NTA Blog: The IRS is Not Doing Enough to Protect Taxpayers Facing Economic Hardship

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog The Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TBOR) grants taxpayers the rights to privacy and to a fair and just tax system. The Internal Revenue Service’s official explanation...

NTA Blog: IRS Examinations Continued - The IRS Should Promote Voluntary Compliance and Minimize Taxpayer Burden in the Selection and Conduct of Audits

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog In my recently released Annual Report to Congress, I discussed the need to evaluate the impact of IRS audits on voluntary compliance. Last week’s blog discussed...

Success Story: Through advocacy and perseverance, TAS helped relieve a taxpayer’s hardship

Every year, the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) helps thousands of people with tax problems. This story is only one of many examples of how TAS helps resolve taxpayer’s tax issues. All personal details are removed to protect the taxpayer’s privacy. One of the main reasons TAS exists is to help taxpayers with tax problems who are also suffering financial hardships. When taxpayers owe...

NTA Blog: There is Still Time to Register for the International Taxpayer Rights Conference

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog We are just weeks away from the 4th International Taxpayer Rights Conference. This year’s conference takes place May 23-24, 2019 at the University of Minnesota ...

NTA Blog: IRS Examinations - The IRS Should Promote Voluntary Compliance and Minimize Taxpayer Burden in the Selection and Conduct of Audits

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog In February of 2019, I released the 2018 Annual Report To Congress in which, among other things, I discuss the influence of tax audits on taxpayers’ attitudes a...

NTA Blog: Although the IRS Has Made Some Improvements, Math Error Notices Continue to Be Unclear and Confusing, Thereby Undermining Taxpayer Rights and Increasing Taxpayer Burden

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog With the filing season in full operation, many taxpayers are receiving correspondence from the IRS that convey significant taxpayer rights and require taxpayers to ta...

2019 Tax Forums will feature TAS seminars and the Case Resolution Program

Each year the IRS sponsors the Nationwide Tax Forums, a three-day series of tax education and networking conferences for tax professionals in cities around the country. These events feature the latest information from the IRS, news about tax law changes, the chance to meet with software vendors and the opportunity to attend nearly 50 seminars presented by IRS employees and members of professio...

NTA Blog: The Second Circuit in Borenstein Helped to Close the Gap in the Tax Court's Refund Jurisdiction, but Only for Taxpayers in that Circuit

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog In 2017, the U.S. Tax Court decided the case of Borenstein v. Commissioner by applying a technical reading of a statutory rule that produced a gap in its refund juris...

TAS Tax Tip: Updates to Estimated Tax Penalty Waiver

The April 15th tax deadline has passed, however the IRS announced on March 22, 2019 that it is expanding the waiver of the Estimated Tax Penalty to include relief for taxpayers whose total withholding and estimated tax payments equal or exceed 80 percent of the tax shown on the return for the 2018 taxable year. This threshold was reduced from the 85 percent threshold in Notice 2019-11, Relief f...

Tax Notes podcast features an interview with the National Taxpayer Advocate

On April 11, National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA) Nina Olson sat down with a senior reporter from Tax Notes, an online publication for tax professionals, to record an interview about the filing season and other tax issues. In part one of this two-part podcast, the NTA brings her unique perspective to bear on the status of the filing season and how the government shutdown affected not only the proce...