A report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) criticizes the IRS’s decision to close the Technical Retirement Office.
The office, which was tasked with “identifying, prioritizing and executing the updating, replacement or retirement of legacy systems,” was closed in 2021 to “strategically reduce the IT footprint across the enterprise” and has still not been replaced.
As a result, the IRS has 107 legacy systems that need to be decommissioned, but only two have plans to decommission them, the report said, potentially putting the department at risk of attack.
IRS Disruption
The report outlines the organisation’s need for a programme to oversee the decommissioning of old IT systems. It comes after the IRS faced ‘disruption’ as a result of outdated systems – some more than 20 years old. More than 20% of the software and 8% of the hardware used by the IRS is classified as ‘legacy’, meaning that shortcomings are deeply ingrained in how it operates.
Technology is undoubtedly central to many organizations and businesses now, but the cost of replacing outdated systems can be a burden for many. The IRS’s IT infrastructure spending increased by 35% between 2019 and 2023 – and this is only expected to increase until legacy systems are retired.
What are the risks?
The IRS isn’t alone in its reliance on outdated software. A report from Dell found that more than 70% of the software used by Fortune 500 companies was developed 20 or more years ago. Outdated systems leave organizations vulnerable to data breaches and cyberattacks, costing companies an average of more than $1 million. The costs don’t stop there, with an estimated 60-80% of the average IT budget going toward maintaining existing on-site hardware and legacy apps.
These systems are not only expensive for the organization, but also for the planet. Legacy infrastructure can account for more than a third of a company’s total energy consumption, making it difficult to meet sustainability goals.
Keeping infrastructure up to date helps keep a company’s data secure and costs down.
Via The register