Appeals Should Facilitate Mutual Respect and Trust by Allowing Taxpayers a Choice in the Expanded Participation of Counsel and Compliance in Appeals Conferences

I have written a lot about my concerns regarding Appeals’ independence over the years. Most recently, in my 2016 Annual Report to Congress, I discussed Appeals’ reluctance to collaborate with taxpayers to design a “Future State” that takes taxpayers’ and tax practitioners’ concerns into account. Now, there is another development in the...

Success Story: TAS helps taxpayer receive timely refund claim

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 taxpayer came to Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) in April 2016 for help getting a refund from his 2012 tax return that was filed late. Although the ...

The IRS’s New Passport Program: How Lack of Notice Harms Taxpayers (Part 2 of 2)

In my first blog on passport issues, I discussed the importance of providing notice to taxpayers prior to certifying their seriously delinquent tax debts to the Department of State (DOS). Once the IRS makes the certification, the DOS must deny the person’s passport application and it may revoke their passport, except in certain emergency and humanitarian situations. Under the IRS&...

NTA Nina Olson discusses TBOR with Private Debt Collectors

The National Taxpayer Advocate reviewed the Taxpayer Bill of Rights with the four private collection agencies selected for the Private Debt Collection program under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act). The National taxpayer Advocate recorded a training video for all employees of the four Private Debt Collection agencies on protecting taxpayer rights under the Ta...

The IRS’s New Passport Program: Why Notice to Taxpayers Matters (Part 1 of 2)

In 2015, I wrote a blog post analyzing IRS collection performance, looking at the effects of different drivers of collection such as notices, installment agreements, liens, levies, and refund offsets. Today, I’d like to pick this topic back up, but focus on a collection issue associated with new legislation. In late 2015, Congress passed the Fixing America’s Surface Transpor...

Taxpayers are invited to provide comments on the new IRS.gov Test Homepage – Let Your Voice Be Heard

    The IRS is a few months away from launching new look and feel to the IRS’s website (IRS.gov) and you have an opportunity to review the new Homepage about its look, content, and how easily you can find content to answer your tax questions. You can do this through June 30, 2017 by accessing IRS.gov, navigating to Hot Topics and selecting Help us improve o...

Sharing Economy Tax Information

Many taxpayers work or engage in services that are considered to be a part of the gig or shared economy services. These services often originate through peer-to-peer interactions such as ride-share programs, room rentals, and other freelance work. Following the May 2016 hearing, Taxpayer Advocate Service worked with the IRS to create the information contained on the pages listed below to help y...

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson testifies on IRS Reform before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson testified before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight today at a hearing entitled, “IRS Reform: Lessons Learned from the National Taxpayer Advocate.”  Olson cited data showing that building trust with taxpayers correlates with increased voluntary tax compliance and said respecting taxpayer rights is critical to ...

National Taxpayer Advocate Public Forum Transcripts

"[You] ask people, okay, if you had the choice between trying to find the answer to a government question online, yourself, or just picking up the phone and calling somebody, which would you prefer? Sixty percent of people say they prefer to pick up the phone, including half of millennials."  — Rick Parrish, Senior Analyst serving Customer Experience Professionals, F...

Success Story: TAS assists victims of VITA Site Preparer Fraud

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. The director of a large Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site contacted TAS with concerns about refund amounts some of her clients received on t...