan
overpayments can occur:
An employee applied for $5,000 of SLRP benefits for their outstanding student loan. The
employee continued making monthly loan payments totaling $500 before the SLRP
benefits were approved and disbursed. The IRS paid $5,000 directly to the loan servicer.
As a result, the employee owed a debt of $500 to the IRS, the amount of the
overpayment. When the employee submitted their payment verification, it showed a
credit balance for the $500. SLRP personnel recorded the full $5,000 as debt on its
internal tracking list instead of the actual debt amount of $500.
Payment verification issues
SLRP personnel identified employees who either failed to provide current payment history for
verification or submitted inadequate payment history documentation. According to the SLRP
service agreement, employees have 60 business days from the date the lender receives payment
10
Debts cannot be waived for an individual until a debt is established.
11
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program forgives qualifying student loans for employees of a government or
qualifying not-for-profit organization.
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to verify the amount applied to the student loan, or a debt will be established. For the payment
history to be considered complete it needs to include the student loan number that was in the
original SLRP application, the amount paid by the SLRP, and the current loan balance. Without
the payment verification, the IRS cannot confirm whether these payments were correctly applied.
As shown in Figure 2, SLRP personnel have not established approximately $1.9 million in debt
for 236 employees. Those funds should be returned to the IRS, as required.
Separated employees
The IRS has established debt for all 261 IRS employees that separated before the completion of
their service agreement. This included an employee who left in September 2023 but was paid
their SLRP benefit in November 2023. SLRP personnel did not recognize that the employee had
separated until June 2024 because separation reports are obtained on an ad-hoc basis.
Waived debt
The IRS may waive all or part of an employee's debt at the discretion of the Commissioner. As of
November 2025, and consistent with Office of Personnel Management guidance, the IRS waived
nearly $10.6 million in unestablished SLRP debt for nearly 1,000 employees that separated
because of the DRP. Of the nearly 1,000 employees, 109 (11 percent) did not comply with the
SLRP requirements by not providing loan payment verification documentation. The remaining
890 employees (89 percent) verified payment of their loans. If they were still employed with the
IRS, these employees would have been tracked normally to ensure the completion of their
minimum of three years of employment as outlined in their service agreement. Had debt been
established timely for the 109 employees, approximately $877,000 may have been returned to
the IRS before the employees separated.
The IRS Chief Human Capital Officer should:
Recommendation 1: Establish debt for the 399 employees that did not comply with the terms
of their service agreement.
Management’s Response: HCO management agreed with this recommendation and
will establish debts for any of the 399 employees who are not in compliance with their
service agreement.
Recommendation 2: Develop procedures to ensure that SLRP personnel promptly identify
employees that do not comply with the terms of their service agreement and establish debts as
necessary.
Management’s Response: HCO management agreed with this recommendation and
will develop procedures to ensure that employees are held accountable for violating
their service agreement and that any resulting debts are established timely.
Recommendation 3: Develop procedures to obtain an updated loan balance if there is a delay
in payment beyond 45 days from the date of application.
Management’s Response: HCO management agreed with this recommendation and
will develop a procedure to obtain an updated loan balance beyond 45 days of
application.
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Recommendation 4: Develop procedures to obtain separation reports on a recurring basis to
identify employees that have separated and ensure that debt is established timely.
Management’s Response: HCO management agreed with this recommendation and
will develop and implement procedures to obtain monthly separation reports to ensure
that debt is timely established, and update SLRP program guidance to include these
procedures.
Some Employees’ Work Commitment Periods Need to Be Extended
SLRP personnel have not extended the service agreements for employees that entered into
non-pay status. We reviewed a statistically valid stratified sample of 75 employees from a
population of 9,675 SLRP applications approved in CYs 2023 and 2024. We determined that
9 of the 75 employees (12 percent) entered into a non-pay status as of December 2024, and
none of their service agreements have been updated.12 The time spent in a non-pay status
ranged from 0.5 hours to 640 hours (almost 4 months) and included reasons such as absent
without leave, leave without pay, and suspension, based on a review of the IRS’s timekeeping
system. The remaining 66 employees either had no time in a non-pay status, or their non-pay
status was the result of involuntary leave or workers’ compensation leave.13
According to SLRP personnel, while there is no Internal Revenue Manual section that describes
adjusting the service agreement, the service agreement and interim guidance provide details on
the impact of leave without pay and other non-pay status. These resources state that the service
agreement period will be extended by the number of days that an employee is in a non-pay
status. According to the Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government, management
should document in their policies the internal control responsibilities of the organization.14
However, HRSS has not formalized an Internal Revenue Manual section that includes their
interim guidance, desk policies and procedures, and regulatory requirements.
The IRS should update the SLRP instructions, desk guidance, policy, procedures, and regulatory
requirements. The SLRP reduced their staff from eight employees in October 2024 to three as of
July 2025. As a result, there is an increased need for clear and detailed instructions. Specifically,
HRSS should update interim guidance to formalize the plan to review and update service
agreements for any time employees spent in a non-pay status. If the IRS does not establish clear
procedures to enforce the service agreement and debt policy, employees that committed to stay
with the IRS may leave without repaying their loan benefit back to the IRS.
Management Action: In August 2025, the IRS began updating the SLRP Desk Guide to include
pertinent information on how to calculate service agreement extensions, and when applicable,
how the service agreements will be extended. In addition, the SLRP will receive cumulative
non-pay status reports on a biweekly basis and will update the service agreements accordingly.
12
Our sample was selected using a 95 percent confidence interval, 5 percent error rate, and ±5 percent precision
factor. We chose not to project our results to the population.
13
Workers’ compensation leave could result in a paid or a non-pay status based on the specific details of the
employee’s case.
14
Government Accountability Office, GAO-14-704G, Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government
(September 2014).
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Because these Desk Guide revisions are underway, we are not making recommendations related
to policy updates at this time.
Recommendation 5: The Chief Human Capital Officer should review the nine employees that
had a period of non-pay status and extend their service agreements as needed.
Management’s Response: HCO management agreed with this recommendation and
completed the review as of February 25, 2026, extending employee service agreements,
as necessary.
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Appendix I
Detailed Objective, Scope, and Methodology
The overall objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of controls over the employee
SLRP. To accomplish our objective, we:
· Obtained an understanding of 5 C.F.R. Part 537, and its integration into interim guidance,
draft policies, and desk procedures for administering the SLRP.
· Identified the population of employees approved to participate in the SLRP in CYs 2023
and 2024.
· Reviewed a statistically valid stratified random sample of 75 employees from a
population of 9,675 SLRP applications approved in CY’s 2023 and 2024, to evaluate the
approval process and determine whether service agreements were extended for periods
that employees were in a non-pay status. We used statistical sampling because we
planned to project to the population. TIGTA’s contracted statistician assisted with
developing the sampling plan.1 After reviewing the sample with TIGTA’s in-house
statistician, we determined that service agreements are not applicable for some
employees because they were later determined to have potential debt. As a result, we
did not project the results of our testing to the population.
· We identified 7,985 approved applicants from the full CY 2023 and CY 2024 SLRP
participant listing included on the SLRP intranet site. We then evaluated IRS controls for
monitoring employee eligibility during the three-year service period by determining
whether debt letters were issued, or if the repayment of the debt was waived.
Performance of This Review
This review was performed with information obtained from the HRSS Division located in
Ogden, Utah during the period November 2024 through November 2025. We conducted this
performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate
evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit
objective. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings
and conclusions based on our audit objective.
Data Validation Methodology
We performed tests to assess the reliability of data from the IRS timekeeping system, the NFC
payment system, and the SLRP intranet site listings of CY’s 2023 and 2024 SLRP participants.
We evaluated the data by (1) performing electronic testing of required data elements,
(2) conducting data analysis to identify anomalies or potential errors across key categories,
(3) reviewing relevant documentation related to the data sources, system architecture and their
internal controls, and (4) interviewing agency officials with detailed knowledge about the data
1
Our sample was selected using a 95 percent confidence interval, 5 percent error rate, and ±5 percent precision
factor.
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Current and Former IRS Employees Owe
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and the underlying systems. We determined that the data were sufficiently reliable for the
purpose of this audit.
Internal Controls Methodology
Internal controls relate to management’s plans, methods, and procedures used to meet their
mission, goals, and objectives. Internal controls include the processes and procedures for
planning, organizing, directing, and controlling program operations. They include the systems
for measuring, reporting, and monitoring program performance. We determined that the
following internal controls were relevant to our audit objective: IRS policies and procedures, the
SLRP intranet site; and the SLRP service agreement. We evaluated these controls by reviewing
source documentation submitted on the SLRP intranet for a statistically valid sample of CYs 2023
and 2024 SLRP applicants, using data analysis to compare the SLRP applicant data to different
data sources, confirming the eligibility of the applicants, interviewing HRSS officials, and
participating in multiple system walkthroughs.
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Appendix II
Outcome Measure
This appendix presents detailed information on the measurable impact that our recommended
corrective actions will have on tax administration. This benefit will be incorporated into our
Semiannual Report to Congress.
Type and Value of Outcome Measure:
· Funds Put to Better Use – Potential; $1,946,351 in unestablished debt for 236 IRS
employees that did not comply with their SLRP service agreements
(see Recommendation 1).
Methodology Used to Measure the Reported Benefit:
We identified 7,985 approved employees who received over $86.5 million in SLRP benefits from
September 2023 through January 2025. We determined that SLRP personnel have not
established approximately $1.9 million in debt for 236 employees who did not comply with their
service agreement as of November 2025. These employees all had payment verification issues.
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Appendix III
Management’s Response to the Draft Report
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Current and Former IRS Employees Owe
Millions in Student Loan Repayment Benefits
Page 13
Current and Former IRS Employees Owe
Millions in Student Loan Repayment Benefits
Page 14
Current and Former IRS Employees Owe
Millions in Student Loan Repayment Benefits
Page 15
Current and Former IRS Employees Owe
Millions in Student Loan Repayment Benefits
Appendix IV
Abbreviations
CY Calendar Year
DRP Deferred Resignation Program
HCO Human Capital Office
HRSS Human Resources Shared Services
IRS Internal Revenue Service
NFC National Finance Center
SLRP Student Loan Repayment Program
TIGTA Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
Page 16
To report fraud, waste, or abuse,
contact our hotline on the web at
https://www.tigta.gov/reportcrime-misconduct.
To make suggestions to improve IRS policies, processes, or systems
affecting taxpayers, contact us at
TIGTACommunications@tigta.treas.gov.
Information you provide is confidential, and you may remain anonymous.
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