The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has on its website a Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The National Society of Accountants (NSA) has proposed a Tax Practitioners Bill of Rights. The NSA, in the wake of a proposed $838 million budget cut for the IRS, hopes this proposed Bill of Rights will establish timely enactment of tax laws and regulations and reasonable levels of IRS service for tax practitioners, who file 60 percent of the tax returns received by the IRS each year. Thus with the majority of taxpayers depending upon the tax preparation services or tax planning strategies of tax professionals, it is important that the IRS works closely with tax professionals to better serve the American taxpayer.
The NSA Tax Practitioners Bill of Rights includes the following (Be sure to read more as this bill of rights affects you, the individual taxpayer):
THE RIGHT TO HAVE TAX LAWS AND RULES PASSED IN A TIMELY MANNER , INCLUDING:
- The right to have tax laws affecting the current tax year enacted no later than September 1 of that year.
- The right to have IRS forms reflecting any new tax laws for the current year available no later than October 1 of that year.
THE RIGHT TO QUALITY SERVICE FROM THE IRS, INCLUDING:
- The right for practitioners with Practitioner Tax Identification Numbers (PTINs) to communicate electronically with the IRS on taxpayer matters in a secure manner.
- The right to request a supervisor be involved in resolving a matter if the initiating IRS representative is unwilling or unable to resolve an issue.
- The right to have one IRS representative deal with a tax issue from start to finish until the issue is resolved.
- The right to have any collection action on the taxpayer’s account frozen while the IRS is considering a taxpayer’s timely filed response to IRS collection activity.
- The right to have taxpayer correspondence answered within 20 days.
- The right to have telephone calls answered within 15 minutes, on a practitioner-only hotline, staffed by competent/knowledgeable employees.
THE RIGHT TO PRACTICE WITHOUT UNDUE IRS DEMANDS DURING TAX FILING SEASON, INCLUDING:
- The right to have an IRS audit moratorium during the three weeks immediately before major tax deadlines such as March 15, April 15, September 15, October 15 of each year.
- The right to have an IRS moratorium on collection actions or collection information requests during the three weeks immediately before major tax deadlines such as March 15, April 15, September 15, October 15 of each year.
- The right to have an IRS moratorium on planned software maintenance and computer downtime periods during the three weeks immediately before major tax deadlines such as March 15, April 15, September 15, October 15 of each year.
While a reading of the above tax practitioner rights seems very basic, they do illustrate that taxpayers are not the only persons who are frustrated when dealing with an unresponsive IRS. If the IRS would improve its customer service to tax practitioners, American taxpayers would benefit by receiving quicker resolution of their tax issues at a reduced cost when using a tax professional.
If you want to learn more about tax preparation services or tax planning strategies, we invite you to call 610-594-2601 today to make an appointment at our Exton PA CPA office to discuss your situation. You can also schedule a consultation at Click Here.
