two big (and obvious) ways irs could work with practitioners

both could be simple and cheap. if only.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the irs has been making some progress in improving the functionality of individual taxpayer online accounts. progress has been slow but in the right direction.

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now it’s time for the irs to aim for two huge new improvements: online accounts for businesses, and expansion of the functionality of tax pro accounts for tax practitioners.

a wider bridge

the irs rolled out tax pro in 2021, but it was, and still is, rather limited in scope. it can be used only by individual tax professionals who have a centralized authorization file number who submit and execute a power of attorney or tax information authorization from clients who have an online account.

the tax advocate service, always on the lookout for ways to increase irs service and efficiency, suggests that the bridge between the practitioner and the taxpayer could be widened with several quite feasible new features, among them:

1. view clients’ online accounts and notices;
2. act on behalf of clients via their online accounts;
3. communicate virtually with the practitioner priority service;
4. foster compliance by receiving proactive messaging from the irs, including reminders and educational opportunities;
5. view clients’ payment history and agreements;
6. upload documents and provide information on behalf of clients;
7. interact with the irs using secure email during an audit;
8. request account transcripts for clients within the tax pro account.

these simple new features would go a long way to a) help tax pros serve clients, b) help taxpayers pay what they owe, and c) help the irs itself to provide timely service.

the irs says its goal is a centralized account experience, but with limited resources, it has to balance adding new features and applications with integrating payment and payment plan experiences.

 

business online

the irs has successfully, if minimally, implemented online accounts for individual taxpayers. now it’s time for business taxpayers to share in the efficiency with some kind of business online account.

the irs is working on just such a bola…but not a lot. once again, it’s a matter of money. the irs office of online services has requested $1.3 million (that’s million, with an “m”) for work toward business online accounts. that doesn’t seem like much money for technology that would work between a gargantuan tax revenue agency and hundreds of thousands of businesses large and small.

for now, the irs is researching a roadmap to the interconnectedness between business accounts,  tax pro accounts, and various applications and irs systems. no functioning bola system is foreseen before the end of 2023, and the most irs will say is “…we hope to launch within the coming years.”

an initial set of functions, however, would be a good start. without much development cost bolas should be able to:

• populate payment due dates for upcoming returns and other filings;
• send reminders to those that need them,
• list payment due dates and payment options,
• communicate the status of certain forms and filings;
• reduce the need for phone calls to the irs.

the tas noted that a basic bola could expedite the processing of forms 941, employer’s quarterly federal tax returns, of which no fewer than three million remained unprocessed last year as late as december 1.

unfortunately, part of the irs’s job is not only to collect revenue but also convince elected officials that it has work to do, and to do it, it needs funding.

in its annual report to congress, the tas said, “we recognize the reality of funding limitations that the irs must abide by, with competing priorities set forth by external stakeholders (including congress and secretary of the treasury). however, we encourage the irs to build a business case for the necessary resources to implement the short-term and long-term improvements to its online account features…taxpayers are counting on the irs to prioritize its efforts to secure sustainable multiyear funding to make robust online account services a reality today.”

 

 

posted on february 8, 2022