A federal audit has revealed that the IRS is technologically prepared to handle changes in the tax code related to the Affordable Care Act, signed in March 2010, according to the Healthwatch article, “IRS on Track to Enforce Taxes and Penalties from Healthcare Law.” The Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration reports that the agency is systematically dealing with the more than 40 changes that the health care law makes to the tax code.

Preparing for these changes has been a significant project for the IRS. At least eight of the modifications have forced the IRS to develop new processes to administer the law. In all, the overhaul contains $438 billion in new taxes and fess, the audit found.

Modifications to the tax code include penalties for those who do not acquire health care coverage and incentives for those who do. The IRS began preparing for the changes in June 2010, creating a new office to concentration on the health care law’s implementation and hiring additional staff to deal with the many projects required to administer the new tax provisions, Healthwatch reported.

“The new Affordable Care Act provisions represent the largest set of tax law changes in 20 years,” Russell George, the tax administration inspector general, said in a statement. “I commend the IRS for its successful creation of a plan to implement them.”