the national taxpayer advocate has a long wish list.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
if you are a cpa, tax preparer or registered agent – a tax pro, in other words – there is a slim possibility that you are registered with the internal revenue service’s tax pro program.
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but even if you are registered, the odds are vanishingly small that you actually use it.
why? because it’s really of limited use.
very limited. specifically, tax pro is good for nothing more than
- electronically filing forms 2848 (power of attorney and declaration of representative) and 8821, tax information authorization
- viewing a list of their authorized individual taxpayers
- withdrawing authorizations for individuals
- requesting transcripts of accounts
to which many a tax pro says, “big deal. who needs that?”
not worth the trouble
as an example of how often tax pro gets used, between july 2021 and september 2023, 2.3 million form 2848s were filed by e-fax. another 776,595 went by taxpayer digital communication, and another 544,147 went by paper application.
that’s a total of 3,620,742.
how many went by tax pro? just 15,047.
why aren’t more tax pros using tax pro? quite likely it’s because it just isn’t worth the trouble when the program’s functionality is so limited.
national taxpayer advocate erin m. collins imagines a better world, one where tax pros can
- view the entirety of their clients’ online account information (to the extent of their authorization)
- request an installment payment agreement
- view the status of a tax return
- view all notices and correspondence
- respond to correspondence and notices
- request an offer in compromise
- verify submissions
- track submissions throughout the entire process lifecycle of a tax return (processing, examination, collections, administrative appeal)
- calculate payoffs for any balances due
- communicate with the irs throughout the process
- schedule a call with an irs employee
- request a centralized authorization file number
- view taxpayer-specific disaster relief postponement dates
- determine assessment and collection statute expiration dates
- request penalty relief or abatement for their client
- apply for an extension of time to file for their client
… and here’s a biggie …
- do all the above for not just individuals but business clients as well.
and as long as we’re imagining this wonderful 21st-century world, why not
- allow registered reporters to use tax pro for at least some functions?
less could be more
this being america, we can not only dream big but actually make big things happen. a functional, useful, intuitive, centralized tax pro program should be well within the capabilities of irs web engineers.
just think of the advantages for tax preparers:
- less time holding on the phone
- less submission of paper forms
- less time waiting for the manual processing of paper
- less time searching the irs for the right form, app or person
- less delay in resolving of issues
- less stressful tax seasons
- lower client fees, higher profitability
if the irs is looking to cut costs and improve service, a more robust tax pro program would be a good investment. after all, it’s tax pros who make the u.s. system of taxation work. streamlining their interactions with the irs would benefit everyone.