IRS Frequently Asked Questions Can Be a Trap for the Unwary

At a recent hearing before the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means, I was asked a seemingly simple question about what types of guidance taxpayers can rely on. Unfortunately, the answer is not simple at all. Generally speaking, there are three buckets of tax guidance: 1. Regulations – Treasury (tax) regulations are subject to a public notice-and-comment period...

TAS assistance offered at local Problem Solving Days

    The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) will conduct Problem Solving Day events in communities throughout the country in the coming months and year. During these events, TAS employees from a local office will be available to assist taxpayers in person with tax problems they have not been able to resolve with the IRS. Generally, TAS can assist taxpayers whose problems with the...

Private Debt Collection: Recent Debts (Part 3 of 3)

In an earlier blog I discussed my concern about how the IRS’s private debt collection (PDC) program affects taxpayers who are likely experiencing economic hardship. In this blog, I want to share my concern that the IRS is not making good business decisions as it implements the PDC initiative. Since 2004, Internal Revenue Code (IRC) § 6306 has authorized the IRS to ou...

Success Story: TAS Advocates for Return of Levied Proceeds

Every year the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) helps thousands of people with tax problems. This story is only one of many examples of how TAS helps resolve taxpayer issues. All personal details are removed to protect the privacy of the taxpayer. TAS assisted a taxpayer who had been waiting over two years for the IRS to return levied funds. The IRS levied a large amount of the taxpayer's state ...

Private Debt Collection: Hardship (Part 2 of 3)

I have always had concerns about outsourcing tax debts to private collection agencies (PCAs). First, I believe tax collection is an “inherently governmental function” within the meaning of section five of the 1998 FEAR Act that should be performed only by federal employees. Second, as a TAS study of the last private debt collection (PDC) initiative showed, ...

Success story: Victim of Preparer Fraud Receives Refund

Every year the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) helps thousands of people with tax problems. This story is only one of many examples of how TAS helps resolve taxpayer issues. All personal details are removed to protect the privacy of the taxpayer. TAS advocated on behalf of a taxpayer who was the victim of tax return preparer fraud. The taxpayer was very frustrated, since the first time she beca...

Private Debt Collection Program

Since 2004, when Internal Revenue Code (IRC) § 6306 was enacted as part of the American Jobs Creation Act, the IRS has had the statutory authority to outsource the collection of tax debt. The IRS exercised this authority in its prior private debt collection program from about 2006 to 2009, but the program was ended due to concerns about its return on investment. Congress amended the st...

Success story: NBC12 helps taxpayer get TAS assistance

Every year the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) helps thousands of people with tax problems. This story is only one of many examples of how TAS helps resolve taxpayer issues. All personal details are removed to protect the privacy of the taxpayer. A cancer patient says she tried numerous times to find out what happened to her missing tax return, but she says she could not get an actual person on...

TAS Focus Groups on Installment Agreements and TAS Services at 2017 Tax Forums

Each year the IRS sponsors the Nationwide Tax Forums, a three-day series of tax education and networking conferences for tax professionals in cities around the country.These events feature the latest information from the IRS, news about tax law changes, the chance to meet with software vendors and the opportunity to attend nearly 50 seminars presented by IRS employees and members of professiona...

NTA releases FY2018 Objectives Report

Today the National Taxpayer Advocate released her Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Objectives Report to Congress, identifying the priority issues she and TAS will address during FY 2018. In her preface to the report, the National Taxpayer Advocate praised the IRS for a generally successful filing season, but indicated that taxpayers who require assistance from the IRS are continuing to face significant ch...