Every year the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) helps thousands of people with tax problems. This success story is only one of many examples of how TAS helps resolve taxpayer issues.

The taxpayer and her children were in danger of being evicted. Although the taxpayer filed a tax return claiming a refund, she owed federal taxes from a previous year. The IRS normally applies overpayments to satisfy federal tax debts before issuing any refunds, but the taxpayer needed part of her overpayment to retain housing for her family.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service encourages you to use the Tax Withholding Estimator now.

With the 2023 filing season under way, taxpayers who owe tax with their 2022 tax return may be reluctant to file their returns by April 18 or may consider an extension to file. Taxpayers should know the consequences of late filing and payment.

The IRS has resumed sending out some automated collection notices to taxpayers with outstanding balances due.

For several years now, the Harvard Legal Services Center Tax Clinic (the clinic) litigated whether certain Tax Court filing deadlines are jurisdictional or claims processing rules subject to equitable tolling. Pursuing the issue across the country, the clinic directly represented clients and filed amicus briefs on which clinic students worked and volunteer counsel assisted. Shortly prior to oral argument in the Eighth Circuit, the petitioner’s counsel asked if the clinic would take on the oral argument as well. A recent clinic alumna, who argued the same issue in the Fourth Circuit, agreed to argue the case pro bono with the backing of her firm. She became part of an all-woman team at the firm that argued the merits of the case successfully before the Supreme Court. In reversing lower court rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously in Boechler P.C. v. Commissioner, 142 S.Ct. 1493 (Apr. 21, 2022), that the time period for filing a Collection Due Process petition in the U.S. Tax Court is not jurisdictional and is subject to equitable tolling. The Boechler decision has the potential to impact future court filings of many low-income taxpayers who often face challenging life situations that create obstacles to meeting filing deadlines. The clinic’s persistence in fighting this access to justice issue will help ensure that taxpayers can make the case for tolling the time period for filing a Tax Court petition when appropriate.

Did you get a notification from IRS or the Social Security Administration (SSA) advising you that you might be a victim of tax-related identity (ID) theft?

Every year the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) helps thousands of people with tax problems. This success story is only one of many examples of how TAS helps resolve taxpayer issues.

A taxpayer entered into a Direct Debit Installment Agreement (DDIA) to pay her federal tax liability. She made her final payment outside of the DDIA process because the regularly scheduled payment would have overpaid the remaining amount owed and she was concerned that the overpayment may not be refunded quickly. She also worried her refund on a recently filed federal tax return would be delayed.

Every year the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) helps thousands of people with tax problems. This success story is only one of many examples of how TAS helps resolve taxpayer issues.

Taxpayers across the nation are receiving tax assistance from the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) during special Saturday Hours events offered in partnership with the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TAC).

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) increases the Child Tax Credit (CTC) amount for 2021 from $2,000 up to $3,000; increases up to $3,600 for qualifying children under the age of six; and expands the age of a qualifying child to children who have not turned 18 years old. ARPA also allows half of the credit to be distributed through advance payments of the CTC in monthly allotments from July to December. The legislation made the credit fully refundable for many taxpayers for 2021, allowing more low-income households to qualify for it.

Tax professionals and our tax industry partners are the backbone of tax administration. That is why I hosted Town Hall listening sessions at the IRS’s Nationwide Tax Forum this summer. Hearing the questions, issues and concerns of the tax professionals who attended is an important tool that my team and I at the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) are using to advocate for taxpayers more effectively.

Identity theft issues impact millions of taxpayers each year, resulting in considerable delays and taxpayer burden. In the 2023 Annual Report to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins discussed how each year, the IRS flags millions of returns for potential fraud. In 2022, the IRS suspended processing of 4.8 million tax returns pending identity verification. That’s 4.8 million taxpayers who had to do extra steps before their tax return could be processed. However, there are a few things that taxpayers can do to help ensure that your identity can be authenticated as quickly as possible.

Every year the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) helps thousands of people with tax problems. This success story is only one of many examples of how TAS helps resolve taxpayer issues.

A distraught taxpayer contacted TAS for help because her mother had been in a conservatorship with a stranger. The taxpayer and her mother were unaware that the conservator had been court-appointed. 

Learn more about the different options available to pay your federal taxes.