america’s tax and accounting practitioners are suffering the brunt of the shortcomings at the irs. but the profession may have some of the solutions.
that’s why we’re asking in today’s bonus question:
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national taxpayer advocate nina e. olson has issued to congress a scathing report on worsening dysfunction at the internal revenue service.
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the annual report to congress, mandated by law, presents a lurid indictment of an essential government agency that “is stretched to its breaking point.”
among the general topics are:
- details of the irs’s abuses of taxpayer rights,
- a roadmap of the increasingly complex and frustrating “taxpayer’s journey,”
- descriptions of the most serious irs deficiencies,
- a menu of ten urgent legislative recommendations,
- a list of the service’s most litigated issues, and
- research and studies relating to the irs and tax collection.
the report got off to a bad start with the 2018-19 government shutdown, the longest in history and, for the irs, at the worst possible time of the year. by law, the report should have been delivered to congress by december 31, 2018. the report was largely ready on that date, but the shutdown itself became an element of the report, which was delivered shortly after the shutdown ended.
unable to weave the impacts of the shutdown into the general narrative of the report, olsen describes some of the early effects in the preface to the report.
“the full effect,” she writes, “will become clearer months, and even years, down the road.”
olson’s criticisms weren’t about the irs itself as much as the lack of funding that is limiting the service’s ability to correct problems, improve processes and infrastructure, and meet the basic needs of taxpayers and tax preparers. she expressed her appreciation and admiration of the irs workforce which, though deprived of two consecutive paychecks during the shutdown, “returned to work with energy and generally hit the ground running, eager to make sure the agency could deliver the filing season as well as achieve its broader mission.”
“the irs faces many challenges as an agency,” the preface says, “…but the dedication of the irs workforce is a notable bright spot.”
but many were the dark clouds around that bright spot. tax practitioners who work with the irs are familiar with most of them, such as:
- the reduction of the 1040 to a postcard size that actually necessitated the creation of six new schedules that 70 percent of taxpayers must deal with.
- the “surge” of new tax instructions, publications, notices, faqs, and regulations associated with the new tax law.
- the antiquated technology system that caused the computer crash on the last day of the 2018 filing season and continues to risk a catastrophic system collapse.
- the incredible 81 percent false positive rate in the irs’s fraud detection system.
- on the last day of 2018, the service had not yet worked through its tax year 2017 eitc audits.
- the irs “actively” (olson’s italics) discouraging and avoiding person-to-person conversations with taxpayers.
- when the government shutdown ended, the irs had over 5 million pieces of unbatched mail, 80,000 responses to earned income tax credit audits, 87,000 amended returns waiting to be processed, and a backlog of 170,000 orders for forms, including the w-2s and w-3s that would not be shipped until two weeks after the january 31 filing deadline.
the national taxpayer advocate annual report congress does more than identify problems. it also offers solutions. congress has the report.
the ball is now in the congressional court. is it too much to hope that 2019 is the year of congressional action?
8 responses to “irs in crisis: tax professionals bear the brunt”
randy ryan
bob heisler has it right and that was the purpose of this “tax cut.” it helped the corporations and the rich at the expense of the little guy and gal.
robert boutin
i’d actually prefer to see the filing season go year round, perhaps make the taxpayer’s birthday the due date.
ptudence mathews
i am not in favor of year-round filing. but it is unfair that the filing season is cut short every year through no fault of the taxpayer. it is stressful to cient and professional
bob heisler, ea
one of the solutions is painfully obvious. when congress cut the irs budget by $1 billion in 2011 that was the first step in the irs’s unraveling. the irs budget must be restored. as a result of the cut, the irs’s ability to conduct audits of large corporations and wealthy taxpayers has been diminished. this directly hurts the ability of the treasury department to sustain itself. where this has harmed lower- and middle-income taxpayers is in their ability to receive much-needed services from the irs. tax refunds have been delayed in some cases by weeks or even months! taxpayers who call the agency with legitimate concerns are kept on hold for a ridiculous amount of time. in some cases, after waiting for well over an hour their calls are automatically disconnected.
once the irs budget is restored the agency must begin an aggressive campaign to recruit new agents and train them to handle their responsibilities with efficiency and courtesy. past behavior by the agency has created a negative impression among taxpayers. better training can restore respect for the agency. the agency must pour resources into updating an antiquated computer system that can keep up with new technologies and handle the volume of a larger u.s. population.
mike gregory
he hit the nail on the head. i could not agree more.
paula anderson
i do not understand with all the issues at the start of the tax season and all the major changes why they can’t extend the end of the filing season to april 30th. this gets a little more ridiculous every year.
paul j zermani
great idea.!!!!
david hanna
i agree with paula 1,000%.