taxpayers and pros alike are frustrated, exasperated, disappointed and angry.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
ever-improving internet commerce is one of the great developments of this first quarter of a century. the process and potential of dealing with products and services, including government services, has come a long way from the toddling brouhaha of the world wide web of the 1990s.
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the internal revenue service still dreams of joining these early years of the 21st century. to get started, the service has gone so far as to launch an individual online account program. iolas allow taxpayers to
- view basic information,
- make payments,
- enter into payment plans and
- view and download certain notices.
all of which is very nice but soooo 1998.
national tax advocate erin m. collins says the irs can and must do better.
more work to do
in her annual report to congress, collins commended the agency for continuing to expand functionality within iola but said that “the irs has more work to do before achieving fully functional accounts that entice taxpayers to select iola as their preferred communication method.”
almost 17 million unique users accessed iolas in 2023 (compared with 92.9 million attempted phone calls). taxpayers made 8.2 million payments adding up to $39.7 billion. the irs was able to send 325,000 notices in digital form only. the savings from avoiding the manual shuffling of papers are tremendous.
but not as tremendous as they could be.
the nta pointed out that of the irs’s 16 active self-assistance applications, only four are available within iolas. to access the remaining 12, taxpayers have to navigate their way to as many apps in as many places in the labyrinthine irs website.
those other 12 don’t require the same level of authentication as iolas, so each provides limited information. under the more secure iola tent, they could offer more.
pretty simple stuff
the basic four are:
- get transcripts online
- have transcripts mailed
- direct pay
- online payment agreements
that’s pretty simple stuff. would it be all that hard to loop in such in-house apps as
- where’s my refund?
- where’s my amended return?
- id verify
- identity protection pin
- modernized internet employer id number
- interactive tax assistant
- free application for federal student aid online (transferring fax return directly to fafsa form)
but the irs says no
in 2020 and 2022, and again in 2023, collins recommended these and other apps be available through iola.
but the irs says no, the unified apps would be a burden on taxpayers and because iola requires a higher, more complicated level of security.
but collins went on to say, “…the irs missed the point.these applications do not provide the necessary information when taxpayers encounter a problem.”
the irs acknowledged that the recommendation “is consistent with taxpayer expectations,” but it would not commit to a one-click access framework.
tax pro limits
there are also limits of functionality in business tax accounts and the tax pro accounts.
the bta is available only to sole proprietors and offers only a limited network of functions.
the tpa is available to preparers who have met certain requirements. it gives them access to a few – very few – functions. tax preparers can
- electronically file forms 2848, power of attorney and declaration of representative, and 8821, tax information authorization
- view a list of their authorized individual taxpayers
- withdraw authorizations for individuals
- request transcripts of accounts
when the taxpayer advocacy service held focus groups about taxpayer needs and preferences, “participants expressed feeling frustrated, exasperated and angry with their inability to communicate with the irs.”
tax professionals feel their pain, especially with regard to the limits of tax pro accounts. more could be done, the nta says, and the irs should make it a priority.