Published: August 27, 2024 | Last Updated: February 3, 2026

Raise Awareness About TAS and Educate Via Outreach

Background

To support our objective of resolving taxpayer problems, TAS collaborates with stakeholders to raise awareness about TAS services and educate taxpayers about tax responsibilities, taxpayer rights, tax benefits, and credits. Our goal is to introduce TAS services to underserved communities and assist taxpayers who face significant barriers when engaging with the IRS or who suffer/are about to suffer economic or systemic hardships due to an IRS action or inaction. Outreach allows TAS to reach taxpayers and representatives through local, regional, statewide, and national events. We aim to educate taxpayers about how to avoid common tax issues and utilize self-help resources.

In Fiscal Year 2025, TAS will continue to leverage relationships with stakeholders and will focus its outreach efforts on underserved populations including the elderly, Native American communities, members of the military, taxpayers with disabilities, taxpayers with limited English proficiency, low-income taxpayers, taxpayers living in rural communities, and taxpayers living abroad. Every Local Taxpayer Advocate and their staff will examine their community’s unique needs to develop an initiative that will focus their outreach efforts on a specific underserved population within their community.

Highlights

Status

Activities

Activity 1: Work with stakeholders to raise TAS awareness among taxpayers, particularly those in underserved communities, and coordinate outreach and Problem Solving Day events to provide direct TAS services.

Activity 2: Develop and implement a pre-filling season preventative outreach strategy to educate taxpayers about valuable tax benefits and how to avoid tax filing pitfalls.

Activity 1: TAS completed the planned outreach and education for FY25 and has closed this objective. .

Activity 2: Case Advocacy completed 40 pre-filing season outreach events giving TAS the opportunity to educate taxpayers about avoiding tax return processing delays, obtaining important refunds like EITC and preventing becoming the victim of a tax scam.

1st Quarter Actions Completed

TAS partnered with external stakeholders, including Local Income Taxpayer Clinics, software developers, Consulates, Congress members, and community organizations that support senior citizens, Limited English Proficient (LEP) taxpayers, and Veterans to raise awareness about TAS. We met with taxpayers directly to discuss tax issues during eight Problem Solving Day events held across the country. Additionally, we partnered with TEGE to serve on the IRS’ Indian Tribal Government Working Group, establishing opportunities for outreach to Native American Indian communities. We are now able to reach this population by attending Pow Wow events to share critical information about our services, eligibility valuable tax benefits, like EITC, and the locations of free VITA sites for free tax assistance and preparation. Our CSO promotes Problem Solving Day events through TAS social media channels and external-facing websites to increase awareness of local events while highlighting online resources.

TAS launched a pre-filling season preventative strategy, which involved creating PowerPoint presentations and flyers to distribute at outreach events. The topics covered included avoiding tax return processing delays to obtain important refunds like EITC, as well as ways to prevent falling victim to tax scams. Local taxpayer Advocates began preparations for either in in-person or virtual pre-filling season outreach, set to be completed in the second quarter.

2nd Quarter Actions Completed

TAS partnered with external stakeholders including community organizations, libraries, and congress members to meet with taxpayers and their representatives to discuss specific tax issues during Problem Solving Day events in 8 states including AZ, CT, IA, MA, MD, MN, RI, and TN. TAS will continue to explore efforts to raise awareness and connect taxpayers to TAS services.

3rd Quarter Actions Completed

TAS partnered with internal and external stakeholders to raise awareness about the services TAS offers taxpayers and meet with taxpayers and their representatives to discuss specific tax issues during Problem Solving Day events.

4th Quarter Actions Completed

TAS completed the planned outreach and education for FY25 and has closed this objective.

Return to FY26 Objective Statuses