It will surprise no one who regularly represents taxpayers that there are significant problems in the way the IRS processes collection cases. Now, courtesy of WebCPA, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), in a comprehensive study, has corroborated what most tax professionals already know (emphasis added):
[W]hen delinquent taxpayers respond to balance-due notices from the IRS, the agency often does not promptly process the cases, resulting in unnecessary delays and costs. The IRS and taxpayers sometimes enter into streamlined installment agreements when taxpayers may have the ability to fully pay their tax liability. In other cases, taxpayers did not have the income to support the payment amount required.
TIGTA selected a random sample of 60 balance-due cases to determine whether the cases were worked properly and procedures were followed. Fifty-seven (95 percent) of the 60 cases involved streamlined installment agreements. In 17 of the 57 cases (30 percent), installment agreements were established when taxpayers may have had the ability to fully pay their tax debts and could have avoided the costs of the installment agreement, which include penalties and interest.
TIGTA estimates that in the weeks selected for the sample, 1,874 taxpayers may have had the ability to pay their tax liabilities in full. Other times, it appeared the taxpayers did not have the income to support the payment amounts required by the terms of the installment agreements.
We have a standing rule in our office that says if you call the IRS’s Automated Collection System (ACS) and connect with a representative who doesn’t understand the IRS procedure for evaluating and establishing installment payment plans, you are to politely terminate the conversation and call back until you find someone who does.
A disparity in the quality of service delivered by employees is a hallmark of large bureaucracies. The IRS is one of the largest bureaucracies in the civilized world. You do the math.
Bureaucratic snafus can and are successfully dealt with by tax professionals who themselves are well-versed in the rules, but taxpayers who cannot afford representation cannot and do not differentiate between a competent and knowledgeable IRS official and an incompetent and ignorant one.
There are simply too many lazy, poorly trained, and inherently incompetent IRS employees to allow the IRS to ensure the level of consistent, quality service it says it wishes to provide to taxpayers.
Don’t expect improvement anytime in the near future. In fact, because the IRS is rapidly intensifying its efforts to close the tax gap to help pay for the quadrupling of the federal deficit, I predict the problem will worsen.
1 response so far ↓
1 scooter // Aug 15, 2010 at 2:29 am
Like all people in the workforce these days, they are required to do much more for less. they carry case loads of anywhere from 70-100 cases, conduct field calls on all, take each one of their phone calls, make their adjustments, take,their money, post their returns, and take additional 15-20 cases per month, all with flawless execusion and a smile…mind you… the general public they deal with are usually less than happy about the contact as a whole. That like dogging out th e post office. What kind of service are you demanding for 44 cents?
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