Taxpayer Advocate Service – 10 Most Serious Problems Encountered by Taxpayers

Taxpayer Advocate Service – 10 Most Serious Problems Encountered by Taxpayers

IRC § 7803(c)(2)(B)(ii)(III) requires the National Taxpayer Advocate to submit an annual report
to Congress that contains a summary of the ten “Most Serious Problems” encountered by
taxpayers. While they use the method described below to identify the Most Serious Problems,
the list remains inherently subjective in many respects.

The National Taxpayer Advocate is in a unique position to identify the most serious problems
facing taxpayers because they receive input from a wide variety of sources. Through their Case
Advocacy operations, TAS helps hundreds of thousands of taxpayers to resolve their account
problems with the IRS every year. They help many types of taxpayers, including individuals,
businesses, and exempt organizations, and they work with both unrepresented taxpayers and
taxpayers represented by tax professionals. Some cases come to them directly while others come
through referrals from congressional offices and the IRS.

As part of their Systemic Advocacy operations, TAS leaders meet frequently with organizations
that work in the tax administration field, and they maintain an online portal through which
members of the public and IRS employees can call their attention to systemic problems that
affect groups of taxpayers or all taxpayers. They receive hundreds of submissions each year.
They review them all and create “advocacy projects” to address priority problems. TAS
employees also work on cross-functional teams with other parts of the IRS to address areas that
impact taxpayer rights and taxpayer service.

For the next several weeks the Tuesday Tax Tip will discuss the 10 problems.
(www.TaxpayerAdvocate.irs.gov) (TTT 100824)