Volume I: FY 2015 Objectives Report to Congress
Review of the 2014 Filing Season
Areas of Focus
- TAS Will Work Closely with the IRS on Implementing the Taxpayer Bill of Rights and Integrating it into IRS Operations
- Return Preparer Fraud: A Sad Story
- Despite Improvements, TAS Remains Concerned About IRS Treatment of Taxpayers Applying for Exempt Status
- IRS Steps to Create a Voluntary Program for Tax Return Preparer Standards in Light of the Loving Decision Are Well Intentioned, but the Absence of a Meaningful Competency Examination Limits the Program’s Value and Could Mislead Taxpayers
- The IRS’s Decision Not to Except Any TAS Employees During the Government Shutdown Resulted in Violations of Taxpayer Rights and Undermined TAS’s Statutory Authority to Assist Taxpayers Suffering or About to Suffer Significant Hardship
- IRS Funding Gap Creates Severe Risk to the Delivery of the Taxpayer Advocate Service Integrated System (TASIS)
- Providing Current and Accurate Instructions and Guidelines for IRS Employees and Taxpayers
- TAS Prepares for Implementation of Filing Season 2015 Affordable Care Act Provisions
- The IRS Has Improved at Detecting Identity Theft and Assisting Victims, but Victims with Multiple Tax Issues Still Lack One IRS Contact Person to Oversee All Aspects of Their Cases
- Collection: The IRS Does Not Adequately Protect Low Income Taxpayers from the Harmful Effects of Levies
- TAS is Working with the IRS to Resolve Certain Taxpayer Accounts with Extensions of Time for Collection that Exceed Current Policy Limits
- The IRS Needs to Improve Service and Access to Payment Options for Taxpayers with Collection Problems
- The Earned Income Tax Credit is an Effective Anti-Poverty Tool That Requires a Non-Traditional Compliance Approach by the IRS
- TAS Continues to Monitor the IRS’s Implementation of the Supreme Court Decision in Windsor and Processing of Same-Sex Marriage Returns and Related Claims