IRS’ 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware
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Re: IRS’ 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware
#2Fun (scary) fact – significant portions of the IRS tax system is still written in assembly. It's basically the original codebase plus 40 years of additions and patches as the tax code changed.
They were working on projects to "elevate" it to Java, because it's pretty difficult to maintain it as-is.
Re: IRS’ 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware
#3>>Still, the crash forced the IRS to extend the tax filing deadline one day, delaying some 14 million submissions.
For a system that is supposedly so brittle, they were able to get enough of it back up and running to at least accept submissions within one day?
That's pretty amazing for 60 year old technology.
Re: IRS’ 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware
#4When they can write AI to understand and implement the entire US tax system, then I’ll start worrying about the incoming AI apocalypse they’re always taking about.
Re: IRS’ 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware
#5'The Individual Master File contains data from 1 billion taxpayer accounts dating back several decades and is the chief IRS application responsible for receiving 100 million Americans’ individual taxpayer data and dispensing refunds. '
I hope they bought a new hard drive to back it up...
Re: IRS’ 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware
#6> Since Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives in 2010, their partisan attacks have left the IRS with nearly 10,000 fewer customer service representatives to assist taxpayers and a patchwork of IT systems, some dating back to the Kennedy Administration, which is ultimately harming all taxpayers,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., told Nextgov.
So the patchwork 1960s-era systems are the fault of Republicans in the current decade?
Maybe "starve the beast" really is a better approach. Nothing else has worked.
Re: IRS’ 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware
#7> Since Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives in 2010, their partisan attacks have left the IRS with nearly 10,000 fewer customer service representatives to assist taxpayers and a patchwork of IT systems, some dating back to the Kennedy Administration, which is ultimately harming all taxpayers,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., told Nextgov. So the patchwork 1960s-era systems are the fault of Republic…
Their customer service reps sucked long before 2010 and have never remotely "assisted" me.
Re: IRS’ 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware
#8> Since Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives in 2010, their partisan attacks have left the IRS with nearly 10,000 fewer customer service representatives to assist taxpayers and a patchwork of IT systems, some dating back to the Kennedy Administration, which is ultimately harming all taxpayers,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., told Nextgov. So the patchwork 1960s-era systems are the fault of Republic…
Re: IRS’ 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware
#9Fun (scary) fact – significant portions of the IRS tax system is still written in assembly. It's basically the original codebase plus 40 years of additions and patches as the tax code changed. They were working on projects to "elevate" it to Java, because it's pretty difficult to maintain it as-is.
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Re: IRS’ 60-Year-Old IT System Failed on Tax Day Due to New Hardware
#10>> Still, the crash forced the IRS to extend the tax filing deadline one day, delaying some 14 million submissions. For a system that is supposedly so brittle, they were able to get enough of it back up and running to at least accept submissions within one day ? That's pretty amazing for 60 year old technology.
You just have to get the stuck card unjammed, then repunch it and recollate...