I’m personally heartbroken that Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate for the past 18 years, is retiring at the end of July. She and her staff have done an incredible job advocating on behalf of taxpayers, and doing everything they can to help cut government red tape and shift the focus of Congress and the IRS, bringing attention to the real-world situations their laws, policies and procedures can cause.
In her recently-released 37th and final report to Congress, she reiterated key IRS challenges in the areas of:
– Taxpayer Service
– Appropriate Use of Self-Service Applications
– Treatment of Financially Vulnerable Taxpayers
She also shared a 2019 Filing Season Review and outlined TAS Priority Issues for FY 2020, including the creation and online availability of a roadmap of tax controversies, and limitations on the ability of Amish taxpayers to receive full child tax credit benefits.
Nina left us with these parting words: “even as the system works for most taxpayers most of the time, it doesn’t work for millions of others. Taxpayer service is woefully inadequate. . . IRS audit notices are often unclear, leading some taxpayers to ‘agree’ to assessments by default – even when they don’t owe the tax. And the IRS doesn’t screen for ability to pay before it takes collection actions, thereby causing or worsening financial hardships for financially vulnerable taxpayers. Advocating for taxpayers affected by problems like these, both individually and collectively, has been and will continue to be the work of TAS.”
The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is an independent organization within the IRS that helps taxpayers and protects taxpayer rights. Your local advocate’s number is in your local directory and at https://taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/contact-us. You can also call TAS toll-free at 877-777-4778. TAS can help if you need assistance in resolving an IRS problem, if your problem is causing financial difficulty, or if you believe an IRS system or procedure isn’t working as it should. The service is free. For more information about TAS and your rights under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, go to https://taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov. You can get updates on tax topics at facebook.com/YourVoiceAtIRS, Twitter.com/YourVoiceatIRS, and YouTube.com/TASNTA.