An official website of the U.S. Gov An official website of the U.S. GovIf you e-file, the IRS will notify you within 24 hours if your tax return was received and accepted or if it was rejected. The notification should explain why your return was rejected.
Increasingly, scammers are conning taxpayers into taking money from their tax-deferred accounts, such as a 401(k). When taxpayers fall victim to these scams, they sometimes face dual implications: their money is stolen, and they must pay tax on all or part of these stolen funds. When a taxpayer withdraws money from a tax-deferred account, the taxpayer and the IRS receive a Form 1099-R, which reports the distribution. Taxpayers must report this income on their tax return unless it is excluded by law.
The IRS mails the Notice of Intent to Levy and Rights to a Hearing to notify taxpayers of their unpaid taxes and the IRS intention to levy to collect the amount owed if the balance is not paid. This letter, which is usually sent by a Revenue Officer, is required by IRC § 6331 before the IRS issues a levy, unless collection is in jeopardy. Taxpayers are generally entitled to a pre-levy hearing under IRC § 6330(f), although there are some exceptions. These exceptions include: if the levied source is a state tax refund, the IRS has issued a disqualified employment tax levy, or the tax debt is that of a federal contractor. For further information, see Publication 594.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) recently issued a report finding that TAS’s local office telephone lines were not giving taxpayers the opportunity to speak with TAS representatives or leave messages. Fortunately, this problem was limited in scope because most calls are placed to our national toll-free number, and we immediately took corrective actions to address TIGTA’s findings.
But the audit highlighted a larger issue: Although TAS ultimately serves most taxpayers well, we are not starting to work cases and we are not returning telephone calls as quickly as we would like. Part of my job is to highlight areas where the IRS is not meeting expectations, so it’s only fair that I be transparent in acknowledging where TAS is falling short. In this blog, I will explain some of the challenges we are facing and describe actions we are taking to improve the level of service we provide to taxpayers, from immediate steps to those we’re planning to implement over the next year and beyond.
Sadly, we have all heard stories of people falling victim to financial scams. Scams can take many forms and often harm our most vulnerable citizens. For example, many of us have received phone calls or other types of messages from fraudsters impersonating IRS or law enforcement officials threatening jail time if a fabricated tax debt is not immediately paid. Other scammers convince victims to liquidate their assets and pay them to the scammers, effectively stealing their life’s savings and leaving them with large tax liabilities to boot. Yet another type of scam involves the scammers convincing the victims to take fraudulent positions on their tax returns with the promise of a large tax refund, often under the guise of friendship or assistance. Many of these fraudulent tax schemes are posted to social media and are unfortunately reaching a wide audience.
