The Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent arm of the IRS that assists taxpayers who are experiencing economic harm, who have tax problems that have not been resolved through normal channels, or who believe that an IRS system or procedure is not working as it should.

Nina Olson is the National Taxpayer Advocate, a tax attorney, and the only IRS employee authorized to make legislative proposals directly to Congress. She reports the top problems taxpayers are having with the IRS and offers suggestions on how these problems can be solved.

In her recent annual report to Congress, Ms. Olson focused attention on the consequences of late-year changes to the Internal Revenue Code (e.g., taxpayer confusion and delayed refunds). She also noted the need for a coordinated IRS approach to combat the cash economy portion of the tax gap.

In addition, she urged Congress to enact another Taxpayer Bill of Rights and to authorize symbolic “apology payments” where taxpayers suffer significant harm as a result of IRS errors.

Her report discussed problems facing taxpayers, made dozens of recommendations for administrative change, proposed recommendations for legislative change, and discussed the 10 tax issues most frequently litigated in the federal courts during the preceding fiscal year.

Tax and Business Alert