IRS: generative AI to speed up tax-return processing — a federal contract (USAspending)

1The volume of returns the IRS processes

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collects U.S. taxes and processes an enormous number of returns each year. The aim here is to use generative AI to speed that processing up.

2Generative AI suited to paperwork

Generative AI is good at understanding text and drafting or summarizing it — a fit for tax work, where documents and inquiries move in large volumes. That the award is framed as ACIO (CIO-office) support suggests it is less about one specific tool than about supporting, on the technical side, how the organization builds generative AI into its operations.

3A direct award under the 8(a) program

A second notable feature is that this is a direct award under the 8(a) small-business program. While procurement of cutting-edge technology often skews toward large firms, this is an example of the government advancing generative-AI implementation through a small business. Exactly which processes are automated, and how far, is not stated in the source, so we do not go further here.

4Contract numbers are not a fixed length

Counting the characters in the contract numbers across the 222 federal spending records this site holds as of 2026-09-01 gives 13 characters in 180, 14 in 23, 17 in 18 and 16 in one.

The length is not standardised. Format varies by the awarding line, and orders placed under a framework run longer because a parent number and a sequence number sit together. Code that treats the number as fixed-length breaks on the small set of longer ones. The length is itself a handle on how the award was placed.