During Filing Season 2023, the IRS improved not only its processing of original returns but also the performance on its Accounts Management phone lines compared to recent years. But this improvement came with expected costs, e.g., creating a new paper backlog in amended returns and taxpayer correspondence. In addition, to answering calls, the employees process responses to IRS notices and many types of taxpayers requests such as applications for Employer Identification Numbers, a high percentage of Identity Theft Victim Assistance cases, and the tax return preparer applications. For victims of identity theft, the delays have been particularly long and frustrating. The average cycle for ID Theft Victim Assistance cases closed in April 2023 was 436 days.

Read the Full Review of the 2023 Filing Season ->

Systemic Advocacy Objectives describe the objectives TAS will pursue to address systemic issues causing taxpayer burden or harm. Similar to the way Most Serious Problems are identified in the Annual Report to Congress, the National Taxpayer Advocate calls upon a multitude of sources to assist in identifying Systemic Advocacy Objectives including the experience of TAS staff, trends in advocacy efforts and TAS casework, and interactions with practitioners and external stakeholders.

TAS’s Systemic Advocacy Objectives for FY 2024 are:

1. Protect Taxpayer Rights as the IRS Implements Its Strategic Operating Plan
2. Protect Taxpayer Privacy and Ensure the IRS Does Not Disclose Taxpayer Information Without Consent
3. Improve Correspondence Audit Processes, Taxpayer Participation, and Agreement and Default Rates
4. Implement Systemic First Time Abatement But Allow Substitution of Reasonable Cause
5. Reduce Burden on Taxpayers Applying for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number
6. Formalize 45-Day Response Time From All IRS Functions to Recommendations Made by the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel
7. Eliminate Systemic Assessments and Offer a First Time Abatement Waiver for International Information Return Penalties
8. Modernize IRS Paper Processing Procedures
9. Continue to Propose Simplification of the Tax Code and IRS Procedures to Reduce Taxpayer Compliance Burden
10. Improve IRS Hiring, Recruitment, and Training Strategies
11. Improve Taxpayer Access to Telephone and Face-to-Face Assistance
12. Increase Accessibility and Improve Functionality of Digital Services for Individual and Business Taxpayers and Tax Professionals
13. Improve Tax Return Processing by Eliminating Barriers to E-Filing
14. Improve IRS Transparency
15. Identify Data to Support Minimum Competency Standards for Paid Return Preparers of Federal Tax Returns
16. Improve the Staffing and Culture of the IRS Independent Office of Appeals
17. Reduce Compliance Barriers for Overseas Taxpayers

Read All TAS Case Advocacy and Other Business Objectives ->

TAS seeks to use a data-driven approach to improve IRS services for all taxpayers. TAS recommends that the IRS increasingly incorporate technology into its service offerings, most notably by expanding its online and digital services, while increasing the ease of accessibility of these tools to the vast majority of taxpayers. While taxpayers desperately need efficient access to IRS online services, the IRS also needs to ensure the effectiveness and availability of traditional services, such as sending correspondence to taxpayers, timely responding to or processing replies from taxpayers, and promptly answering telephone inquiries on its toll-free lines.

Five research projects are scheduled to begin in FY 2024.

1. Study IRS Initiation of the Two-Year Ban for Claiming the Earned Income Tax, Additional Child Tax, and American Opportunity Tax Credits to Ensure the Protection of Taxpayer Rights
2. Study Taxpayers Who Do Not Respond to IRS Letters Requesting Identity and Return Verification
3. Assess the Accessibility of Participation in Tax Programs Designed to Improve the Economic Circumstances of Taxpayers and Their Children as Well as the Barriers to Participation in These Programs
4. Review the Telephone Operations, Metrics, and Goals of Entities With Large Incoming Call Operations to Better Evaluate IRS Telephone Services Available to Taxpayers
5. Analyze Past Collection Data to Determine the Circumstances Under Which the IRS Should Generally Not Initiate Enforcement Action on a Delinquent Tax Liability

Read All TAS Research Objectives ->

The National Taxpayer Advocate is required by statute to submit a year-end report to Congress that, among other things, describes the ten most serious problems facing taxpayers and makes administrative recommendations to mitigate those problems. The report includes the IRS’s general responses identified in her 2022 year-end report as well as specific responses to each recommendation. In addition, it contains TAS’s analysis of the IRS’s responses and, in some cases, details TAS’s disagreement with the IRS’s position.

Read All IRS Responses ->