National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins today released her 2023 Annual Report to Congress, describing 2023 as a year of “extraordinary transition for the IRS and therefore for taxpayers.” The report credits the IRS with substantially improving taxpayer services and developing plans to transform the taxpayer experience in the coming years, but it identifies paper processing as an area of continuing weakness.
By law, the Advocate’s report is required to identify the ten most serious problems taxpayers are experiencing in their dealings with the IRS and to make administrative and legislative recommendations to address those problems. Before cataloging taxpayer challenges, however, Collins praised the IRS for taking notable strides forward. However, paper processing is an area of continuing weakness. The areas in which taxpayers continued to experience delays were primarily those that required employees to process tax returns and taxpayer correspondence, including:
At the end of each of the ten most serious problem sections in the report, the National Taxpayer Advocate makes administrative recommendations to address the problems. Among her key recommendations:
The National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2024 Purple Book proposes 66 legislative recommendations intended to strengthen taxpayer rights and improve tax administration. Among the recommendations:
On or about January 31, TAS will publish two research studies and detail the design of a third study on the following topics at www.TaxpayerAdvocate.irs.gov:
This year’s report also contains:
Visit www.TaxpayerAdvocate.irs.gov/AnnualReport2023 for more information.
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The Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent organization within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that helps taxpayers and protects taxpayer rights. We can offer you free help if your tax problem is causing a financial difficulty, if you’ve tried and been unable to resolve your issue with the IRS, or if you believe an IRS system, process, or procedure just isn’t working as it should. Learn more at www.TaxpayerAdvocate.irs.gov or call 877-777-4778. Get updates on tax topics at facebook.com/YourVoiceAtIRS, Twitter.com/YourVoiceatIRS, and YouTube.com/TASNTA.