Senate Finance Approves Shulman as IRS Chief

The Senate Finance Committee last week unanimously approved the nomination of Douglas H. Shulman to be the next Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. The nomination moves to the full Senate for approval.

During testimony to the committee in January Shulman appeared to have a positive approach to the IRS collection privatization program, saying it was working well and that taxpayer privacy was being protected.

The top opposition group to the privatization program vowed to make the program a part of Shulman’s confirmation vote before the Senate. Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said in a statement following Shulman’s confirmation that the organization was concerned that he hadn’t come out against privatization.

Last week, the IRS awarded contracts with the two firms that are currently participating in the privatization program, CBE Group and Pioneer Credit Recovery (“IRS Renews Collection Contracts with Two Agencies,” March 4). The one-year contracts have a one-year extension option. In fiscal 2007, the two collected $31 million for the tax agency.

Plans had called for the privatization program to be expanded to as many as a dozen participating collectors this month. It isn’t clear if that will occur and the IRS did not respond to insideARM requests for an update on the program.

Shulman is vice chairman of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, formerly known as the National Association of securities Dealers.