An official website of the U.S. Gov An official website of the U.S. GovOver the years, I have expressed significant concern with the continuing erosion of taxpayers’ right to appeal an IRS decision in an independent forum. (IRC § 7803(a)(3)). Of late, one of the major challenges to this right and to the independence of Appeals has been Appeals’ express desire to include IRS Counsel and Compliance in conferences regardless of whether taxpayers consent to this expanded participation.
For years, I’ve been writing about the problems with how the IRS runs the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) program. ITINs are required for persons who are not eligible for a Social Security number (SSN), but who have a tax filing requirement.
Every year, as the National Taxpayer Advocate, I am required to deliver an independent assessment of tax administration. In in my 2025 Annual Report to Congress, released on January 28, 2026, I continue that tradition with new insights, recommendations, and real-world examples drawn from taxpayers’ experiences. As required by law, this report is submitted directly to the House Ways & Means and Senate Finance Committees without prior review or alteration by the IRS or Treasury.
The IRS’s Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) options allow taxpayers and the IRS to resolve disputes more quickly than through the traditional appeals processes. Many practitioners, including me during my time in private practice, have long appreciated its advantages. I often recommended to my clients and successfully used programs like Fast Track Settlement, Post Appeals Mediation, and Tax Court Mediation, to resolve disputes effectively.
As the National Taxpayer Advocate, I have previously recommended reforms to prevent scam victims from being penalized by the tax system. Chief Counsel’s memo shows that more victims than perhaps previously thought might qualify for the theft loss deduction, but it also illustrates how much work remains to help all taxpayers who find themselves victims of fraud.
Section 165(c) of the Internal Revenue Code allows taxpayers to deduct losses sustained during the taxable year that are not reimbursed by insurance or other compensation. Historically, this provision has been a help to individuals suffering financial losses from theft, fraud, or other criminal conduct. Before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, theft losses – whether personal or investment-related – were subject to certain limitations based on adjusted gross income thresholds.
The mission of the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) covers what I often refer to as three pillars of service:
Essentially, everything we do at TAS falls within one of these three pillars. Often on the NTA Blog I dive into topics that cover any and all of these areas but today I want to focus on the third pillar. It is what we refer to as Systemic Advocacy.
Spoiler Alert: The IRS has ended its practice of automatically assessing penalties at the time of filing for late-filed Forms 3520, Part IV, which deal with reporting foreign gifts and bequests. And…
By the end of the year the IRS will begin reviewing any reasonable cause statement which taxpayers attach to late-filed Forms 3520 and 3520-A for the trust portion of the form before assessing any Section 6677 penalty. This favorable change will reduce unwarranted assessments and relieve burden on taxpayers by giving them the opportunity to explain their situation before the IRS assesses a penalty. TAS has been recommending these changes for years and the IRS listened. IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel announced these changes during the UCLA Extension Tax Controversy Conference.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is pleased to announce that the UCLA Extension Tax Controversy Institute has selected National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins to receive the Bruce I. Hochman Award. The award recognizes Collins’ outstanding proficiency in the field of tax law and her contributions as a dynamic leader.
During the last few weeks, the IRS sent about 28,000 Notices of Claim Disallowance – Letters 105C or 106C – to businesses rejecting their claims for the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) and will send more disallowance notices in the upcoming months. I suspect many business owners receiving these notices were confused and had many questions, including “What does this mean?”, “Why me?”, or “Now what do I do?”. Unfortunately, a number of the notices were not clear or did not include information on the businesses’ appeal rights. Taxpayers need to know what happens if they file a protest requesting Appeals consideration.
National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins today released her statutorily mandated midyear report to Congress. The report says the tax return filing season generally ran smoothly this year, but it identifies delays in issuing refunds to identity theft victims, misleading telephone measures that lead to poor resource allocation decisions, and delays in processing Employee Retention Credit claims as key taxpayer challenges. The report also emphasizes the importance of technology upgrades as the IRS seeks to modernize its operations in the coming years.
International information return penalties are often thought of as primarily affecting rich people or multinational corporations with significant overseas assets. This is not true. Taxpayers – many of whom are lower- and middle-income individuals, small and midsize business owners, and immigrants – face significant and potentially life-changing penalties, even when they voluntarily comply, for failing to meet obscure and complex foreign information reporting requirements.
I previously described the dizzying tax compliance challenges encountered by U.S. citizens and residents living abroad. Now, I will describe the basics of filing and paying U.S. taxes for U.S. citizens and residents living abroad.
National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins released her statutorily mandated mid-year report to Congress. The report says the tax-return filing season generally ran smoothly this year, urges the IRS to prioritize a broad array of technology upgrades, and sets forth key objectives of the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate for the upcoming fiscal year.
Earn CPE credits, and join us in-person at this year’s Tax Forum. Join National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins at the 2023 IRS Nationwide Tax Forum
The Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) Program is a critical part of a fair and effective tax administration system, and brings justice to underserved populations. The Taxpayer Advocate Service awards matching grants to qualified organizations that represent low-income taxpayers before the IRS in tax controversies and educates taxpayers who speak English as a second language (ESL taxpayers) about their taxpayer rights and responsibilities.
For tax year (TY) 2019, there were nearly 34 million returns filed between the postponed period of April 16, 2020, and July 15, 2020, and for TY 2020, there were nearly 29 million returns filed between the postponed period of April 16, 2021, and May 17, 2021. Without IRS intervention, any claims for credit or refund filed during the postponed period three years later that included withholding or estimated taxes would have been denied because the withheld amount(s) would have been credited to the taxpayer’s account as of April 15, outside the three-year lookback period.
Last month, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA22), which provides the IRS with supplemental funding of nearly $80 billion over the next ten years. The legislation provides about $3.2 billion for taxpayer services, $4.8 billion to modernize the IRS’s information technology (IT) systems, and $25.3 billion to support its taxpayer service and enforcement operations.
Last month, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA22), which provides the IRS with supplemental funding of nearly $80 billion over the next ten years. More than half the funding has been earmarked for tax law enforcement, and that has attracted a good deal of public attention.
In a previous blog post, I discussed how IRS Online Accounts must provide additional functionality and integration with existing tools to meet the needs of taxpayers and tax professionals. Today, I would like to zoom out and look at the larger picture – the usability of IRS.gov. In this two-part series, I will discuss three aspects of IRS.gov: the search engine, visual layout, and website content and how it can be improved to benefit taxpayers and tax administration, and to reduce frustration and confusion for taxpayers and tax professionals.
