Tax Professionals United for Taxpayer Relief Coalition – IRS Taxpayer Services Advocacy Efforts

Background

Helping taxpayers and tax practitioners is one of the most important responsibilities of the IRS. However, long wait times on the phone and slow responses are unfortunately still a hallmark of interactions with the IRS, and they increased to all-time records during the pandemic, making it extremely difficult for practitioners to provide timely service to their clients and efficiently run their practices

The IRS now has an unprecedented number of unprocessed returns and correspondence in comparison to years before the pandemic, resulting in the issuance of numerous incorrect and mistargeted notices, liens, and levies. Additionally, the IRS is answering a record-low percentage of calls from all hotlines, including the PPS line, which prevents the resolution of straightforward issues. During its busiest times, the IRS was receiving 1,500 phone calls per second, resulting in a 2-3% answer rate.

In response to these issues, the Tax Practitioners United for Taxpayer Relief Coalition was formed and has come up with recommendations to help the IRS mitigate the burden on taxpayers and practitioners. This coalition is a diverse group of stakeholders from the tax practitioner community including those representing Latinos, African Americans, small businesses, practitioners and low-income taxpayers. The coalition members calling for immediate action from the IRS include:  

  • American Institute of CPAs (AICPA)
  • Latino Tax Professional Association
  • National Association of Black Accountants Inc.(NABA)
  • National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA)
  • National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP)
  • National Conference of CPA Practitioners (NCCPAP)
  • National Society of Accountants (NSA)
  • National Society of Black Certified Public Accountants, Inc. (NSBCPA)
  • National Society of Tax Professionals (NSTP)
  • Diverse Organization of Firms (DOF)
  • H&R Block
  • Padgett Business Services
  • Prosperity Now

Current Information

Recommendations

The Tax Professionals United for Taxpayer Relief Coalition has been actively advocating on behalf of taxpayers and tax practitioners to secure meaningful relief that can aid in making this tax season a little less overwhelming. The coalition urges the IRS to take the following steps:

  • Discontinue automated compliance actions until the IRS is prepared to devote the necessary resources for a proper and timely resolution of the matter.
  • Align requests for account holds with the time it takes the IRS to process any penalty abatement requests.
  • Offer a reasonable cause penalty waiver, similar to the procedures of first time abate (FTA) administrative waiver, without affecting the taxpayer’s eligibility for FTA in future tax years.
  • Provide taxpayers with targeted relief from both the underpayment of estimated tax penalty and the late payment penalty for the 2020 and 2021 tax year.

Advocacy

Coalition Advocacy

On January 24, 2022, the coalition held a media briefing outlining these recommendations days later, the IRS announced it would be suspending several more notices than it had originally announced. Additionally, they would reassign more staff to address the backlog of 24 million pieces of unprocessed mail. 

On February 8, 2022, the coalition hosted a discussion forum titled: “Is Help on the Way from the IRS for this Filing Season?” The forum featured representatives of each of the members of the Coalition and was open to public, media, Hill staff and government employees. Click here to listen to an archive of the webinar.

The Coalition has submitted the following correspondence in support of recommendations:

  • February 16, 2022 – Coalition Letter Response to Feb 8 Oversight Subcommittee Hearing on Challenges Facing Taxpayers
  • January 27, 2022 – Taxpayer Advocate Coalition The Tax Professionals United for Taxpayer Relief Statement on IRS Actions Offering Limited Taxpayer Relief (Coalition statement)
  • January 24, 2022 – Diverse Coalition of Stakeholders The Tax Professionals United for Taxpayer Relief Statement on Media Briefing on IRS Service Issues (Coalition media briefing )
  • January 14, 2022 – Coalition Letter to IRS and Treasury on Relief for Taxpayers for the 2022 Filing Season

AICPA Advocacy

  • August 17, 2022: AICPA Endorses Congressional Letter Urging Action to Address Backlog
  • August 10, 2022: AICPA Addresses Level of Service with Practitioner Phone Line
  • August 5, 2022: AICPA Comments on Tax Provisions in Senate Reconciliation Legislation
  • July 11, 2022: Letter to Treasury and IRS on the additional measure to address the backlog
  • May 13, 2022: AICPA statement on the destruction of 30 million tax documents by the Internal Revenue Service.
  • February 17, 2022: Senate Finance Committee hearing on Spotlighting IRS Customer Service Challenges with AICPA, GAO, and IRS National Taxpayer Advocate testifying (written testimony and statement on hearing)
  • February 10, 2022: Letter to Treasury and IRS and statement by Senate Finance Committee Republicans urging IRS to provide maximum taxpayer support during difficult filing season
  • February 8, 2022: House Ways and Means Committee Oversight Subcommittee hearing with the National Taxpayer Advocate on Challenges Facing Taxpayers (written testimony and coalition letter response)
  • February 3, 2022: Letter to IRS from Senate Finance Committee Republicans on ID.me
  • January 26-27, 2022: Letter to Treasury and IRS from Senate Democrats and statement on increased IRS funding as Americans prepare for 2022 tax filing season
  • January 26, 2022: Letter from 217 Members of Congress to Treasury on filing season and relief recommendations
  • September 3, 2021: HR 5155 - Taxpayer Penalty Protection Act of 2021

Resources

IRS Announcements:

  • November 10, 2022: IRS statement – Commissioner Rettig’s final message.
  • November 4, 2022: IRS statement IR-2022-195 — IRS Independent Office of Appeals taking important steps to expand communications with external stakeholders and to improve taxpayer access to Appeals. 
  • October 27, 2022: IRS statement IR-2022-191 – IRS moves forward with taxpayer service improvements; 4,000 hired to provide more help on phones during 2023 tax season.
  • October 19, 2022: IRS statement 2022-185 — Taxpayers in areas covered by certain Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster declarations they may have more time to file their returns to qualify for the penalty relief under Notice 2022-36 for their 2019 and 2020 tax returns.
  • August 24, 2022: IRS statement IR-2022-155 – IRS provides broad-based penalty relief for certain 2019 and 2020 returns due to the pandemic; $1.2 billion in penalties being refunded to 1.6 million taxpayers.
  • August 18, 2022: IRS statement IR-2022-154 – IRS Appeals invites input on enhancing video conference options for taxpayers and tax professionals.
  • July 20, 2022: IRS statement IR-2022-142 on the 5-year IRS Strategic Plan FY 2022-2026 outlines its goals to improve taxpayer service and tax administration
  • February 16, 2022: IRS statement IR-2022-38 and FAQs on IRS provides further details on additional relief for certain partnerships preparing schedules K-2 and K-3 for 2021
  • February 14, 2022: IRS statement IR-2022-32 on IRS launches resource page on IRS.gov with latest details and information for taxpayers during filing season
  • February 9, 2022: IRS statement IR-2022-31 on IRS continues work to help taxpayers; suspends mailing of additional letters
  • February 7, 2022: IRS statement IR-2022-27 on IRS announces transition away from use of third-party verification involving facial recognition
  • February 2, 2022: Commissioner Rettig memo on creation of Inventory Surge Team of Accounts Management prior employees
  • January 28, 2022: Professional Managers Association statement on Charge and Response: Congressional Letter Urging IRS Action During 2022 Tax Filing Season
  • January 27, 2022: IRS statement - Providing meaningful assistance to taxpayers in the current environment (suspend notices in situations where we have credited taxpayers for payments but have no record of the tax return being filed)
  • January 24, 2022: IRS statement IR-2022-18 on IRS begins 2022 tax season; urges extra caution for taxpayers to file accurate tax returns electronically to speed refunds, avoid delays
  • January 12, 2022: IRS statement IR-2022-11 on National Taxpayer Advocate delivers Annual Report to Congress; focuses on taxpayer impact of processing and refund delays
  • January 10, 2022: IRS statement and IR-2022-08 on 2022 tax filing season begins Jan. 24; IRS outlines refund timing and what to expect in advance of April 18 tax deadline
  • IRS webpage on IRS operations during COVID-19 : Mission-critical functions continue

National Taxpayer Advocate:

  • June 22, 2022: NTA FY2023 Objectives Report to Congress (IR-2022-129, full report)
  • April 28, 2022: Blog on IRS Online Accounts Do Not Have Sufficient Functionality and Integration With Existing Tools to Meet the Needs of Taxpayers and Tax Professionals
  • April 19, 2022: Blog on Math Error Notices: What You Need to Know and What the IRS Needs to Do to Improve Notices
  • March 30, 2022: Blog on Getting Rid of the Kryptonite: The IRS Should Quickly Implement Scanning Technology to Process Paper Tax Returns
  • March 2, 2022: Blog on An Overloaded IRS Stops Certain Automated Notices, But Taxpayers Still Need to File Federal Tax Returns and Pay Outstanding Taxes
  • February 1, 2022: Blog on Hello, Is Anyone There? Taxpayers and Practitioners Continue to Experience Frustration Over Lack of Adequate Phone Service
  • January 14, 2022: Blog on National Taxpayer Advocate Releases 2021 Annual Report to Congress
  • January 12, 2022: 2021 Annual Report to Congress (Full Report , Executive Summary ,  Most Serious Problems)
  • November 10, 2021: Blog on IRS Delays in Processing Amended Tax Returns Are Impacting TAS’s Ability to Assist Taxpayers
  • September 21, 2022: Blog on TAS Facing Similar Challenges as the IRS: Processing Delays and Low Level of Service
  • Fiscal Year 2022 Objectives Report to Congress (Full Report , Review of the 2021 Filing Season)

Coalition Top News Hits:

Podcasts:

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