John Koskinen approved by Senate as new head of IRS despite almost zero tax experience

The U.S. Senate on Friday voted to confirm John Koskinen as the new head of the Internal Revenue Service – he would be its fourth chief in little more than a year.

Reuters reports as follows: A 74-year-old lawyer with little tax experience, Koskinen was nominated in August by President Barack Obama. He was approved by the Democrat-controlled Senate in a 59-36 vote.

He is expected to take over in January. That is when the IRS, still recovering from its worst crisis in years, will start processing its annual crush of about 240 million tax returns, as well as carrying out key parts of Obama’s new healthcare law.

He will replace IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel, tapped by Obama to temporarily manage the IRS through a crisis involving scrutiny of conservative political groups that shook its top ranks and hurt its reputation.