A system failure at the Internal Revenue Service may have been the result of a cyberattack, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee said on Thursday.
“My initial gut reaction is, that may be a hack. You just don’t have systems collapse, and people can’t use the systems online, it’s not like they run out of batteries or something,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.
The IRS experienced what it called a “hardware failure” on Wednesday afternoon that affected some of its systems, including its online e-filing system for submitting tax returns. It has not elaborated since the initial announcement.
Chaffetz took the opportunity to reiterate his call for the head of the IRS to get fired.
“I have zero confidence, zero, in the IRS Commissioner John Koskinen,” Chaffetz said. “He was in there to clean that thing up, make sure there was no political targeting, and I have no confidence they’ve solved those problems.”
Chaffetz has expressed frustration with what he has said is Koskinen’s failure to cooperate with the Oversight Committee’s investigation into targeting Tea Party groups that took place under his predecessor, Lois Lerner.
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The IRS has said that as a result of the system failure, some taxpayers may experience a delay in receiving their tax refunds, though it said it anticipates “9 out of 10” to receive their refunds within 21 days.
