Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) Member Mitch Gerstein spent his summer on the road spreading the word about TAP and learning about the hot tax topics that are on the mind of taxpayers and tax professionals.
Mitch started out by attending a congressional meet and greet sponsored by the local Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) office in Pittsburgh. A number of Pennsylvania elected officials were represented at the event, including a congressional staff member for U.S. Senator Bob Casey.
Mitch participated by speaking with the group about TAP and passed out business cards and information to raise awareness about TAP’s mission to improve IRS services. Mitch says it was interesting to learn about how TAS works with congressional offices and enjoyed a tour of the William S. Moorhead Federal Building.
Then Mitch headed to Baltimore to attend the IRS Nationwide Tax Forum. At the tax forum he met with tax professionals in attendance and even helped them address tax issues by directing them to the TAS Case Resolution Room, where they were able to work with a case advocate to try to solve one of their toughest tax problems. Mitch also attended the National Taxpayer Advocate’s town hall event where he got the chance to hear about some of the top concerns facing tax professionals such as missing refund checks. In fact, Mitch was able to connect a taxpayer with a TAS attorney who could help explain how to submit a change of address form.
Outreach events like these are an important way for TAP members to listen about problems facing taxpayers and use that information to make recommendations for the IRS. If you have suggestions for improving IRS processes and customer service, reach out and let us know. We take all comments seriously and will discuss them at a future TAP meeting.
