You May Have A Friend At The IRS

From biblical times until now, the tax man was synonymous with the bad man – someone to fear, and on occasion, to hate. The IRS, our modern day version of the tax man, fits right into that role. Demanding responses (and payment) no matter that your parents just passed away, your house just flooded and you were laid off all in the same week.

What you may not know is there is a small, but powerful part of the IRS that’s actually chartered to be your voice inside the agency. It’s called the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) – an independent division, not controlled by any other division. And TAS has access to just about anything in the agency. TAS is chartered by Congress to assist taxpayers whose tax problems are creating financial problems. Most major cities have a TAS local office and everyone’s able to reach TAS via phone.

Here’s a few things to know about TAS:

1. TAS can assist both individuals and businesses.
2. There is no charge for the TAS service.
3. When your case is accepted, a TAS agent is assigned to you to work with the issues until they’re resolved.
4. TAS agents can’t change your tax or modify the rules, but they can help to ensure that your rights are respected and they can communicate with virtually any part of the IRS to attempt to resolve the problem.

Our experience with TAS is that they can’t solve every problem. But they are willing to help however they can in situations where tax issues are creating real financial problems or the tax process isn’t working as it should. And they’ve demonstrated over and over that their focus is on helping the taxpayer, not just glossing over problems so taxpayers will pay.

So if you’re facing IRS issues and you can’t find help anywhere else, contact TAS to see if they can assist. Find them on www.irs.gov or call toll free to 877-777-4778.

By: Evan A. Nielsen