IRS Plans to Process Complaints against Tax Preparers Faster

[Yardley CPA]

IRS Plans to Process Complaints against Tax Preparers Faster.pdf

 

IRS Plans to Process Complaints against Tax Preparers Faster

http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/irs-watch/irs-plans-to-process-complaints-against-tax-preparers-faster-71884-1.html

 

The Internal Revenue Service intends to process complaints against tax preparers from their clients in a more timely way, in response to a new government report that found it had begun work on only about half the complaints it received since October 2012.

 

The report, from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, reviewed 8,354 complaints against tax preparers received by the IRS between Oct. 1, 2012 and Sept. 11, 2013 and identified 3,953 (or 47 percent) for which work on the complaints had yet to be initiated. Of the 3,953 complaints, 1,920 (49 percent) had been in the IRS’s inventory for at least 60 business days with no work initiated.

 

The IRS processed about 77 million individually electronically filed federal income tax returns prepared by paid tax return preparers in 2013, TIGTA pointed out. As part of its oversight responsibilities, the IRS has developed processes and procedures through which taxpayers can file a complaint with the IRS. However, those procedures do not ensure that taxpayer complaints are accurately and consistently processed, TIGTA noted.

 

In addition, processes have not been established to effectively track the complaint referrals to IRS business functions to ensure that the complaints are received for evaluation and track how the referred complaints are ultimately resolved.

 

“Tax return preparers play an increasingly important role in helping taxpayers to comply with the tax laws,” said TIGTA Inspector General J. Russell George in a statement. “Unqualified or unethical tax return preparers can negatively impact taxpayers as well as tax revenue if the tax returns they prepare are incorrect and/or fraudulent.”

 

TIGTA made eight recommendations to the IRS, including that it establish goals and procedures to ensure that complaints are timely processed; develop a process to ensure that complaints are recorded in inventory records; ensure that criteria for referring complaints to business functions are appropriately applied and that the business functions’ resolution of complaint referrals is tracked; and establish procedures to contact taxpayers for missing information.

 

IRS management agreed with six of TIGTA’s recommendations and plans to take corrective actions.

 

However, the IRS disagreed with the recommendation that it ensure its Complaints Referral function establish procedures for case processors to contact taxpayers for missing information in order to work on as many complaints as possible, noting that it is focusing first on resolving the current backlog of complaints and does not have the resources at this time to contact complainants or establish a pilot program to contact those who submit incomplete information. In addition, the IRS only partially agreed with the recommendation that it track the resolution of how complaints were resolved by the various business functions.

 

With respect to the recommendation with which IRS management partially agreed and the other with which IRS management disagreed, TIGTA said it continues to believe that the IRS should track how the business functions resolve referred complaints and should contact taxpayers for missing information on submitted complaints in order to work on as many complaints as possible.

 

IRS deputy commissioner of services and enforcement John M. Dalrymple wrote in response to the report that conditions at the IRS’s Complaint Referrals function have improved significantly since TIGTA began its inspection.

 

“Since the Complaint Referrals office was created in December 2011, we have made significant progress establishing effective processes to handle the large volume of complaints we receive every year,” he wrote. “While TIGTA observed a backlog of unprocessed complaints in September 2013, we have since increased staffing, enhanced our processes and written guidance, and trained RPO employees. Further, we are now using a centralized database to manage the complaints. As a result of these improvements, between January and May 2014, we reduced our inventory backlog by 59 percent. We will continue to reduce the inventory level and increase efficiencies as we analyze results and refine our processes.”

[BulldogTom]

We should be allowed to complain about the IRS workers....but it would be the same as above.  No one would do anything about it.  Hell, senators can't even get the email of IRS employees....

 

Tom

Hollister, CA

[SaraEA]

The TIGTA does good, thorough work and I always learn from reading their reports.  The problem is all their solutions (improve computer systems, reduce backlogs, train employees and managers in this or that, ask congress for authority to do this or that) take money.  The IRS does a heck of a job with the resources it has, but how are can they be expected to do more and do better with less people and less funds?  It's like telling someone who can't afford textbooks to do better in school, or a debtor to make more money so they can get out of the hole.  Duh.....

[Jack from Ohio]

The TIGTA does good, thorough work and I always learn from reading their reports.  The problem is all their solutions (improve computer systems, reduce backlogs, train employees and managers in this or that, ask congress for authority to do this or that) take money.  The IRS does a heck of a job with the resources it has, but how are can they be expected to do more and do better with less people and less funds?  It's like telling someone who can't afford textbooks to do better in school, or a debtor to make more money so they can get out of the hole.  Duh.....

The only tool Congress has to reign in the corruption in the IRS is to withdraw funding.  The leadership is NOT held to any standard.  Unfortunately, in order to attempt to stem the tide of corruption by the leadership, the other departments suffer. 

 

Until this method of running the IRS is changed, the IRS will be a toothless tiger in so many ways.  Only able to pick the low hanging easy fruit to deal with, and provide almost NO service to the taxpayers of this country. 

[BulldogTom]

The TIGTA does good, thorough work and I always learn from reading their reports.  The problem is all their solutions (improve computer systems, reduce backlogs, train employees and managers in this or that, ask congress for authority to do this or that) take money.  The IRS does a heck of a job with the resources it has, but how are can they be expected to do more and do better with less people and less funds?  It's like telling someone who can't afford textbooks to do better in school, or a debtor to make more money so they can get out of the hole.  Duh.....

When the IRS hands over Lois Lerner  and all her e-mails over to the Congress (basically sacrifices her to the Republicans), they will start to get resources back.  What Jack said is true.  If the Republican House is not happy with the work of the IRS, the only thing they can do in a divided government is cut off funds.  This is like a game of chicken right now.  The IRS is saying we are going to stop doing the things that you want us to do unless you give us money, and the Republicans are saying if you don't fess up on the Conservative Group Targeting and give us our perp walk, we are going to continue to add work to your plate and expect you to do it for less money.  At some point, either the house will go Democrat or the IRS will give the politicians their sacrificial scapegoat.  Until then, it is going to be politics as usual at the IRS.

 

Tom

Hollister, CA

[Cyclone]

I know the IRS is obviously fund deprived but I think it is unacceptable that when a taxpayer calls the main IRS line 1-800-829-1040 that they are told "We will not answer tax questions after April 15th.  Please try to find your answer on our website".

 

How can they expect people to file accurate returns when they can not get their questions answered, granted they may not have gotten the correct answer from the IRS staffer to begin with but at least they got to talk to someone.   There are obviously plenty of situations out of the ordinary that are not covered on the IRS website and still plenty of people that do not have access to computers.

[Jack from Ohio]

I know the IRS is obviously fund deprived but I think it is unacceptable that when a taxpayer calls the main IRS line 1-800-829-1040 that they are told "We will not answer tax questions after April 15th.  Please try to find your answer on our website".

 

How can they expect people to file accurate returns when they can not get their questions answered, granted they may not have gotten the correct answer from the IRS staffer to begin with but at least they got to talk to someone.   There are obviously plenty of situations out of the ordinary that are not covered on the IRS website and still plenty of people that do not have access to computers.

Huge amounts of apathy permeate the IRS on every level.

[kcjenkins]

Well, all those things are true, as far as they go.  but as long as they have money for Star Trek videos, etc, and lying to Congress, I find it hard to buy their sob stories.  IRS spent $50 million on conferences between 2010 and 2012, the IRS was criticized by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration for a single $4.1 million training conference featuring luxury rooms and free drinks, in violation of agency procedures.  In a time when on-line video conferencing is easily and cheaply available, there are surely better uses for that 50 million?

[Jack from Ohio]

Well, all those things are true, as far as they go.  but as long as they have money for Star Trek videos, etc, and lying to Congress, I find it hard to buy their sob stories.  IRS spent $50 million on conferences between 2010 and 2012, the IRS was criticized by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration for a single $4.1 million training conference featuring luxury rooms and free drinks, in violation of agency procedures.  In a time when on-line video conferencing is easily and cheaply available, there are surely better uses for that 50 million?

Exactly the reasons that funding has been cut. Until voting Americans wake up and put honorable people in our government, the status quo will reign.