The Internal Revenue Service had a good idea to provide online access to tax records called My IRS Account and tools to help them with tax preparation. But the Treasury inspector general for tax administration reported on Tuesday that the IRS spent $10 million to develop the project, only to kill it near its completion date because it was never properly planned.

Most taxpayers get tax account information by calling the IRS toll-free number, which often results in delays. The termination of this project may result only in a temporary setback.

The IRS plans to reuse most of the hardware and functionality developed so far, according to the IG. Nevertheless, there will be a time lag. At the time of the IG audit, the agency did not have a plan to restart the project.

"Successful implementation of this effort is essential to support taxpayers' ability to electronically fulfill their tax responsibilities and is critical to the long-term success of the IRS modernization program," the IG said.

 For more on the latest IRS failure:
- see this nextgov.com article