The IRS is using funding in the Inflation Reduction Act, which included money to hire and replace 87,000 employees, to launch the program.
The additional muscle will not change audit rates for people making less than $400,000 per year.
“The years of underfunding that predated the Inflation Reduction Act led to the lowest audit rate of wealthy filers in our history,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement.
“I am committed to reversing this trend, making sure that new funding will mean more effective compliance efforts on the wealthy, while middle- and low-income filers will continue to see no change in historically low pre-IRA audit rates for years to come.”
The agency expects to more easily discover patterns of tax avoidance thanks to “groundbreaking” new artificial intelligence technology.
“There is a sea change taking place at the IRS in every aspect of our operations,” Werfel said.
The 1,600 millionaires each owe more than $250,000 in back taxes, the agency said. And the companies, which span several industries, have an average of $10 billion in assets.
Republicans were critical of the additional IRS funding, insisting the money should be spent elsewhere.
During debt ceiling negotiations earlier this summer, Democrats agreed to reduce the new agency funding by a quarter to $60 billion.
As a potential government shutdown looms at the end of the month, some experts are worried Republicans could push for further cuts.
“I hope that my Republican colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee will work with Democrats to ensure the IRS has the resources they need to effectively carry out their responsibilities and serve the American taxpayers,” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told The Hill.
The IRS initiative will begin as soon as next month, Werfel told reporters.
“We have more hiring to do,” he said. “It’s going to be a very busy fall for us.”
The Hill’s Nick Robertson has more here.
