Friday, June 24th, 2016 @ 8:58PM

Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration Report – Review of the August 2010 Small Business/Self-Employed Division’s Conference in Anaheim, California – May 31, 2013

CFEG regularly sends Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the IRS. In a July 21, 2015 FOIA request, CFEG requested that the IRS provide a list of all expenditures which the IRS paid for the conference for IRS employees at the Anaheim conference in Anaheim, California in 2010, the data reflecting how many IRS employees attended the conference for employees at the Anaheim conference in Anaheim, California in 2010, and a list of all conferences including employee conferences which the IRS funded for each of the following years 2007 – 2014, among other documents. The IRS provided CFEG with an interim response to its FOIA request in 2016 consisting of a Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration (TIGTA) report which CFEG has provided. This report may be found at www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2013reports/201310037fr.pdf. This TIGTA report is 56 pages in length. CFEG will highlight some of the areas of this TIGTA report for the public’s review which concerns excessive spending by Federal agencies.

TIGTA reported that the Small Business/Self-Employed (SB/SE) Division of the IRS conducted a conference in August, 2010 for an estimated 2,609 SB/SE Division executives and managers at a reported cost of $4.1 million at the Marriott, Hilton, and Sheraton Hotels. Anaheim was the most expensive of the top three conferences identified by TIGTA in its report. The next most expensive was TAS Technical Training Symposium in August, 2010 located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The number of IRS employees attending this conference was 2,113 at an estimated cost of $2,933,042.00. The third largest conference was held in March, 2010 in San Diego, California. The number of IRS employees attending this conference was 721 at an estimated cost of $1,198,397.00.

With respect to the Anaheim conference TIGTA reported that the per diem rate of $135 was charged by the hotels but the rack rates (a term for the price a hotel charges for a room before an discount has been applied) ranged from $299 per night to $1,500 per night, depending on the room and the hotel. For example, TIGTA reported that the Commissioner of the IRS SB/SE Division stayed five nights in a Presidential Suite at the Marriott, a room described as having a private bedroom, living area, conference table, wet bar, and billiard table. TIGTA reported that this suite retails at $3,500 per night.

TIGTA reported and identified a list of 225 IRS conferences held throughout the country during fiscal years 2010 – 2012 at pages 26 – 38 of their report.  The 225 IRS conferences cost taxpayers $48,631,799.00. For more information on this subject please go to the full report at the following link: www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2013reports/201310037fr.pdf.

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