The Taxpayer Advocate Service Focuses on Economic Hardship Cases

Mar 25, 2014 By Nielsen Law Group In Taxation No Comment Tags : , , ,

The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is an independent organization within the IRS. TAS helps financially distressed taxpayers who can no longer provide basic needs for themselves such as housing, food and transportation.  TAS also helps taxpayers resolve problems with the IRS as well as taxpayers who feel an IRS system or procedure is not operating as intended.

 

In a recent report to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina E. Olson, released information identifying where TAS will prioritize its efforts in the coming year.  There is particular concern that, due to budget constraints, TAS will not be able to meet taxpayers’ needs.

 

The report describes numerous challenges facing the IRS, including:

  • Helping victims of tax return preparer fraud.
  • Overseeing the tax return preparer industry.
  • Helping taxpayers with taxpayer-centric relief due to identity theft.
  • Providing education and outreach to taxpayers about their responsibilities under the Affordable Care Act.
  • Resolving erroneous revocations of the tax-exempt status of small § 501(c)(3) organizations and failing to provide them with a pre-revocation administrative appeal.
  • Establishing more effective settlement procedures for the millions of taxpayers who have legitimate reasons for overseas bank and financial accounts and whose failure to file reports was merely negligent.

 

The report also says that IRS agents are increasingly not adequately trained for their jobs.  Thus, financially struggling taxpayers must deal with a collection process that does not work correctly. If you are involved in a collection process with the IRS and need assistance, schedule your free consultation by calling (480) 888-7111 [or submit a web request here].