The Internal Revenue Code requires the National Taxpayer Advocate to submit two annual reports to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance. The National Taxpayer Advocate is required to submit these reports directly to the Committees without any prior review or comment from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Secretary of the Treasury, or the Office of Management and Budget. The first report, due by June 30 of each year, must identify the objectives of the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate for the fiscal year beginning in that calendar year.

FY 2024 Objectives Report To Congress

PREFACE: The National Taxpayer Advocate’s Introductory Remarks

REVIEW OF THE 2023 FILING SEASON

TAS SYSTEMIC ADVOCACY OBJECTIVES
Introduction

1. Protect Taxpayer Rights as the IRS Implements Its Strategic Operating Plan
2. Protect Taxpayer Privacy and Ensure the IRS Does Not Disclose Taxpayer Information Without Consent
3. Improve Correspondence Audit Processes, Taxpayer Participation, and Agreement and Default Rates
4. Implement Systemic First Time Abatement But Allow Substitution of Reasonable Cause
5. Reduce Burden on Taxpayers Applying for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number
6. Formalize 45-Day Response Time From All IRS Functions to Recommendations Made by the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel
7. Eliminate Systemic Assessments and Offer a First Time Abatement Waiver for International Information Return Penalties
8. Modernize IRS Paper Processing Procedures
9. Continue to Propose Simplification of the Tax Code and IRS Procedures to Reduce Taxpayer Compliance Burden
10. Improve IRS Hiring, Recruitment, and Training Strategies
11. Improve Taxpayer Access to Telephone and Face-to-Face Assistance
12. Increase Accessibility and Improve Functionality of Digital Services for Individual and Business Taxpayers and Tax Professionals
13. Improve Tax Return Processing by Eliminating Barriers to E-Filing
14. Improve IRS Transparency
15. Identify Data to Support Minimum Competency Standards for Paid Return Preparers of Federal Tax Returns
16. Improve the Staffing and Culture of the IRS Independent Office of Appeals
17. Reduce Compliance Barriers for Overseas Taxpayers

TAS CASE ADVOCACY AND OTHER BUSINESS OBJECTIVES

1. Broaden Relationships With Taxpayers Through Proactive Outreach
2. Optimize the Experience of TAS Customers
3. Continue Negotiating Updates to Service Level Agreements
4. Identify Intake Processing Efficiencies

TAS RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1. Study IRS Initiation of the Two-Year Ban for Claiming the Earned Income Tax, Additional Child Tax, and American Opportunity Tax Credits to Ensure the Protection of Taxpayer Rights
2. Study Taxpayers Who Do Not Respond to IRS Letters Requesting Identity and Return Verification
3. Assess the Accessibility of Participation in Tax Programs Designed to Improve the Economic Circumstances of Taxpayers and Their Children as Well as the Barriers to Participation in These Programs
4. Review the Telephone Operations, Metrics, and Goals of Entities With Large Incoming Call Operations to Better Evaluate IRS Telephone Services Available to Taxpayers
5. Analyze Past Collection Data to Determine the Circumstances Under Which the IRS Should Generally Not Initiate Enforcement Action on a Delinquent Tax Liability

APPENDICES

1. Evolution of the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate
2. Case Acceptance Criteria
3. List of Low Income Taxpayer Clinics
4. Glossary of Acronyms