National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins today released her statutorily mandated mid-year report to Congress. The report presents an assessment of the 2023 filing season and identifies key objectives the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) will pursue during the upcoming fiscal year.
As outlined in this report, the filing season generally ran smoothly this year. The IRS caught up in processing paper-filed original Forms 1040 and various business returns; refunds were generally issued quickly; and taxpayers calling the IRS were much more likely to get through – and with substantially shorter wait times.
Despite these improvements, the report says the IRS is still behind in processing amended tax returns and taxpayer correspondence. Although the IRS was much more effective in answering taxpayer calls this year, that could only be accomplished by prioritizing the phones over other IRS operations, and it resulted in greater delays in the processing of paper correspondence.
The report also identifies TAS’s key objectives for the upcoming fiscal year, including 17 systemic advocacy objectives, four case advocacy and other business objectives, and five research objectives. In light of the challenges taxpayers have been facing over the last three years, TAS will be placing heavy emphasis on working with the IRS to improve the processing of tax returns and taxpayer service generally. Among the objectives the report identifies are the following:
- Protect taxpayer rights as the IRS implements its Strategic Operating Plan
- Improve correspondence audit processes, taxpayer participation, and agreement and default rates
- Implement systemic first-time penalty abatement but allow substitution of reasonable cause
The National Taxpayer Advocate is required by statute to submit a year-end report to Congress that, among other things, makes administrative recommendations to resolve taxpayer problems. The National Taxpayer Advocate made 46 administrative recommendations in her 2022 year-end report, and the IRS has agreed to implement 38 (or 83 percent) of the recommendations in full or in part. These recommendations and IRS’s responses are available at https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/arc-recommendations-tracker.
Please visit http://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/ObjectivesReport2024 for more information.
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About the Taxpayer Advocate Service
TAS is an independent organization within the IRS that helps taxpayers and protects taxpayer rights. Your local taxpayer advocate’s number is in your local directory and at 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. Our service is free. For more information about TAS and your rights under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, go to taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/get-help/taxpayer-rights. You can get updates on tax topics at facebook.com/YourVoiceAtIRS, Twitter.com/YourVoiceatIRS, and YouTube.com/TASNTA.
In addition, TAS continues to expand its Online Digital Roadmap Tool to assist more taxpayers with navigating the complexity of the tax system. By entering a notice or letter number, taxpayers can determine where they are on the roadmap, why they received the notice or letter, what rights they have, what they must do next, and where they can get additional help.