National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson today released Volume 2 of her statutorily mandated mid-year report to Congress, which contains the IRS’s responses to each of the 116 administrative recommendations the Advocate made in her 2015 Annual Report to Congress. Ms. Olson also announced that papers submitted by presenters at the November 2015 inaugural conference on international taxpayer rights have now been posted to the Taxpayer Advocate Service website. To provide a vehicle for direct public comment, Olson announced plans to hold public forums around the country, some in conjunction with Members of Congress who serve on committees actively engaged in IRS oversight.
The National Taxpayer Advocate is required by statute to submit a year-end report to Congress that, among other things, describes at least 20 of the most serious problems facing taxpayers and makes administrative recommendations to mitigate those problems. Overall, the Advocate made 116 administrative recommendations in the “most serious problems” section of her 2015 year-end report. The IRS has implemented or agreed to implement 65 of the Advocate’s recommendations, or 56 percent. The volume released today contains IRS general responses to each of the problems the Advocate identified as well as specific responses to each recommendation. In addition, it contains TAS’s analysis of the IRS’s responses and, in some cases, details TAS’s disagreement with the IRS’s position.
People who work in the field of tax administration and taxpayers generally can benefit greatly from reading the agency responses to our report,” Ms. Olson said. “Tax administration is a complex field with many trade-offs required. Reading both my office’s critique and IRS’s responses in combination will provide readers with a broader perspective on key issues, the IRS’s rationale for its policies and procedures, and alternative options we recommend.”
